Pickens County-based Alice Manufacturing Company, Inc. is phasing out operations at the company’s Ellison plant effective June 30, 2018. The textile manufacturing company has produced high-quality greige fabric and yarn in Easley for 95 years. The Ellison plant employs 175 people.

The company is working to place associates with other companies in Pickens County and offering training as well as scholarships for continuing education to assist with their employees’ transitions.

“The Ellison plant team has had a proud 50-year history of producing the finest textile products in the world,” said E. Smyth McKissick, III, chairman of Alice Manufacturing. “Thousands of folks have come here for decades to create the highest-quality fabrics. They’ve worked together for a common purpose and have created a community of the very best people.”

McKissick said the company’s focus is on the well-being of the employees, who he described as the “heart and soul” of the Ellison plant. “Our company is dedicated to helping employees make as smooth a transition as possible,” he said. “The Ellison plant started operations in 1968 and during its history, these folks have produced well over a billion yards of fabric serving a unique variety of markets from apparel to home furnishings customers.”

The global textile industry has undergone tremendous change in recent years.  Once vibrant U.S. and NAFTA markets on which plants like Ellison have depended have changed dramatically due to a flood of imports from producers in non-market economies. 

In response to these changes, Alice Manufacturing founded a fashion bedding business in 2000 in order to become closer and more important to the final consumer.

“We are energized about the future of our fashion bedding business,” McKissick said. “This business made two acquisitions in 2017, and we believe both of these will generate terrific synergies and build on its successful platform.”

McKissick said that though the company is changing how it does business in order to compete, its values have never wavered. Those values include a commitment to team, quality and customer service while producing relevant, market-driven soft goods.