U.S. towel mill American Merchant seeking a buyer

Category: HOME TEXTILES

Country: United States

By Jennifer Marks
Editor in Chief
09th December, 2024

Bristol, Va. – American Merchant, which opened in December 2018, recently ceased operations and has begun touring its facilities with potential buyers.

Based in rural Bristol, Va., across the state lines of Tennessee and Virginia, American Merchant’s facility features 260,000 sq. ft. of production space, including more than 60,000 sq. ft. of warehousing. The facility did its final production run in October.

The equipment includes 18 bath towel looms, 4 hand towel looms and 2 wash towel looms from Toyota, reactive jet dyeing, automatic side hem and end hemming machines, and a water reclamation facility. Certified to the Okeo-Tex Standard 100, the factory includes LED lighting and an energy efficient roof.

“Ideally, we would find a buyer from India or Pakistan,” said Maxwell Bleakie, director a Loretta Lee Ltd., the Hong Kong-based manufacturer that founded and invested more than $24 million into the mill and its equipment.

Bleakie believes that with the addition of another 24 looms, the plant could profitably produce towels with yarns imported from India or Pakistan – particularly if some or all of the production is dedicated to hospitality accounts.

“Then you have an everyday business,” he explained. “It would still be ‘Made in the USA’ from imported materials.”

Although American Merchant had retail contacts, it was not able to make inroads in hospitality. When the facility closed in October, it had 48 employees and 5 managers running one daily shift.

An off-shore buyer would be most likely to have engineers who can provide their expertise to the U.S. operation, Bleakie noted.

“It’s possible that with the incoming Trump administration, Made in America could become more important,” he added.

American Merchant is the second U.S. towel plant to shutter its operations this year. 1888 Mills closed its terry mill in early spring, pointing to rising costs.

Courtesy: hometextilestoday.com