Community

Loan Helps Textile Manufacturer Expand

Fall River, MA – MassDevelopment has provided a $1 million equipment loan from the CARES Act Revolving Loan Fund to Merrow Manufacturing, which will use funds to support the first phase of a major expansion and buy equipment, including a high-speed spreader/cutter machine and an ultrasonic machine for seaming and lamination, that will modernize the company’s manufacturing operations.

Merrow Manufacturing, together with its affiliate Merrow Sewing Machine Company, Inc., is a textile manufacturer located in Fall River that specializes in the construction of technical sewn products. The company is a member of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Manufacturing Emergency Response Team and has been at the forefront of Massachusetts’ pandemic response as one of the Commonwealth’s producers of personal protective equipment (PPE). Merrow Manufacturing, which currently employs approximately 235 employees, and expects to create an additional 150 new jobs in the next three years.

The 2020 CARES Act authorized the U.S. Economic Development Administration to make grants to entities like MassDevelopment to capitalize revolving loan funds that make loans to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.