Major American Underwear Brand Laying Off People, Closing Factory

Hanes is one of the largest manufacturers of underwear and athletic apparel in the world. The brand, based out of North Carolina, has been pumping out undergarments for over 100 years now, employing more than 45,000 people.

Recently, Hanes sold one of their umbrella brands, Champion, and with that sale comes some layoffs. Seventy-five or more people will lose their jobs, as the Champion distribution center that Hanes owned is shutting down.

“This is the culmination of significant effort by our teams to position all of our brands on the optimal path for the future,” Steve Bratspies, Hanes CEO, says. “Over the past three years, we have taken necessary actions to enhance the company’s operations and financial performance – returning to historical gross margins, reducing our cost structure, lowering our debt levels, and generating consistent cash flow.”

What that means is that they needed to split off the Champion brand — and they did, for about $1.5 billion dollars.

Unfortunately it will also affect the livelihoods of almost 100 people who will be on the hook for bills still, with no income coming in.

Hanes as a company brings in well over $6 billion dollars per year in revenue. When you operate at such a large scale, sometimes job casualties are a price paid in order to get over a hump.

Expect the affected employees to be switching their underwear to Fruit of the Loom or something, just out of spite.