Repreve producer Unifi to shutter North Carolina facility

Textile manufacturing company Unifi has announced plans to close its facility in Madison, North Carolina, with production operations from the site to be consolidated into the company’s North and Central American units.

The decision to shutter the property, which will be put up for sale in 2025, was driven by a mission to “improve efficiency and strengthen operations to better support customers’ needs without sacrificing sales volume or creating disruptions in production capacity”.

Unifi, which produces recycled fibre Repreve, added that it wished to increase the utilisation rates of its remaining facilities in North and Central America to support “an enhanced long-term profitability profile”.

Proceeds from the sale of the North Carolina site will be initially used to pay down existing debt, Unifi noted.

In a release, chief executive officer of the firm, Eddie Ingle, said the closure would help “better align Unifi’s manufacturing footprint with our growing customer base”, enhancing cost structure and strengthening the company’s balance sheet in the process.

Ingle noted that the transition would not impact Unifi’s ability to meet market demands, including with its Repreve portfolio. Further details of the strategic transition will be provided in Unifi’s upcoming Q2 fiscal 2025 earnings conference call on February 6.