Local mill making Army's new camouflage

FALL RIVER, Mass (WPRI) - Duro Textiles, a Fall River company, is producing a new camouflage pattern that will be used to make uniforms for troops fighting in Afghanistan.

The new design is necessary because the current camouflage does not provide adequate cover for soldiers.

"They (the Army) are saying 'We need to get this on our troops as fast as possible," Duro Textiles C.E.O. Edward Ricci tells Eyewitness News.

Duro Textiles and it's employees are working overtime to create enough of the camouflage to meet the demand.

"They know what it's about," Ricci says, referring to how his employees view the importance of the project. "When you go to them and say 'We need 12 hours a day, we need 7 days a week.... This is for our troops...' They get it and they want to work hard because of that."

The mission hits especially close to home for Duro Textiles employee Greg Soares, who lost his brother in the 1983 terrorist attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

"We're not just flipping burgers or sending fabric to a regular arts and crafts show," Soares says. "This is more important."

The order will take several months to fill, and it's is expected to keep several hundred employees on the job.