The Quaker Fabric Corp. announced Thursday that it will lay off an additional 225 workers, both in manufacturing and in administration, to bring staffing “to levels consistent with our current production needs.”
After the cuts, the Fall River fabric maker said, the company will employ slightly more than 1,000 people.
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“Fierce competition from imported Chinese fabrics, rising energy prices and weakness in the retail furniture sector in general, are continuing to affect our incoming order rates and production requirements,” President and CEO Larry A. Liebenow said in a news release
“Quaker is committed to retaining a strong U.S. manufacturing base and its position of leadership in the U.S. upholstery fabric market,” Liebenow added. “To that end, we are continuing to cut costs and to execute the restructuring plan we put in place last year — selling off the buildings and equipment we don’t need to support our operations; aggressively working to build sales in those domestic markets least sensitive to imported products; achieving profitable volume in the decorative, outdoor and contract fabric markets; and developing strategically important commercial relationships with a small number of offshore fabric mills. We are making good progress on each of those fronts.”
Once those initiatives are “further developed,” Liebenow said, “we hope to be able to offer those individuals who are leaving us now the opportunity to return to the Quaker team.”
Quaker is a major manufacturer of woven upholstery fabrics for furniture and the largest producer of Jacquard upholstery fabric in the world. It is also one of southeastern Massachusetts’ largest employers. But Quaker has also been struggling for years.
In the last quarter, the company reported a net loss of $12.1 million, marking the ninth consecutive quarter with losses. Sales were down 37.7 percent from the second quarter of 2005, to $42.9 million, the company said.
