Sara Lee, the parent company to Champion and Jog Bra, is making its move as the world moves closer to a quota-free relationship with China at year-end, elimination 3,825 jobs in Mexico, Honduras, and Puerto Rico and another 350 in the U.S. They will close plants in Puerto Rico and Honduras and three in Mexico. Two of the three plants in Mexico will be converted into distribution centers.

The company is increasing its China import program as quotas on goods exported from that country — and other WTO member countries –- are eliminated on January 1, 2005. The shift come as SLE attempts to bolster profitability in its apparel unit that saw operating profit fall 23% in fiscal Q1, due primarily to higher cotton and pension costs and lost sales due to the growth in private-label products at retail.

The terminations announced last week include 200 workers at a Hanes T-shirt plant in Asheboro, NC and 150 jobs at the company’s apparel headquarters in Winston- Salem, NC. SLE had previously announced they would cut 120 jobs at a hosiery-yarn factory in Darlington, SC in July.