The former Mitchellace Inc.’s shoelace plant is back in limited operation under new ownership, although few details of the operation were available Thursday.

A newly formed local company going by the name of Sole Choice Inc. is the new operator of the plant. It produces products for shoe and foot care. Ryan Bouts is vice president of marketing and Bryan Davis is vice president of sales.

The company was to have more information on its operations today.

Sherry Lute of Portsmouth, who was laid off by Mitchellace about two months ago, came out of the plant at 830 Murray St., Portsmouth, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and said she had been called back to work Monday.

“I’m really glad to get back to work,” she said, adding that about 10 people are working on production lines thus far.

Mitchellace began the year with about 80 employees. Nearly all of them had been furloughed by July 1 as company officials worked at ways to continue operating or to sell the firm.

Mitchellace began making shoelaces in Portsmouth in 1903. Dave Mitchell took over the factory in 1912 and ran it for the next 50 years. Kerry Keating, husband of Dave Mitchell’s granddaughter, took over operations in 1962 after Dave Mitchell died.

The firm bought the closed, six-story Williams Manufacturing Co. building in 1979 and moved operations there from the old building just down the street.

In 2003, Kerry Keating’s sons, Steve, Tom and Mitch, acquired control of the company.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 236.