Pendleton To Close Last Factory In Oregon

Pendleton Woolen Mills will close its last garment factory in Oregon and lay off 70 workers as the company continues to shrink its state presence and grow abroad.

The plant in the Portland suburb, which has made the company’s famed plaid wool shirts since 1956, lost money seven of the past 10 years, and is projected to lose more this year.

“It finally reached a point where we decided this isn’t going to get any better,” Gary Benson, Pendleton’s human resource manager, said Tuesday.

The layoffs will be spread over the next few months.

Pendleton hasn’t decided where its outdoorsy men’s shirts will be made in the future, Benson said, but “Mexico is an option.”