LaCrosse Footwear to close plant

LA CROSSE, Wis. (Nov. 28)—LaCrosse Footwear Inc. will close its Hillsboro, Wis., manufacturing facility by year-end and transfer production to China as part of a companywide consolidation plan launched in 2000. About 21 jobs will be eliminated. The employees will receive a severance package, President and CEO Joseph P. Schneider said. The plant was used as a support production factory, handling subcomponent work for the firm's rubber product manufacturing operation in La Crosse, which was sold in mid-2001. The La Crosse site also had served as the footwear maker's headquarters, which has been merged with subsidiary Danner Shoe Manufacturing Co. at its facility in Portland, Ore. LaCrosse Footwear sold its rubber and vinyl product production plant in August, ending more than 100 years of manufacturing in the city. About 139 workers lost their jobs.