NORTH SMITHFIELD – A wool-making manufacturing plant at 582 Great Road has expanded capabilities with the acquisition of a Maine-based yarn company.
The Brickle Group also made investments in its textile division this year, establishing a yarn plying operation at the North Smithfield plant.
Operating as Hyman Brickle and Son Inc., the business recently acquired Family Yarns based in Etna, Maine. The Maine-based company reportedly specializes in coarser count yarns in a variety of fiber types, and the purchase adds 1 million pounds of woolen spinning capacity to support Brickle’s yarn needs.
Founded in 1936, Brickle provides berets, blankets and cold weather gear to the Department of Defense, also selling industrial nonwovens, trading raw materials and recycling waste fiber. A division of Brickle’s larger operations on Singleton Street in Woonsocket, the North Smithfield facility is situated on a 13.58 acre property that holds a single-story 474,000-square-foot multi-tenant industrial building.
Under the name Sam-Man Realty, the company also owns a 42.9 acre property on the Branch River that includes a roughly 10,000-square-foot building, a solar array and a 1,000 square foot garage; two vacant lots off the North Smithfield Expressway totaling roughly 9 acres; a 12.6 acre lot off School Street; 2.1 acres on Paine Street; 18.32 acres on Great Road and .224 acres on Brookside Drive.
The recent expansion reportedly opens the door for Brickle to supply yarns to external textile companies while also meeting internal demands.
“Our commitment to vertical integration and enhancing our value-added services continues with these investments,” said President Max Brickle in a release. “We are excited about the opportunities that the Family Yarns acquisition and our new plying operation will bring to our clients and partners in the textile industry.”
The acquisition follows improvements to the North Smithfield operations earlier this year that will allow Brickle to offer 2-for-1 twisting up to 4-ply to cater to companies requiring specialized yarns.
This is GREAT news for North Smithfield. Thank you.