Portland-based school uniform company announces layoffs, shuts down after 100 years

Published 4:45 pm Tuesday, October 22, 2024

For those with kiddos required to wear school uniforms, a stint for access to the needed navy, white and khaki items is in place.

Dennis Uniform announced a permanent mass layoff of its 111 employees, terminations effective Friday, Oct. 19, at its Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard location. 

All of its site throughout the country will also be closed. There are 35 retail locations in 19 states, according to the Dennis Uniform website. 

The company was founded in Portland in 1920, according to its website, and is known to be the largest school uniform provider in the nation. It now serves more than 500,000 students at 2,000 of the top schools for their day-to-day wear. 

Over the past several months the company has faced “severe financial distress,” as cited in a letter signed by the interim CEO Lawrence Perkins.  

A number of its employees are represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, local 555.

Under the WARN Act, it invoked the “faltering company” exception, allowing them to provide less than 60 days’ notice due to its active seeking out of new capital or business opportunities to avoid layoffs. 

“Our company has been working diligently to obtain the financing or business needed to continue operations,” the letter said. “Unfortunately, despite our material efforts to do so, we were unsuccessful in securing the necessary resources, making the layoffs unavoidable at this time.” 

Layoffs are expected to be permanent, and no employees will be recalled. 

The notice states that Dennis Uniform is committed to supporting its employees through the transition, and they will be provided information on unemployment benefits and job placement assistance.