ALMOST two months after Barbour closed its factory at Tweedbank the company has still been telling the public and potential customers it was making quality knitwear at the unit, writes Bob Burgess.
But the wax jacket specialists acted quickly to remove the Gala reference after TheSouthern contacted its HQ on Tyneside.
One of the 46 workers axed when the factory shut its doors on the last days of January alerted us to the website where the c
laims were being published.
We contacted Barbour management on Monday afternoon and 24 hours later they told us: "All references to knitwear being produced at Galashiels have been removed from our website."
Barbour closed its knitwear and weaving production unit at Tweedbank 12 years after moving it from Newcastleton. The closure followed lengthy and sometimes bitter negotiations between management and the trade union, Unite.
But TheSouthern can confirm Barbour is still using Border workers to produce its outdoor and country living clothing.
A week before the doors finally closed we revealed the company was looking for a Scottish company to take over production – and that one of those firms was in the Borders.
On Tuesday Barbour confirmed: "The classic knitwear that was produced in our Galashiels factory is now being made on our behalf by two Scottish knitwear manufacturers – Hawick Knitwear and the Edinburgh Woollen Mill."
Barbour blamed the closure on a falling order book. It said Tweedbank – opened in 1966 at a cost of £5million – had been geared to produce 160,000 units a year but the likely outturn this year was only 50,000 garments.
But politicians wondered why workers were told in a letter from management in December that 2007 had been a very good year and prospects for 2008 were similar.
The full article contains 299 words and appears in Southern Reporter newspaper.
