Homtex CEO Jerry Wootten speaks about the company's shift to mask production and its repayment of a $1.5 million loan from the Cullman Industrial Development Board, Cullman County Industrial Development Board and the City of Cullman.

Less than two months after receiving a $1.5 million loan from the City of Cullman and the county’s two industrial development boards, HomTex announced Wednesday that it has already paid back that amount plus interest.

HomTex received the loan in April to help the company make a $5 million capital investment to shift its production to disposable masks, and company CEO Jerry Wootten and President Jeremy Wootten presented a check for $1,505,041.67 at a ceremony on Wednesday. 

Jeremy Wootten said the loan allowed for the down payment on 15 production lines that will be able to produce 400 million masks per year once they are in place and ready for production — which should be in July. That will make HomTex the largest domestic producer of masks in the United States.

Coming with that extra production will be more jobs for the area, as HomTex will be adding between 80-120 jobs with wages that will start above the industry standard wage of $17 per hour, he said. 

HomTex has already been producing washable cloth masks using its existing equipment and materials, and the company has sold more than 1.5 million of those masks in the last few months, Jeremy Wootten said. 

Those masks have gone to businesses, government bodies, schools and individuals in all 50 states and in Canada, and while they were originally meant to fill a short-term need, the washable masks will also become a permanent fixture for the company going forward, he said.

Cullman Economic Development Agency Director Dale Greer said there were 50 different companies that were looking to purchase the 15 production machines and HomTex had to make a down payment within 24 hours to secure the machines for themselves. 

Because it was such short notice, the Woottens were unable to go through their usual financing options, so they reached out to city for assistance, he said. 

Because the city council is unable to provide a loan to a company without going through several legal procedures, the industrial boards were the first to step up and provide the funding and the city later approved the loan that passed the money through the industrial development boards to HomTex, Greer said.

“You just had to have trust that it was going to be there,” he said. “It was a little unusual, none of us had ever done anything like that, but it is special I think because of the private partnership that will pay a lot of dividends in the future.”

Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs also praised the cooperation between the city and the industrial development boards, because the boards put the money up front while trusting the city council to later approve the loan.

“They did that on good faith that the city of Cullman would back them up,” he said.

He said the news of that loan did draw some phone calls from residents who didn’t like the council’s decision to loan the money to HomTex, but all of the partnerships and cooperation between the different entities involved have proved that it was the right decision. 

“I couldn’t be prouder to make something like this happen,” he said. “I’m telling you guys, this is what makes Cullman, Cullman.”

Jerry Wootten, who founded HomTex in 1985, thanked Jacobs and the members of the Cullman City Council, the members of the city and county industrial development boards, Dale Greer and the rest of the Cullman Economic Development Agency, State Sen. Garlan Gudger and others at the state level who all worked together to make this possible for HomTex. 

“They stepped up and did what it took,” he said. “This is an excellent example of public and private working together, and also the city and county, everybody came together as a team to make this happen.”

Tyler Hanes can be reached at 256-734-2131 ext. 238.