“West End Knitwear Ltd.”, one of the biggest knitwear factories in Ireland is transferring its production facilities to Siauliai, a town in Northern Lithuania.

The Lithuanian company “Kildaris” named after an Irish town of Kildare will knit sweaters from natural wool for the Irish and US markets. “Kildaris” purchased 1,300 m2 production facilities and started to knit traditional Irish sweaters a month ago. “West End Knitwear Ltd.” transferred their production facilities to Siauliai because of cost-effective labour and of the mad cow disease spreading in the West. As the main market for the Irish company is the USA, they want to have their production facilities in a country that is free from BSE” said Mr.Saulius Gabrys, Director General and owner of “Kildaris”. The joint Lithuanian-Irish project was implemented in 4 months. Lithuanians invested USD 50,000 in production facilities, whereas the Irish company brought the equipment and trained the specialists. Up to now a half of the Irish factory has been transferred to Siauliai. The rest will come in July. The value of the equipment is USD 1 million. “Kildaris” will employ 40 people and will knit 20,000 sweaters per month.