Activewear Takes 300,000 SF of Former VF Factory

MARTINSVILLE, VA-Start-up company Activewear Inc. has chosen to open its new 300,000-sf textile manufacturing plant in the former VF Imagewear knitting facility on Walker Rd. A creation of one-time VF officials, Activewear will bring over 400 new jobs to Henry County, thereby replacing a significant number of the 2,300 jobs that were lost when VF shut the doors of the 840,000-sf facility earlier this year. The new company will spend $5 million to get its facility up and running.

Before settling on Virginia, Activewear officials had considered opening its plant in either Georgia, North Carolina, or South Carolina. “The state and the community have a rich history of producing quality products,” company president Ken Schrang explains of the decision to go with Virginia. “The combination of a trained workforce and the can-do attitude from the state and community led us to believe that Virginia and, specifically, Henry County is the best place for us to do business.”