MANUFACTURING
Orange County Sportswear Company Leasing Former American Apparel Dye and Finishing Plant
Months after American Apparel closed its dye and finishing plant in Hawthorne, Calif., it will return to operations after AST Sportswear Inc. announced it is leasing the facility.
The 95,000-square-foot plant, which is owned by Liberty Property and previously was leased by American Apparel, closed earlier this year when American Apparel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Operations are scheduled to resume early next year. Previous information from AST Sportswear said the company was acquiring the plant, but instead it is acquiring just the equipment and not the plant.
"The purchase of the Hawthorne [Calif.,] dyeing and finishing plant [equipment] is an imperative addition to AST Sportswear Inc.’s, production capacity. While, AST Sportswear Inc. already operates knitting, cutting and-sewing operations, this procurement will further reduce our reliance on contract dye facilities,” said Abdul Rashid, AST’s chief operating officer. “This will allow us to expand our product offering, streamline our supply chain, lower costs and ensure better quality control. In acquiring these assets and the additional investments planned at this facility for the future, the company believes it will be able to bring virtually all of its dyeing volume in-house.”
AST Sportswear said it plans to create more than 120 new manufacturing jobs as a result of the new operations. The purchase includes machinery and equipment related to fabric dyeing and finishing, along with industrial dyers, compressors, and boilers.
AST Sportswear, which was founded in 1995 in Orange County, Calif., is a vertically integrated manufacturer and distributor of Bayside, an American-made brand of fashion and basic apparel that includes T-shirts and other casual wear sold to distributors and screen printers across the country.
American Apparel is up for sale with media reports noting that it could be eyeing moving production to the Southeast of the United States.
Recently, American Apparel’s chief executive officer, Paula Schneider, left the company after nearly two years to become the CEO of 7 For All Mankind, Ella Moss and Splendid. She was replaced by Chelsea Grayson, who had been American Apparel’s general counsel for two years.
