Employees at two locations of an apparel industry in Glasgow were informed Friday morning they will be losing their jobs next year.

Carhartt, a company that manufactures work wear, has announced the closing of its two Glasgow facilities, a distribution center at 40 Aberdeen Drive and a sortation operation at 702 Happy Valley Road. The closures will affect approximately 100 jobs locally.

“As difficult as this is for Carhartt, the decision to close these facilities will allow the company to streamline business processes to better meet the fast-paced demands of our customers and consumers now and into the future,” Richard Linville, vice president of distribution and logistics for Carhartt, said in a Friday morning press release. “We notified our Glasgow associates this morning of the news and will continue face-to-face conversations throughout the next few days,” he added.

Bryan Adams, local plant manager, confirmed employees were informed of the company’s decision at 10 a.m. Friday, but referred all other questions to Carhartt’s corporate headquarters in Dearborn, Mich.

“The date for official closing has not yet been determined, but it will be in mid-March (of 2010),” said Lindy Bleau, public relations spokesperson for Carhartt.

The announcement caught local officials by surprise. Carhartt had given no advance warning to them as recently as last month when they had communications with the business that this move was coming.

“Nobody notified me of it,” Glasgow Mayor Darrell Pickett said Friday afternoon. “There was no indication from Carhartt of any problems.”

City clerk/administrator Sheila Oliver said the only reason she and her staff members found out Friday about it was because local Carhartt employees started calling city hall after they were notified of the impending closures.

Carhartt is a privately owned and managed company so Bleau would not answer any questions about financial information such as employee payroll or local yearly earnings, but Oliver said the two facilities paid a total combined amount of $105,314 last year to the city for taxes on net profits, payroll, tangibles and property. That is revenue the city will lose from its annual coffers during a time when Glasgow officials have already been struggling to cut costs and manage a dwindling budget.

Although Carhartt gave no advance warning to area officials before notifying employees Friday, the company was under no legal obligation to do so. Federal law requires only that companies give 60 days notice before permanently closing their doors, according to Oliver.

“I’m startled. This came as a complete surprise,” said Dan Iacconi, executive director of Glasgow-Barren County Industrial Development Economic Authority. “And with this magnitude of loss of jobs it will have an economic impact on the community.”

Operations will continue as normal until March, according to Bleau, but she said company officials felt that it was important to notify associates of the closures as soon as possible so they would have a transition period to make decisions affecting their families.

Local employees will be given the option of transferring to another Carhartt facility in Hanson north of Madisonville, which is approximately two hours away from Glasgow, Bleau said. The Hanson operation is the largest customer service center and distribution warehouse Carhartt has in Kentucky and ships their premium work wear to retailers.

Bleau said she was unsure how long a time frame associates would have to decide about relocating, but assumed that they would be given an ample amount of time.

“My immediate heartfelt thoughts go out to the employees and their families,” Iacconi said.