PORTLAND, Ore. — This story is courtesy of the Portland Business Journal, a KGW news partner. Read their story here.
Dennis Uniform will shut down operations in Portland and elsewhere and implement mass layoffs that include 111 local employees.
The maker of school uniforms said in a filing with Oregon's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification office that the layoffs would start Oct. 19. It invoked the "faltering company" exception under the WARN Act to forgo a 60-day notice for the layoffs, citing "severe financial distress."
"Our company has been working diligently to secure additional funding. Unfortunately, despite our material efforts to do so, we were unsuccessful in securing the necessary resources, making the layoffs unavoidable at this time," interim CEO Lawrence Perkins wrote.
The company will close "all sites through the country," the notice said, including its headquarters at 135 S.W. Hawthorne Blvd.
The layoffs will be permanent and the company does not expect to recall affected employees. "A good number" of the workers are represented by United Food & Commercial Workers Local 555, Dennis said.
Dennis Uniforms was founded in 1920 and says it is the largest school uniform provider in the country. Its website lists retail locations in 18 states.
The company also laid off 71 workers in Portland when it moved part of its production and warehousing operations to Texas.
