Pendleton Woolen Mills cuts back

A Pendleton Woolen Mills loom technician makes adjustments on one of the Washougal mill’s eight weaving machines. The Washougal mill produces blankets and woolen fabric. (Files/The Columbian)

Pendleton Woolen Mills, which operates a mill employing 182 in Washougal, is reorganizing its production profile and cutting its work force in the face of continued weak markets.

The Portland-based company, famed for its colorful woven blankets, rich woolen fabrics and clothing, is cutting costs, laying off 43 workers and moving its yarn-making operation from Pendleton, Ore. to Washougal, company officials said.

Many of the permanent layoffs will come at the 100-year-old company's mill in Pendleton. The company also announced pay cuts for all employees earning more than $50,000 a year, although it did not say how large the cuts would be.

The company employs 900 people nationwide, most of them in Washington and Oregon.

"The prolonged decline in consumer spending has affected all of our channels, including retail, catalog and wholesale," President Mort Bishop III told the Associated Press on Wednesday. "As a result of that, we are forced to look at reducing expenses, streamlining our organization and eliminating redundancies and duplication."

Woolen mills have practically vanished across the United States, but Pendleton has managed to survive. It has crafted commemorative blankets for national parks, furnished blankets for athletes in the Olympics and given one to every president since Warren Harding.

"It's such a recognizable name," Pendleton Mayor Phil Houk said. "That business provides us name recognition throughout the country. That is part of what the woolen mills is. They provide a quality product and great opportunities."

In Pendleton, the company plans to close down and move a portion of its yarn-making operation, meaning that some of those 20 jobs will move from Pendleton for Washougal. The change leaves 38 employees in dressing, weaving and sewing operations in the city where the company's blankets have been woven since 1909. The other layoffs will come from the retail division and corporate office.

The company's seven retail stores in Oregon and one in Washington will stay open. Pendleton operates an outlet store in Washougal at 2 Pendleton Way, just north of state Highway 14.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.