Orange County’s largest apparel makers bounced back from job losses a year ago to add nearly 400 workers in the past 12 months.
The 25 largest apparel makers here saw a 4% gain in local employment for a total of 10,257 workers, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
On last year’s list, the apparel makers saw a 3% drop in OC employment.
The county’s biggest apparel names led the gains.
Irvine-based women’s clothier St. John Knits International Inc. easily held on to the No. 1 spot on the list with a 1% gain to 2,283 OC workers.
The maker of women’s suits is regrouping after a failed bid to court younger women under former chief executive Richard Cohen, who left abruptly earlier this year.
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Cohen since has been replaced by interim Chief Executive Philip Miller, a St. John director. Cofounder and former designer Marie Gray is back at the design studio as a consultant helping to woo back disenchanted customers.
At No. 2 is Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. with 1,650 OC workers, up 4% from a year earlier.
The maker of clothes inspired by surfing and skateboarding saw local employment jump with sales growth and with last year’s buy of France’s Skis Rossignol SA, which had owned golf club maker Cleveland Golf Co. in Huntington Beach.
No. 3 Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. also saw a big jump in employment. The maker of sunglasses, clothes and shoes counts 1,272 OC workers, up 8% from a year ago.
Earlier this year, Oakley bought Los Angeles-based Oliver Peoples Inc. and Aliso Viejo-based Optical Shop of Aspen, two store operators selling upscale glasses.
Oakley also has added people as part of its bid to sell more clothes for women.
Oakley, Quiksilver, and, to a lesser extent, St. John, accounted for half of the new jobs on the list.
The list includes 10 estimates for companies that didn’t provide local employment numbers. The biggest: No. 4 Alstyle Apparel Inc. in Anaheim, which is pegged at 1,000 local workers.
The company, owned by Texas-based Ennis Inc., makes blank T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts that other clothing companies use to make their own lines by slapping on logos, graphics and even jewelry and lace.
Customers include Quiksilver, Foot Locker Inc. and its Champs Sports unit, and Nike Inc. Alstyle also sells clothes under its own labels and does work for professional sports leagues.
Alstyle recently was tapped by Independence, Mo.-based Dunbrooke Apparel Corp. to distribute golf shirts, jackets and other clothes for Reebok International Ltd.
The move is one of the latest under Alstyle President Todd Scarborough, who took over in 2005.
He came from Alstyle’s Chicago office, where he was vice president of sales and marketing.
Scarborough has made a series of moves to help the company grow under parent Ennis, which bought Alstyle in 2004 for $242 million.
Gains were spread throughout the list.
Among them: No. 6 Lake Forest-based Sole Technology Inc., a maker of skateboarding-inspired shoes and clothes, up 8% to 387 OC workers; and No. 7 Irvine-based Billabong USA, up 9% to 381 OC workers.
Sole Technology added people to help with a new apparel brand, Altamont, and beefed up staffing for its other brands, including etnies.
No. 8 Santa Ana-based Melmarc Products Inc., which makes T-shirts for surfwear companies, grew its local work force by 21% to 362.
Melmarc had a rough 2005, Chief Executive Brian Hirth said. But business has picked up this year with existing customers, he said.
“We’ve been having a strong year,” Hirth said.
Melmarc, which closed a plant in Mexico in 2005, hired 62 people this year after laying off some workers last year, according to Hirth.
The company posted the biggest percentage gain in employees on the list.
Another big percentage gainer was No. 10 Costa Mesa-based Volcom Inc., which grew local workers 14% to 214. Volcom was up 31% to 307 companywide workers.
Volcom has expanded with sales gains and its effort to take over sales of its clothes in Europe from distributors.
Only one company reported a decline in local employment: No. 15 Anaheim-based AST Sportswear Inc., a maker of T-shirts, golf shirts, fleece and other products that saw a 20-person, 12% decline to 150 workers.
AST Chief Operating Officer Abdul Rashid said the company slowly has let go of workers amid high labor costs here.
It opened a 13,000-square-foot plant last year in Tennesse, he said.
“It’s no longer a friendly state for manufacturing,” Rashid said of California.
AST plans to keep its headquarters here, he said.
