A lot can happen in a year, and the past 12 months were no exception for the 53 largest apparel companies based in Orange County. The top three on this week’s Business Journal list are under new leadership, one emerged from bankruptcy, and several others have traded hands. A few firms also notched significant local staffing changes, the metric the list is based on.
Fourteen companies added workers to their OC operations, two made cuts, three kept employee counts steady, and 34 were Business Journal estimates. Together they employed a local work force of 10,624—about the same as last year—though companywide employment spiked 3.2% to more than 46,000.
The ranking is based on the year ending this month.
n Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. leads the pack, despite a 10.5% reduction in its local staff, which stands at 1,987. The sunglasses and apparel maker’s Italy-based parent, Luxottica Group SPA, took over executive duties from Oakley’s leadership, moving former Chief Executive Colin Baden into the role of chief innovation and product officer in July and parting with him in December.
Baden’s was among 400 positions that were eliminated companywide through layoffs or attrition. Oakley this month announced it will close its distribution center in Ontario and use Atlanta as its distribution hub for the Mexico, U.S. and Canada markets.
• ASICS America Corp. in Irvine, another sports apparel giant, hired Gene McCarthy as chief executive in September to replace Kevin Wulff, who retired at the end of last year.
The footwear and apparel unit of Japan-based ASICS Corp. made a steady climb in sales from $1 billion in its fiscal 2014 to $1.23 billion last year. ASICS also increased its local work force by 22.2% to 1,282 and jumped 10 spots on the list to land at No. 2.
The firm severed ties in October with its store operator, Windsor Financial Group LLC in New York, part of a shift to a direct-to-consumer business model that includes product planning and sales, by which the brand wants to “directly communicate with our consumers.”
• St. John Knits Inc., ranked No. 3, kept its work force levels at about 866 and last year gave the chief executive title to its president, Bruce Fetter. The industry veteran, who first joined the luxury brand in 1997 and served as co-president and co-chief executive with the founders’ daughter, Kelly Gray, until 2005, is supporting St. John’s design direction, which appeals to “a much broader audience than what people may have expected from us,” he said in a recent interview.
Other notable entries on the Business Journal’s list include:
• Billabong USA in Irvine, which dropped 14 spots to No. 17. The surfwear manufacturer’s parent, Australia-based Billabong International Ltd., also sells clothing and accessories under Costa Mesa-based labels RVCA and Element. Its Orange County staff is estimated at 176, according to city of Irvine records, and the companywide total at 3,280.
• Quiksilver Inc. in Huntington Beach, No. 5, emerged from bankruptcy in February under the ownership of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management LP. Its businesses in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region—more than 70 subsidiaries—weren’t part of the Chapter 11 filing, but Oaktree also is claiming a 35% equity interest in those operations.
Its Huntington Beach staffing levels, likely cut during bankruptcy-driven restructuring, are estimated at 440 and its companywide employment at about 6,100.
• Hybrid Apparel in Cypress upped its employee count here by 10% to 440, landing at No. 5. The supplier of branded, licensed and private-label apparel got a capital infusion in late 2014 from Altamont Capital Partners in Palo Alto.
• Fox Head Inc., No. 14, will close its offices in Morgan Hill next month and relocate finance, IT and sales operations to its headquarters in Irvine. It now employs 211 there and an estimated 500 companywide.
The motocross apparel and accessories manufacturer said it also reduced its women’s lifestyle apparel design and development divisions “in order to reinvest in core performance product categories.”
• Stance Inc. expanded its ranks in San Clemente last year to 141, a 24% increase and good for the No. 20 spot.
The socks and underwear maker recently raised $30 million from returning investors to “aggressively attack new products, categories and sales channels,” company executives said.
• TravisMathew LLC in Huntington Beach moved up five spots to No. 28. The golf and tennis apparel brand, which will move into the former Quiksilver headquarters building this summer, posted an 81% increase in its local work force to 85 and employs 115 companywide.
The headquarters move more than doubles space for the company, which had been leasing approximately 30,000 square feet at a facility about a mile away at 14520 Delta Lane.
