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Wal-Mart has helped drive another American manufacturing icon offshore.
This week Hanes (HBI, Hanesbrands Inc) announced that it was abandoning four production plants in North Carolina, and five more in Central America. Chasing cheap labor, the Hanes jobs will shift to Thailand and Vietnam. According to MarketWatch, Hanes is attempting to lower costs to remain competitive, "and answering to the demands of retailers such as No. 1 discounter Wal-Mart Stores Inc."
The American consumer knows Hanes as the company that makes T-shirts, bras, panties, men's and children's underwear--the same underwear that Michael Jordan wears. Hanes boasts that its brands "can be found in eight out of 10 American households." Brands such as Playtex and Wonderbra, Hanes, Champion and L'eggs. Most Americans think that Hanes products are as American as Michael Jordan. But the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Hanesbrands long ago quietly shifted to a new vision for the company: "to be a world-class consumer goods company with a distinctive competence in operating a low-cost global supply chain." That sure ain't North Carolina.
Hanes plant closings will throw 8,100 workers out of their jobs. 16% of those lost jobs---1,345 workers---live in North Carolina. The other 6,750 workers are in Central America. Since the Autumn of 2006, when Hanes split from Sara Lee, the manufacturer has shuttered nearly 30 plants--a third of them in its home state.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-norman/global-underwear-hanes-wa_b_129091.html
