November 17, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Omega Apparel Incorporated was once a thriving garment factory in Smithville and the new company that has succeeded Omega hopes to make it flourish again.
620 Pelham, Inc. has begun operations in both buildings near downtown where Omega Apparel operated until recently deciding to go out of business after experiencing hard times.
The factory still produces Broadfall trousers for the US Navy although that contract is ending after the first of the year and it supplies three Goretex garments including pants and parkas under a sub-contract for the east Tennessee based Valley Apparel, LLC.
In a meeting Thursday, plant manager Amanda Callis and consultant Dick Chase, a former owner of Omega during its glory days, brought employees up to date on plans for the new industry. Chase also spoke with the local media afterwards.
With employment currently at just over 100, Chase said the factory plans to expand its commercial work and land more government contracts from the defense department for the US military and to eventually employ up to perhaps another 150 people. Hiring has already begun and anyone interested in a job can apply in person at the factory office on South Mountain Street.
“We need to get the labor pool started now in order to do some advanced training. We have just hired a half dozen people already to build on that Goretex line and when we get all the garments we are looking at doing we will probably have another 150 people,” said Chase.
“The word is back out that we are producing again and its just amazing what has happened. A buying group for the defense department is extremely interested in us getting up right away and we were contacted this morning (Thursday) about another company wanting us to do garments for them. They (defense department) have had some real difficulties because companies like Omega have gone out of business causing their supply chain to shrink. But now is a rebirth time for us (620 Pelham) to come back and do really spectacular things as before. Omega had an outstanding stellar reputation with the defense department and they depended on us for a lot of their production because we produced excellent quality work and did it fast. It was amazing how well we did it. We had some good structure to make it happen but it was all due to our employees,” continued Chase.
The California based company which owns 620 Pelham recently signed a two year lease including renewal options with the county industrial development board and the City of Smithville which owns the buildings where the factory operates. The company has 30 plus years of experience with operations in Mexico and Taiwan as well as the United States producing first quality sports apparel and other garments.
Why the name 620 Pelham?
“This is a name the owners started to incorporate for another opportunity. That didn’t work out but they still had the incorporation papers so they just applied that to this factory,” said Chase. The name is expected to eventually become 620 Pelham, Inc. DBA Omega USA.
Prior to Omega Apparel, the factory was owned by Tennessee Apparel. Chase and Brian Roberge bought the company in 1994 and started Omega.
“Tennessee Apparel started in 1988. I came to them in 1990 and worked for them until 1994 and they decided to go back to small business. Brian and I stepped up and bought it and the company became known as Omega Apparel in 1994,” said Chase.
Omega was still a successful company when Chase and Roberge sold it in 2012 and the ownership later changed again.
Although Chase and Roberge are not part of the new ownership team, they have been brought in as consultants for the new company.