COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR TO CLOSE CHAFFEE PLANT IN SPRING

CHAFFEE -- Columbia Sportswear Co. will close its Chaffee plant next spring, employees were told late Thursday.

Representatives from the company's headquarters in Portland, Ore., said the closure is a move to reduce costs and enhance operating efficiency. It will enable the company to focus on other areas, including product design and marketing, said Tim Boyle, Columbia's president and chief executive officer.

The factory in Chaffee is the only manufacturing operation Columbia owns and represents a small percent of total production, said Boyle. "Strategically, it doesn't make sense for us to maintain the factory in the Midwest," he said.

Boyle said operations performed at Chaffee would be moved to the West Coast, and employees at Chaffee will receive unemployment assistance and job counseling in addition to a severance package.

Columbia deals in design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of active outdoor apparel and footwear and sells skiwear. It was founded in 1938 at Portland.

Columbia established it Chaffee connection in 1985, producing hunting, fishing and ski hats. The factory was expanded to 50,000 square in 1988.

The Chaffee plant employs about 185 people.

Columbia is one of a number of manufacturing companies that have announced closings in the area in recent weeks.

Florsheim Shoe Co., which has operated in Cape Girardeau since soon after the turn of the century, announced in August it will close its plant by year's end. Florsheim employs about 300 people. The factory's output primarily will be transferred to a joint venture the company has with a manufacturing partner in India.

The Huffy bicycle plant at Farmington, which open in 1993, will close by year's end. Huffy President Chris Snyder cited increased competitive pressures from Chinese-made bicycles the past six months as a reason for the closing.