MANUFACTURING

Alstyle Apparel Closing Distribution Center in Anaheim

T-shirt and sweatshirt company Alstyle Apparel is shutting down its distribution center in Anaheim, Calif., and laying off 81 employees, according to notices filed with the state Employment Development Department.

Alstyle Apparel was acquired in 2016 by Gildan Activewear, the same company that in early 2017 bought the American Apparel brand name after the Los Angeles concern filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016.

A spokesman for Gildan Activewear, based in Montreal, said the activities at the 200,000-square-foot Anaheim distribution center are being consolidated with a larger distribution facility in the Jarupa Valley recently launched to also ship American Apparel products.

“The employees at the Anaheim facility were provided notice of the upcoming shuttering quite some time ago and were offered retention bonuses as well as severance packages,” wrote Garry Bell, a Gildan Activewear spokesman, in an email. “Additionally, we made an offer to have them relocate to the new facility, which I believe is 35 miles away, with relocation incentives to move. At this point, more than 30 percent have chosen to move to the new facility.”

Gildan, which employs more than 42,000 people worldwide, has been on an expansion through acquisitions that is giving the company greater economies of scale, as seen in the warehouse consolidation.