Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994 TAG: 9412010093
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPARTANBURG, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
Adobe Apparel Inc. made T-shirts, sweatshirts and dresses for companies like Russell Corp., maker of the Russell Athletics brand.
Tarleton said he was lucky to have found a buyer for his Greenwood, S.C., company in an industry he called ``a dying breed.''
``I have spent the last five years trying to build a company, and in my opinion the government has destroyed the sewing-machine industries by approving two things: NAFTA and GATT,'' he said Wednesday.
He was referring to the global General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the North American Free Trade Agreement signed this year among the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Most textile and apparel shops aren't expected to close if the Senate approves GATT today. The House of Representatives passed the measure Tuesday.
But even healthy companies, such as Arkwright Mills in Spartanburg, expect the 124-nation trade pact to hurt, although they acknowledge parts of it could help the industry.
``I think it's about the best they could have done,'' said Earl Gowan, a payroll clerk at Arkwright for 53 years.
Other workers interviewed Wednesday said they had faith that expanded trade would keep their jobs from heading overseas.
``We really don't know what's going to happen, but we're hoping it's going to bring more jobs to the South,'' said Reba Rothrock, 65, a 25-year veteran at Arkwright.
The mill's president and treasurer, MacFarland Cates, expects his family-owned company will have to fight off competition from Asia, long a producer of inexpensive cloth.
GATT aims to lower tariffs worldwide, including those in the United States on imported cloth and on other foreign-made goods. It also would phase out quotas on imported textiles, another move expected to eliminate U.S. jobs.
Still, the agreement gives the industry a weapon it has wanted for years, making it illegal for garments assembled in China to be exported to the United States under the ``Made in Hong Kong'' label.
For that reason, Cates and many others in the textile and apparel industries would like to see the treaty approved by this Congress. They feel it would offer at least some protection.
``I'd love to see GATT killed,'' Cates said. But given the choice between this or a version without the rule-of-origin amendment, ``I'd rather see them pass this now.''
Arkwright's 300 workers make cloth used in sportswear, surgical towels, work gloves, even horse blankets. Twenty years ago, foreign competition forced it to close two of its three mills and cut most of its 1,200 workers.
Those who are left now make twice as much cloth, and Cates said that efficiency will be the company's key to survival. He hopes to expand by modernizing equipment and producing small orders that larger companies ignore.
``We've tried to build in efficiency, quality and flexibility so we can jump around and fill different niches. We think that maybe we're in a better position to fight than some of the larger companies,'' Cates said.
by CNB