Kortrijkse Textiel Maatschappij
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN BELGIUM
‘Kortrijkse Textiel Maatschappij’ or ‘KTM’ was founded in 1927 by a group of Flemish industrialists. KTM produced yarns for the carpet, furniture, household and textile industries. The factory was abandoned in 2001 and demolished in 2008.
The oldest buildings dates back to 1950, the newer halls were built in the 1970s. In their peak year, during the 1980s, there were 800 employees working in the factory. The KTM company merged in 1980 with the another textile mill named ‘Algemene Fluweelweverij’. In 1995 the ‘Kortrijkse Technische Spinnerij’ was also placed under the KTM group, but it was sold again in 1997.
The 1990s are the beginning of the end of the once so flourishing cotton industry of Kortrijk. For this reason, every year more textile companies stop production in Belgium. The KTM went bankrupt in 2001 due to the growing debts the company had. Also the maintenance costs of machines and buildings were too high. I took these photos of the ‘Kortrijkse Textiel Maatschappij’ in 2007. The buildings were demolished one year later.
