Solo Cup factory deal means second chance for Belen, CEO says (Video)

Enlarge Photo

Dan Mayfield | Albuquerque Business First

New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela was on hand on Tuesday to announce that the old Solo Cup manufacturing plant in Belen will be getting a new life as the new headquarters and manufacturing site for Global Fashion Technologies Inc.

Dan Mayfield

Reporter- Albuquerque Business First

Email  |  Twitter  |  Reporter RSS Feed

The old Solo Cup plant just south of Belen has been vacant for five years. But now it will be back in business as a textile plant using a novel, patented technology that a company named Pure System International developed. It takes scraps from clothing manufacturers and turns them into new textiles.

"We are a rejuvenation technology firm that takes raw materials, cuttings, that would just go on the floor or to an incinerator and turns them into fabrics," said Joy Nunn, the CEO of Pure.

On Tuesday, her firm announced that it partnered with Global Fashion Technologies Inc. to re-open the old Solo Cup plant as the company's new headquarters and manufacturing base. The company will invest up to $50 million, said Tom Witthuhn, the CEO of Global, in six production lines and could hire as many as 400 people in the next several years.

The company's technology cleans fibers and uses them to make a variety of new fabrics, from baby wipes and yoga pants to ultra-soft T-shirts. The fabrics feel more like felt than woven textiles.

"We actually untwist the fibers gently, so it can go back into textiles," Nunn said.

The company said it will install up to six production lines to make the fabrics. It will take in 180 million pounds of fabric annually, and Witthuhn said it will use the nearby rail facility in Belen to transport 200,000 pounds of fabric per car. "So you can imagine how busy rail cars will be," he added.

The Solo Cup plant, which was built in 1990, closed in 2009 and the area lost 200 jobs. The facility has sat vacant for the last five years.

"It's in very good shape. We're going to fix up the offices. The core production floor is in very good shape," said Witthuhn. The company is already updating the plant, and on Tuesday workers were busy putting a new roof on the facility, he said.

505.348.8308 | dmayfield@bizjournals.com
Technology, economic development