Threadbare prospects loom for cloth and clothing makers.

Tar Heel textile and apparel makers must feel a bit like Sisyphus, the mythological king of ancient Corinth who was doomed forever to roll a heavy stone uphill, only to have it roll back down. No matter how many costs they cut, no matter how many Tar Heel jobs they ax, competitive pressures from overseas force them to keep cutting. "You'd think after several years of this pattern, that it would eventually level off. Well, not so," says Gary Shoesmith, director of the Center for Economic Studies at Wake Forest University.

Based on the first nine months of the year, North Carolina was expected to lose 14,300 textile and apparel jobs in 1999, 8.6% of the total and far more than the 8,700 lost in 1998. "The rationalization of the industry is not over," Shoesmith says. "It has accelerated this year, and we can expect to continue seeing the same."

To keep their business fortunes from going south, textile and apparel makers continue to go southwest to Mexico. In January, Greensboro-based Burlington Industries Inc. said it would close plants in Forest City, Cramerton, Statesville, Oxford and Mooresville. It cut more than 2,000 jobs. Two months later, Burlington started making ring-spun denim for casual clothing at a plant in Yecapixtla, Mexico.

Greensboro-based Cone Mills Corp. canned 650 workers in February when it stopped spinning yarn at plants in Cliffside and Florence. Less than three months later, Cone said it would team with Greensboro-based Guilford Mills Inc. to build a textile and apparel industrial park near Tampico, Mexico. Cone expects to spend at least $40 million and as much as $160 million if production capacity is expanded later. Guilford is contributing between $60 million and $100 million. Cone's presence in Mexico goes beyond building plants. It also teamed in June with Starlite/Deborah Industries Inc., a New York-based conglomeration of Mexican factories, to make casual slacks, shorts, skirts and sportswear. Cone will provide the fabrics and marketing services. Starlite/Deborah will make, finish and distribute the clothes.

But it's not just textile and apparel jobs that are flowing out of the state and over the border. Textile exports to Mexico in 1998 were nearly five times the 1993 numbers. Apparel exports were nearly six times more. "It's not that production is in the toilet, it's just being reshaped through more automation," Shoesmith says. "The manufacturing facilities that will remain here in the States will be those that are highly automated."

One can hardly blame textile and clothing makers for shedding jobs, restructuring their businesses and cutting costs. (Cone has even found savings in a landfill, fueling part of its denim-making operations in White Oak with methane produced by Greensboro's rotting trash.) All they need to do is look at Pluma Inc., an Eden-based fleece and sportswear maker, for an example of what could happen if they're not careful. Pluma thought it was doing the right thing when it bought two wholesale distributors in Wisconsin and California and began competing with customers in 1997. It lost $36 million in 1998 on revenues of $187.3 million, its first loss since 1986, and couldn't stop the slide in '99. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May and, after lenders bailed out, closed for good in September.

Even larger companies can find it hard to keep pushing the rock. Dallas-based Pillowtex Corp., the state's fourth-largest textile employer, made $42.9 million on revenues of $1.5 billion in 1998 but faltered in 1999. It cut its third-quarter earnings projections twice. The actual numbers were even worse than expected -- a net loss of $11.1 million. The company's poor performance and heavy debt from the 1997 purchase of Kannapolis-based Fieldcrest Cannon Inc. caused some analysts to raise the possibility of bankruptcy reorganization. As if that weren't enough, it lost a union-certification election in June and, in November, agreed to bargain with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees at six plants in Rowan and Cabarrus counties.

The news wasn't all bad. Some companies expanded, especially yarn makers. Resurgent demand for ring-spun yarn, used in home furnishings, underwear and other garments, prompted Clover, S.C.-based Four Leaf Textiles LLC to buy a yarn plant in Spindale. Belmont-based R.L. Stowe Mills Inc. bought plants in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Mebane. Mastercraft Corp., a Spindale-based fabric maker, plans to put a dyeing-and-finishing operation employing 200 in a former Collins & Aikman Corp. plant in Cramerton. Belding Hausman Inc., a New York-based textile company, bought a Stanley yarn plant from JPS Industries Inc. in an effort to diversify into niche markets for yarn and cloth.

                         N.C. EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES
TEXTILE-MILL PRODUCTS             1994     1996     1998
Employers                        1,401    1,386    1,355
Employment                     204,291  184,631  169,002
Total wages                   $4,527.7 $4,374.3 $4,424.9
Average weekly wage            $426.21  $455.62  $503.52
APPAREL AND FINISHED PRODUCTS
Employers                          847      816      726
Employment                      68,666   56,283   46,342
Total wages                   $1,093.8   $988.2   $912.2
Average weekly wage            $306.32  $337.65  $378.56
Source: Employment Security Commission
                           TOP TEXTILE COUNTIES
            TEXTILE   % OF COUNTY'S      ANNUAL
           EMPLOYMENT  EMPLOYMENT   WAGES (millions)
Gaston      12,528        15.4%         $307.1
Alamance    10,314        16.6           252.6
Guilford     9,319         3.4           361.4
Catawba      9,237         9.6           230.3
Surry        8,412        22.4           171.2
Rockingham   8,135        23.9           203.7
Cabarrus     6,443        12.7           164.4
Forsyth      6,430         3.7           311.7
Rutherford   5,649        21.8           146.9
Randolph     5,347        10.9           126.3
Source: Employment Security Commission, 1998
                           TOP APPAREL COUNTIES
            APPAREL   % OF COUNTY'S      ANNUAL
           EMPLOYMENT  EMPLOYMENT   WAGES (millions)
Guilford     2,037         0.7%          $68.9
Robeson      1,675         3.8            27.1
Rockingham   1,520         4.5            24.5
Forsyth      1,500         0.9            46.3
Stanly       1,447         6.7            23.7
Rutherford   1,437         5.6            32.7
Cumberland   1,412         1.3            26.4
Buncombe     1,395         1.3            33.0
Union        1,348         3.2            25.5
Iredell      1,298         2.4            30.4
Source: Employment Security Commission, 1998
                               TOP EMPLOYERS
COMPANY/HEADQUARTERS               N.C. EMPLOYEES
Sara Lee, Chicago [1]                 10,000
Burlington Industries, Greensboro      7,000
Pillowtex, Dallas                      6,815
VF, Greensboro                         6,040
Unifi, Greensboro                      5,000
Cone Mills, Greensboro                 4,430
Collins & Aikman, Troy, Mich.          3,910
WestPoint Stevens, West Point, Ga.     3,900
Guilford Mills, Greensboro             3,230
Carolina Mills, Maiden                 3,000
Parkdale Mills, Gastonia               2,800
National Textiles, Winston-Salem       2,410
Culp, High Point                       2,295
American & Efird, Charlotte [2]        2,240
Galey & Lord, Greensboro               2,015
Kayser-Roth, Greensboro                2,000
Renfro, Mount Airy                     2,000
Pharr Yarns, McAdenville               1,950
(1.)apparel and hosiery employees only;
(2.)subsidiary of Ruddick
Source: companies, 1999