THORNGATE CHAFFEE PLANT TO CLOSE

CHAFFEE -- Hartmarx Inc. will phase out its manufacturing operation at the Thonrgate Ltd. plant in Chaffee this year.

"At this point we're suggesting that the plant at Chaffee close this spring or summer," said Home Patel, president of Hartmarx Inc. headquartered in Chicago.

"We have not issued the mandatory 60-day notice to employees yet," said Patel. "We'll be doing that in the near future. Right now we're looking at a late-spring closing."

The Chaffee plant, which manufactures sportswear for Hart, Schaffner & Marx, employs approximately 150 people.

Patel emphasized that the closure would have no effect on the Cape Girardeau Thorngate plant, which employs more than 650. The Cape Girardeau plant underwent a 60,000-square-foot expansion seven years ago.

"There's a lot of bad news on the retail scene," said Patel. "Business conditions are down, retail sales are down. This effects capacity requirements."

Hartmarx opened the Thorngate plant at Chaffee in 1966 with more than 100 employees. Almost a decade later Hartmarx expanded the plant, leasing two adjacent warehouses and turning them into manufacturing facilities.

Last year, Thorngate purchased two lots adjacent to the Thorngate plant with an eye to the future. The lots, both 150 feet deep from the street, adjoin the Thorngate warehouse on the north and south sides.

At one time the Chaffee plant employed as many as 400 people. The Cape Girardeau plant, at 1507 Independence, picked up some Chaffee workers when it expanded in 1987.

The cutting operations for Chaffee and Cape Girardeau were moved to the new facilities at Cape Girardeau.

The Cape Girardeau plant, which consists of more than 135,000 square feet, received a boost in 1994 when Hartmarx signed an agreement to manufacture the Tommy Hilfiger line of clothing. Forty workers were added.

Whether the Cape Girardeau facility will absorb any of the Chaffee workers is not known.

Thorngate Ltd. is the third manufacturing facility to close in Southeast Missouri during the past year. Tri-Con, a manufacturer of auto seat covers with about 200 employees, shut down at Cape Girardeau Jan. 3. The Purolator plant in Dexter, which employed more than 400, shut down Sept. 29.