Woolen Blanket-Faribault Mills blanket company in danger of closing

 News comes from: Visional textile(Ningbo)industrial corp

        Faribault Mills, the 143-year-old blanket-making company  which product huge numble fleece blankets in Faribault, is in danger of closing unless it gets government aid, the Faribault Daily News reports.

      The company owes back rent and $140,000 in unpaid water bills, the paper says, and Faribault Mills CEO Mike Harris said in an e-mail to the City Council that employees could be locked out of the property “within days.”

      The company wants full or partial forgiveness of the utility bill so that it may secure further investments.

      Harris said in his e-mail to the city that the company has a “huge backlog” of orders and that he has already leveraged $1 million of his personal assets to keep the company afloat.

      “Should the mill go down, (so) does my family and home. If anyone thinks this effort is anything but respecting history, keeping and creating jobs and making money you are sorely wrong,” Harris wrote. (News comes from: Visional textile)

      Without help from City Hall or state or federal funding, Harris wrote, “Minnesota’s oldest company will probably be forced to close.”

      On its website, the company says it produces more than half of the new wool blankets and woolen blankets made in this country.