SAS Shoemakers yesterday said it will close its Pittsfield factory and lay off its 145 employees.
The factory will close because demand for the kind of shoes it makes ˆ– ones with hand-stitching and harder, glossy leather ˆ– have declined in recent years, Janice Thomson, an SAS spokesperson, told Mainebiz this morning. The San Antonio, Texas-based company expects to close the factory, its only one in Maine, by the end of the summer, according to a press release.
The company will lay off employees in shifts starting April 14. It plans to offer every employee six weeks of severance pay or more, depending on how long they’ve worked at the plant, the release said.
