Ouray Sportswear is closing its production facility in Englewood, CO, following its sale to Philadelphia-based L2 Brands in January 2023. The closure will affect 154 jobs.
“Changing business needs requires us to close this facility permanently and, therefore, we are providing you with this notice in accordance with the Federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN),” Ouray President Connor Knutson wrote in a letter filed with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The WARN Act requires most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification of 60 calendar days in advance of planned closings and mass layoffs.
The letter said that employees of Ouray Sportswear would begin being laid off on October 17 while work at the factory, at 1201 W. Mansfield Avenue, will end in December.
Ouray’s factory covers 114,000 square feet and includes apparel decorating operations, with 13 automatic screen-printing presses and 176 embroidery heads.
Paige Wingert, CEO of L2 Brands, told ASI Media that Ouray’s warehousing and decoration operations will move to L2 Brands’ facilities in early 2024 “due to more than ample capacity with L2 having more than 400,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities, custom-designed for the quick-turn customization model that is a huge part of our value proposition to our customers.”
Knutson said that Ouray’s sales, creative, production art, sourcing, and executive management teams are moving into a new office and showroom space in Denver.
Wingert added of the plant closing, “As is always the case in these situations and with a business that has such a rich history, we regret the loss of jobs in the Denver area and will be providing both financial and job placement support for those displaced employees. Knowing what is best in the long run makes the decision no less difficult in the present.”
Since its founding as Ski Country Imports in 1965, Ouray developed into a supplier of apparel and headwear focused on the destination, collegiate, golf, and corporate channels. In 2021, it acquired the outdoor-inspired headwear and accessories company Locale.
L2 Brands, which owns apparel, headwear and home decor brands League and Legacy, acquired the business from S&S Activewear to expand into the customized sportswear market. L2 operates a similar business with production facilities in Philadelphia and El Salvador. S&S Activewear acquired Ouray as part of its acquisition of distributor TSC Apparel in 2021.
Photo courtesy Ouray Sportswear
