L A Dye Print Works Inc

One of Southern California's largest textile firms is closing its doors, citing the skyrocketing cost of natural gas for its downfall. The looming shutdown is a blow to the local fabric-making trade and underscores the larger risks facing the region's apparel industry. Pico Rivera-based L.A. Dye & Print Works Inc. will halt operations by the end of April, according to facilities manager Dennis Brimhall. The move will put about 700 employees out of work.

One of Southern California's largest textile firms is closing its doors, citing the skyrocketing cost of natural gas for its downfall. The looming shutdown is a blow to the local fabric-making trade and underscores the larger risks facing the region's apparel industry. Pico Rivera-based L.A. Dye & Print Works Inc. will halt operations by the end of April, according to facilities manager Dennis Brimhall. The move will put about 700 employees out of work.

Textile dyer Anaheim Mills Corp. has shut down, idling 125 workers and becoming the latest industry casualty tied to rising energy costs. The company, which had been operating for a dozen years, closed its doors Friday, Vice President Steven Lieberman said. Anaheim Mills' gas bill was six times higher than the previous year's, making it "impossible for us to operate," he said Monday.

1 Unocal Gas Patents May Boost Prices: The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by five major oil companies of lower court rulings that patents on cleaner-burning gasoline held by Unocal Corp. are valid. Unocal invited the losing companies--Atlantic Richfield Co. (now part of BP Amoco), Chevron USA, Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Products Co. and Texaco Refining Inc.--to negotiate a licensing fee, which the El Segundo oil company predicted would be less than 1 cent per gallon.

Investors and economists are watching anxiously for any hints of recession. But for textile dyer Helmut Ackermann and many other local manufacturers, economic meltdown has already arrived in the form of their natural gas bills. This month Ackermann will pay nearly $600,000 to stoke the massive machines needed to color and dry his customers' fabric. That's 2 1/2 times more than he paid just two months ago. And he's been warned that his rates may double again in January.

Early this year, local manufacturers such as furniture maker Larry Parnell were focused on tight labor supplies and rising wages--byproducts of a bustling economy. Then came higher interest rates, a flood of cheap imports and an energy shock that has fouled production and sent power bills soaring. Add Wall Street turmoil that has shaken consumer confidence to the core. Suddenly, it's as though someone hit the off switch on the nation's growth machine.