St. John, Alstyle Announce Layoffs
Layoffs are planned for two Orange County apparel makers.
Irvine, Calif.–based St. John Knits Inc. and Anaheim, Calif.–based T-shirt maker Alstyle Apparel are among the companies planning April layoffs, according to the California Employment Development Department’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification system.
By April 2, St. John will lay off 108 employees who do hand finishing, material handling and basic sewing work. The company laid off 128 employees in August and 139 in February 2009. Calls to executives at St. John were not returned.
Alstyle, which laid off 210 workers in February, will let go of an additional 98 employees in April. The layoffs come as Alstyle prepares to shutter two manufacturing facilities in Anaheim. Alstyle will keep its headquarters in Anaheim but will move its production across the border to a newly completed 700,000-square-foot Mexican facility in Agua Prieta. The new facility is expected to be fully operational by May. In the meantime, Alstyle plans to lay off its Anaheim production employees in stages. Executives at Alstyle did not return calls for comment.—Erin Barajas
