Clothing manufacturer Pacific Brands has confirmed a string of redundancies set to impact a number of its brands.
The company, responsible for brands such as Bonds and Berlei, said the cuts will be made across The WorkWear Group, a division which supplies custom uniforms to businesses.
A spokesperson told ragtrader.com.au this morning that the decision will see approximately 50 redundancies across The WorkWear Group, and is the result of a review of the company's work wear labels. These include Hard Yakka, KingGee. Stubbies, Stylecorp, and NNT Uniforms.
“Our customers are central to everything we do and we have a responsibility to continually examine our range of service offerings to provide an ever better customer experience. Following a comprehensive review of our customer service operation, a decision has been made to outsource this activity to Aegis, a global Business Process Outsourcing company with offices in Melbourne and Manila.
“Aegis will help us provide a more advanced and leading edge customer service operation through world’s-best processes and systems - of the kind just not available in Australia. We have engaged in a regular, transparent dialogue with all of our employees through the review process and they have been informed of this decision. Any employee who may be affected by the restructure will receive full entitlements and comprehensive outplacement support.”
The Pacific Brands spokesperson added that there will redeployment opportunities for some employees and that “this review was confined to customer service operation in The WorkWear Group”.
It is understood that the job losses will take effect from January.
As previously reported on ragtrader.com.au, this is not the first time Pacific Brands has actioned a company cull.
In 2009, the group slashed 1,800 jobs as a result of moving its manufacturing offshore.
At the time, the group said it saw no future in manufacturing in Australia, with most of its remaining production transferred to Asia.
The move also follows an entry by iconic Pacific Brands label Bonds into a new category via an intimates collection fronted by international supermodel, Sarah Stephens.
The release of the 'Bonds Intimates” collection marks an extension of the Bonds brand which has traditionally catered to the underwear category via hipster for the younger market and woman for the older market.
The Bonds Intimates collection features 40 pieces, with prices for product ranging from $19.95 for the Intimates Bikini Brief to $49.95 for the Intimates Push Up Bra.
In addition to brands under The WorkWear Group division, Pacific Brands also operates labels: Bonds, Berlei, Clarks, Jockey, Hush Puppies and Sheridan.