Coke Gets Boot From Angry Textile Workers
Coca-Cola Co. promised on Friday to try to fulfill the “all-American” promise of ads for clothes that carry its name after some textile makers learned that the garments were mostly stitched abroad and gave Coke machines the boot in retaliation.
“We made a mistake in not being aware of textile manufacturing in the United States,” Ira C. Herbert, executive vice president of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, said after meeting with North Carolina textile executives.
“We obviously were ignorant, but we are learning fast,” he said. “We intend to do all we can to move Coke clothes into U.S. production, all of them.”
Herbert met with about 50 textile executives for an hour and 45 minutes at the Yarn Spinners Assn. office here. Thousands of textile workers have been laid off because of slow sales caused by competition from lower-priced imported textiles and garments.
John Beam of McBess Industries, which has five textile plants near Bessemer City, said he would “see what happens” before putting Coke vending machines back in his plants.
“If we can’t get a company like Coca-Cola Co., a truly American company, to take notice of the textile industry, then we are in fact a lost industry,” said Albert Myers II, vice president of Ti-Caro Inc. in Gastonia.
Friday’s meeting was arranged by Marvin Griffin, president of a Charlotte-based bottling company that has the Coke franchise in the areas of North and South Carolina and southern Virginia, where the textile and apparel industries employ nearly half a million people.
Three companies already have ordered Coke machines removed from their plants, Griffin said. Others have threatened to do so.
Roger Gant of Glen Raven Mills, which has 2,500 employees in 10 plants, wrote Coca-Cola:
“I once had a dog who bit my hand when I fed him, and now it seems as if your company is doing the same thing to my company. I got rid of the dog and we will get rid of Coca-Cola Co. in our plants if it continues to bite our hands.”
Last month, Coca-Cola caved in to consumer complaints and announced that it would bring back its old soft drink formula to be sold along with the new Coke.
The latest uproar started last week when two Charlotte department stores began selling “Coca-Cola Clothes” and advertising them as all-American.
Most of the clothes were made in places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The clothes are being marketed by Murjani International, a New York company, under a retail licensing agreement with Coca-Cola that allows the use of the Coke name on Murjani products. Murjani said some of its clothing is made in this country, and the company has plans to increase that proportion.
Herbert said Coca-Cola would “move as quickly as we can” to have the clothes made in the United States and he expected Murjani to be cooperative.
Coca-Cola can’t do anything about existing clothes because Coke doesn’t own them, he said. The company entered a three-year licensing agreement with Murjani that gives Coke 9% on sales.
Under the agreement, Coca-Cola also has no control over where the clothes are made, said Randy Donaldson of Coke’s corporate public relations department. The Charlotte stores’ ads were not approved by Coke or Murjani, he told the New York Times.
Griffin said his company would refuse to do business with any retailer who stocked foreign-made Coca-Cola clothes, such as selling them displays and promotional material. He also said his firm would paint the slogan “Crafted with Pride in the USA” on its trucks.
