Quaker Fabric, Fall River, MA
Quaker Fabric
Quaker Fabric began as Vertipile, Inc., a flocked fabric company founded by Clive E. Hockmeyer in 1939 in
Lowell, MA. What later would become the home location for Quaker began operations in 1945 as General
Textile Mills, a small family-owned fabric mill in Fall River. The name changed to Quaker Fabric at the end of
1979, following a merger with a sales company that operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Providence Pile
Fabric. In 1984 Vertipile acquired Quaker Fabric Corp.
Larry Liebenow and partners acquired Quaker Fabric in 1989. The company grew to become one of the largest
producers of jacquard upholstery fabric in the world as well as producer of specialty yarns, both for its own
fabrics and for sales to other fabric manufacturers. The company prospered in the 1990s. According to a March
22, 2006 account in The Herald News of Fall River:
With 2,400 employees, the local textile giant was Fall River’s largest private employer. As 1998 came to an
end, the company announced its plan to build a 1.3 million square-foot plant at the southern end of
Jefferson Street. The project would require 60 acres of land and, upon completion, would employ an
additional 1,800 workers. Quaker planned to invest $36 million in the project.
However fortunes changed and from November 2003 to June 2007, the company shed some 1,700 jobs in
Massachusetts. In October 2006 Quaker Fabric Corp. announced it was opening an upholstery fabric mill in
China with partner Hangzhou Zhongwang Fabric Products Co. The mill was announced as a state-of-the-art
fabric finishing and post-finishing plant slated to begin production in November 2006. [Herald News.]
Quaker lost money for several years and finally, on August 20, 2007, Quaker Fabrics filed for bankruptcy.
Sources:
National Textile Association Webpage http://www.nationaltextile.org/nta/history/quaker.htm. Accessed March
25, 2008.
The Herald News, Fall River, Mass., October 21, 2006.
http://www.answers.com/topic/quaker-fabric-corp?cat=biz-fin Quaker Fabric Corporation. Accessed March 25,
2008.
Quaker Fabric began as Vertipile, Inc., a flocked fabric company founded by Clive E. Hockmeyer in 1939 in
Lowell, MA. What later would become the home location for Quaker began operations in 1945 as General
Textile Mills, a small family-owned fabric mill in Fall River. The name changed to Quaker Fabric at the end of
1979, following a merger with a sales company that operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Providence Pile
Fabric. In 1984 Vertipile acquired Quaker Fabric Corp.
Larry Liebenow and partners acquired Quaker Fabric in 1989. The company grew to become one of the largest
producers of jacquard upholstery fabric in the world as well as producer of specialty yarns, both for its own
fabrics and for sales to other fabric manufacturers. The company prospered in the 1990s. According to a March
22, 2006 account in The Herald News of Fall River:
With 2,400 employees, the local textile giant was Fall River’s largest private employer. As 1998 came to an
end, the company announced its plan to build a 1.3 million square-foot plant at the southern end of
Jefferson Street. The project would require 60 acres of land and, upon completion, would employ an
additional 1,800 workers. Quaker planned to invest $36 million in the project.
However fortunes changed and from November 2003 to June 2007, the company shed some 1,700 jobs in
Massachusetts. In October 2006 Quaker Fabric Corp. announced it was opening an upholstery fabric mill in
China with partner Hangzhou Zhongwang Fabric Products Co. The mill was announced as a state-of-the-art
fabric finishing and post-finishing plant slated to begin production in November 2006. [Herald News.]
Quaker lost money for several years and finally, on August 20, 2007, Quaker Fabrics filed for bankruptcy.
Sources:
National Textile Association Webpage http://www.nationaltextile.org/nta/history/quaker.htm. Accessed March
25, 2008.
The Herald News, Fall River, Mass., October 21, 2006.
http://www.answers.com/topic/quaker-fabric-corp?cat=biz-fin Quaker Fabric Corporation. Accessed March 25,
2008.