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History

APPAREL BRANDS COMPANY HISTORY SUMMARY

 

 


 

 

 

DOMESTIC TRANSITION TO "OFF-SHORE" MANUFACTURING

 

  •  Company purchased in 1987

  •  Operated as a Dress Pant Contractor, in the US until 1992

  •  Entered into a "strategic alliance" with Cintas in 1992

  •  Started our domestic plant on the UPS bottoms for Cintas

  •  Started the basic uniform business for Cintas in 1993 in our domestic factory

  •  Operated under this format through August 1996

  •  Began the relocation of the business to Mexico in August of 1996 due to NAFTA

  •  Operated solely with Mexican contractors until January 1st, 2000

          (We were as high as 130,000 per week in Mexico with 4 different Mexican companies

          in 5 different cities)

  •  Open our first off-shore "owned facility" in Salamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico

          (Began shipping product in May 2000 and built this facility to 25K per week)

  •  Closed the Salamanca operation in August of 2005 due to transition to Nicaragua

          due to CAFTA

  •  During our tenure in Mexico, we formed a joint-venture with Maquila T in 

          Irapuato, Guanajuato for a Levi's Docker facility.  We built this line to 20K per

 week until we closed this plant in 2000 due to softness in the casual market.

  •  In 2002 we attained our highest levels in Mexico, over 5 million units

  •  We continued to contract in Mexico until the 1st quarter of 2008, while Nicaragua

          was developed and closesd all operation's shortly thereafter

 

 

MEXICO TRANSITION TO NICARAGUA

 

  •  Began contracting in Nicaragua in October 2004.  We developed three production

          lines to a total of 25K per week of basic woven bottoms

  •  CAFTA was approved on Wednesday, July 25th, 2005 and we purchased a 

          Nicaraguan company, Gatornica, on Monday, August 1st

  •  Increased this facility from 8K per week to 40K per week

  •  Expanded this facility with additional square footage and continued to build to

          70K per week

  •  Developed two contractor's in Nicaragua and built them to 20K per week

  •  April 2005 we opened our 2nd facility, which was a centralized cutting and

          finishing center, from the "dirt to the shirt" as they say, to the pant anyway

  •  We expanded our sewing operations as the buildings became available and

           built the operation to 110,000 per week by 2010.

  •  We have maintained our operations between 90-100K through today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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