Tennessee Hosiery Mill Closure Costs Jobs; Blamed On Foreign Competition

Englewood, TN (AHN) - Foreign competition was blamed for the closing of one of the last textile mills in McMinn County, Tennessee that leaves 45 people out of work. Allied Hosiery Mill Inc., was locally owned by the third generation of the family that started the mill in Englewood in 1946.

It is a hard hit for Englewood, which is in rural Tennessee about midway between Knoxville to the northeast and Chattanooga to the southeast. Englewood has a population of 1,590 people, with 17 percent of the population living below the poverty line according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Allied becomes the second hosiery mill in McMinn County to shut down recently. Neuville Industries in Athens closed in 2006, throwing 85 people out of work.

The region was once dotted with mills, with 25 mills in Englewood alone 60 years ago, but now there is only one mill left in all of McMinn County.

Textile and clothing mills across the southeast have shut down in the past few decades as manufacturing jobs moved to other countries.

Third-generation Allied owner, Stan McConkey, says that foreign competition forced the mill to close, according to WDEF12 news.