The 25 largest apparel companies in Orange County,an eclectic mix of businesses that design and produce everything from upscale dresses and suits to surfwear and sunglasses,are riding a wave.
In the past year, the companies have grown their local employment 10% to 9,070 jobs. Company-wide, the apparel makers added nearly 1,000 new jobs, a 6% increase, to 17,154.
The list includes big-name apparel designers such as Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. as well as lower-profile clothing manufacturers such as Anaheim’s Alstyle Apparel/A & G; Inc. Also this year, the list includes fashion behemoth Oakley Inc., which along with its trademark sunglasses now produces apparel, watches and shoes.
Many of the apparel makers are privately held and declined to disclose revenue. Among the 11 companies on the list with revenue figures, including Business Journal estimates, sales for the past year are up 10% to $2.76 billion.
By far, the county’s No. 1 apparel company is Irvine-based St. John Knits Inc. with 3,038 OC employees and 4,398 across the company. The upscale women’s clothing company operates 21 St. John boutiques and counted sales of $326.5 million for the 12 months ended July 31, a 10% increase from the prior period.
The family-run business, co-founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Robert E. Gray and Vice Chairman and Chief Designer Marie St. John Gray, sells a range of high-end knit sportswear and other products. St. John also licenses its name for eyewear and operates two home-furnishing stores.
At No. 2 is Alstyle Apparel/A & G;, which makes T-shirts, sweat shirts, pants and shirts for names such as Nike, Old Navy, Converse and Guess? Employment at Alstyle has grown by 31% in the past year, or by 300 employees, for a total of 1,700 workers in OC. Company wide, the company employs 1,903. Alstyle recently signed a $10.5 million lease for a new 200,000-square-foot building at 1601 Cerritos Ave. in Anaheim. Privately held Alstyle is consolidating operations from six other OC sites into the new location as well as at its main 575,000-square-foot operation on Anaheim Boulevard.
Besides private-label clothing, Alstyle designs and produces its own sportswear and T-shirts under the brands Murina, Hyland and AAA. The company also has production facilities in Mexico and distribution centers in Chicago and Atlanta.
Foothill Ranch-based Oakley ranks third on the list with 850 employees and $300 million in sales for the 12 months ended June 30. The company continues to expand into footwear and apparel categories. In September, Oakley launched its new expanded fall line of apparel featuring specialty technical fabrics. The company’s apparel line has tripled this year to about 90 items from a year ago.
Oakley’s fall 2000 line, which consists of nine styles, is set to expand with five new styles for spring. The company also is in talks to sell its wares in new stores, including those of Recreational Equipment Inc., or REI, The Finish Line Inc. and The Athlete’s Foot Group Inc.
No. 4 Quiksilver reigns as the largest surfwear company on the list with 819 local employees and $488.6 million in annual sales for the 12 months ended June 30. The company, which also operates a chain of Boardriders Club stores, launched a new line for women this year called Alex Goes. Also, as part of an acquisition strategy, Quiksilver acquired Hawk Designs Inc. in April for entr & #233;e into the skateboarding apparel category. Other Quiksilver segments include snowboard apparel, boots and hard goods and swimwear.
Raj Manufacturing Inc., a Tustin-based designer and manufacturer of swimwear, ranks No. 5 on the list with 350 employees. The company, which is planning a 22,000-square-foot expansion of its operations, makes clothes under its own private labels,Athena Collection, Athena Pick Your Fit, Rajman,and licenses the Guess? brand for women’s and girls swimwear.
The biggest percentage growth in employment came at No. 10 Anaheim-based AST Sportswear. Surfwear’s popularity is one factor that helped AST boost its ranks 65% to 140 employees, said director Abdul Rashid. Among AST’s top clients: Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., Sole Technology Inc. of Lake Forest, which is No. 11 on the list, and Billabong USA of Irvine, No. 12 on the list.
AST also does production for private label products for retailers, Rashid said, and produces T-shirts under the brands Bay Side and Bay Side for Kids. The company’s growth has been the result of expanding product lines and aggressive marketing in the past year, he said. The company is looking to add another 75,000 to 100,000 square feet of space in Anaheim, he added.
“We have focused on our industry and are going after different areas of business that we are not currently selling,” Rashid said.
No. 8 Garden Grove-based Bodywaves Inc. was another job gainer, posting a 13% increase to 170 local employees. The company does the bulk of its business under its own Bodywaves, B Pro and AKS-AMY brands. About 40% comes by way of designing private label sportswear for stores including Target Corp. and its Mervyn’s unit, Wal-Mart stores Inc. and Kmart Corp. In the past year, the company launched a new women’s surfwear brand, Elleven, which brought on about a dozen employees.
Billabong USA grew its staff by 20% to 130 employees this year, and could grow further through potential acquisitions after its Australian parent’s August debut on the Australian Stock Exchange. The local operations, which recently launched its first swimwear and watch lines, account for roughly half of the company’s total revenue.
In all, 18 of the 25 companies boosted local employment in the past year. Four reported no change. Three companies reported decreases in OC jobs: No. 7 Tustin-based Crazy Shirts Inc., down 13% to 175 OC workers; No. 20 Ederal Sportswear Inc. of Irvine, down 17% to 76 local employees; and No. 24 Anaheim-based Jammin, off 7% to 70 OC workers.
The cuts at Ederal came at its recently licensed Gotcha International business, said Don Daley, Ederal’s chief operating officer. The company, formed last year by snowboard apparel company Snowmass Apparel Inc., also licenses the GirlStar and MCD brands.
The company has been working to bolster its Gotcha business and streamline production, Daley said.
The “focus is on getting the product done on time and shipped on time into the hands of sales representatives,” he said. n
