| Turn the lights out! The last of Ritchie County's garment factories has been
destroyed by the North American Free Trade Act, according to owner Lee
Biles.
"It wasn't because of the people ... It's just because we couldn't get the work," he
said.
Biles said, even though workers in Ritchie County were working for low-end
wages, the garments can be made in Mexico 75% cheaper.
His company - Five B's - tried to compete by promoting their garments were made
in America.
It didn't work.
Ritchie County once had several garment plants, now gone.
Kellwood, the former Spencer Manufacturing Company, which once supplied several hundred jobs to regional workers, was among other garment makers that shifted to Mexico. | 
