Hathaway Closes Maine Factory, Last Major U.S. Shirt Plant

America’s industrial revolution was launched in the early 19th century by men like Francis Cabot Lowell, who set up textile mills with technology copied from Great Britain. Some textile mills still operate in the South, but the closure of the US’s last major shirt maker marks the end of an era in a globalizing world where production is perpetually in search of low-cost labor and rent. Continually dropping freight costs have made geographic distance less and less of a factor. The Hathaway brand name will live on, but the products will now be made in developing countries. - YaleGlobal