Surfwear and other makers of action sportswear did their part to prop up employment at Orange County’s largest apparel companies in the past year.
Hot brands such as Costa Mesa-based Paul Frank Industries Inc., Volcom, also of Costa Mesa, and Irvine-based Billabong USA posted gains in local employment. That helped drive a 4% overall increase at the 25 biggest apparel makers here, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The companies on last year’s list showed a 1% gain in jobs.
Together, the companies added 403 jobs for a total of 10,102 local workers. Seven companies didn’t give figures and are Business Journal estimates.
The biggest news this past year: acquisitions.
No. 2 Alstyle Apparel & ActiveWear Manufacturing Co., which counts an estimated 1,600 workers in Anaheim, is being bought by Midlothian, Texas-based Ennis Inc., a maker of business forms.
The deal caught some by surprise because it mixes clothes and business forms. But there’s a common thread: Earlier this year, Chicago-based Centrum Equities Inc., a private equity firm, bought Alstyle. Centrum also owns Dayton, Ohio-based Crabar/GBF, a maker of forms and labels. Ennis is buying Crabar/GBF, too.
Last week, Australia’s Billabong International Ltd., parent company of No. 7 Billabong USA, closed its buy of Palmers Surf Co., also of Australia.
And this summer, New York-based Warnaco Group Inc. bought Irvine-based Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp., whose clothing license is handled by No. 19 Irvine-based Rays Apparel.
Of the companies on the list that reported employment, 12 posted gains, one reported no change and four reported fewer workers.
Morning Sun Shirt Co. of Garden Grove, which was the only newcomer to the list at No. 15, has 130 local workers. Morning Sun did not provide the number of employees from a year earlier and so its percentage change could not be calculated.
Perennial No. 1 Irvine-based St. John Knits International Inc. saw a 2% gain to 2,787 local workers. This past year, the upscale women’s clothier continued to streamline production, closing a 25,000-square-foot sewing factory in Van Nuys. The plant had some 225 workers. About 180 were offered positions in other St. John factories, including in Irvine.
The company also got a new chief executive, Richard Cohen, former president of the North American arm of Italy’s Gruppo Ermenegildo Zegna. Cohen came on board in August, replacing Bruce Fetter and Kelly Gray, daughter of St. John founders Robert and Marie Gray.
The two had served as co-chief executives. Fetter, chief operating officer, oversees production and finance. Gray, creative director and the company’s signature model, handles advertising, merchandising, sales and retail.
On the apparel front, St. John signed a swimwear licensing pact with No. 5 Tustin-based Raj Manufacturing Inc. It also has made strides to attract younger women to its clothes, which are a staple of professional women and socialites.
Alstyle held the No. 2 spot at an estimated 1,600 workers. Alstyle makes T-shirts, pants and shirts for big names such as Nike Inc., Guess? Inc. and Gap Inc.’s Old Navy. It also designs and produces its own sportswear and T-shirts under the Murina, Gaziani and AAA names.
How Alstyle’s acquisition by Ennis will play out is unclear. Getting any details out of the secretive apparel maker is difficult. And Ennis isn’t talking until the deal closes in coming weeks.
The company did say it sees Alstyle bumping Ennis’ annual sales to $525 million, up from $259 million in 2003.
Rounding out the top five: No. 3 Quiksilver Inc. in Huntington Beach is estimated at 1,390 OC workers, and No. 4 Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. saw a slight dip in workers, down 2% to 1,154 people.
Companies on the list that saw increases include No. 6 Santa Ana-based T-shirt maker Melmarc Products Inc., which posted a 25% increase in workers to 300.
“It is much busier this year than it has been over the last couple of years,” Chief Executive Brian Hirth said. “It’s not anything that has been earth-shattering. It’s actually a nice growth.”
Melmarc, which makes screen printed T-shirts and sweatshirts for many of OC’s surfwear brands, added positions in operations to handle new equipment, Hirth said.
The company also added jobs in customer service to track production in China, where contractors are making blank fleece sweatshirts and T-shirts, Hirth said.
No. 7 Billabong, which moved up a spot from last year, saw a 25% jump to 288 workers. The gain came mainly from growth at Billabong and its Element and Von Zipper units. The company also added some local workers earlier this year after it bought Hawaii-based Honolua Surf Co., a 19-store retail chain.
Other big jumpers: No. 13 Paul Frank, which launched a new line for kids and saw a 34% gain to 134 workers; and No. 9 La Jolla Sport USA Inc., which makes clothes under license from Lost and O’Neill and jumped 33% to 200 workers.
Among the decliners: No. 14 Costa Mesa-based Hurley International LLC, a Nike Inc. unit that saw a 34% drop to 133 workers, mainly because it shifted its warehouse to Irvine and contracted with Palo Alto-based CNF Inc.’s Menlo Worldwide to run it. Hurley ranked No. 9 last year.
No. 23 Santa Ana-based Funny Bunny Corp., which makes upscale kids’ clothes under the cachcach brand, posted a 33% drop to 60 workers.
The change is part of a restructuring, in which the company has shifted some of its production overseas to counter hikes in workers’ compensation insurance and a national shakeout among children’s boutiques.
Orange-based National Headwear, which counts 20 workers, down from 30, didn’t qualify and dropped from the list after appearing at No. 25 last year.
