By Haidee V. Eugenio
Variety Assistant Editor

TOP Fashion Corp. will close its garment factory in Tanapag on July 2, bringing to 15 the number of factories on Saipan to close since the Jan. 2005 liberalization of trade rules that now allow Third World countries to export their garment products to the U.S.
The factory, which manufactures apparel for Sears, among other retailers, has about 300 nonresident and resident workers.
The management gave its employees notice of the factory closure on Thursday.
All 15 factories that closed or are closing said they were no longer able to compete with the low wages paid by other countries. These countries, which pay much less than the CNMI’s hourly minimum wage of $3.05, can now export their cheaper garments to the U.S.
Apparel orders from U.S. retailers have gone down, which las led to continuous workforce reductions among the remaining garment factories on Saipan.
Yesterday, some of the workers were seen carrying appliances and other household items out of their barracks in Tanapag in the factory compound to be sold to either their relatives or others in the community. Three of them comfirmed that the company was closing on July 2 and that was why they had to dispose of their things.
“I fell sad that the factory is closing. Now I have to find another job. It’s hard to find jobs these days especially for contract workers,” said another employee who had been working at Top Fashion Corp.’s sister-garment factory, Handsome (Saipan) Inc., which closed in July 2006.
“It’s been less than a year since I was transferred here and now Top Fashion is also closing,” said the 37-year-old nonresident worker, adding that they have been paid on time by the management.
When Handsome (Saipan) Inc. in Tanapag closed last year, over a hundred of its workers were moved to Top Fashion through consensual transfers.
Garment industry sales dropped by $170 million or 26 percent — from $662.7 million in calendar year 2005 to $492.16 million in 2006. The latest sales figures indicate a steep drop from the over $1 billion annual sales during the garment industry’s peak years of 1999 and 2000.
The government forecasts much lower garment sales for fiscal year 2007 which ends in September.