Clothing Factory

A large textile factory on the city’s main thoroughfare. It was built in the late socialist period and produced a wide variety of clothing. The factory retained its function even after the fall of the regime, when counterfeit versions of well-known Western brands were turned out here. The ground floor was occupied by tenants unrelated to garment production — an auto repair shop among them. The building is a massive five-storey block with two staircases and two lifts.

The upper floors have preserved cutting and sewing tables, sacks of rags and fabric, heaps of defective clothing, stocks of buttons, zippers and thread reels, boxes of labels and tags, and mannequins. Numerous documents are scattered throughout. There are also plaques and inscriptions in socialist graphic style — occupational safety notices for lift users and quotes from Enver Hoxha on the necessity of fulfilling one’s duty to the homeland.

Mobile phone antennas stand on the roof. The building is completely abandoned but surrounded by a fence; on the gates, faded signs in Albanian read “no entry” and “private property.” On the second floor someone keeps a chained dog — it barks, but no one comes at the sound. A small building on the grounds houses an active warehouse, so the gates are sometimes thrown wide open. There is no one at the checkpoint; the booth looks abandoned.