48 jobs go as fashion icon heads abroad

By DANIEL RIORDAN

Another fashion icon is shutting its doors and moving production overseas.

Swimwear and lingerie manufacturer Expozay is laying off its 48 staff in Tauranga after being sold by investment company Hellaby Holdings.

The buyer has not been disclosed, but industry sources say it is Bendon Group, which will continue to market the brand but manufacture in Asia.

Bendon Group managing director Hugo Venter was overseas and unavailable for comment yesterday.

Expozay staff were given two months notice yesterday by managing director Tony Alvos, who founded the company with his wife, Judy, in 1974.

The sale takes effect at the end of next month, and confidentiality agreements mean the buyer's identity will not be officially revealed until then.

Hellaby managing director David Houldsworth said the buyer would still distribute the Expozay brand.

Expozay's Tauranga premises, owned by the Alvos family, were sold to Big Save Furniture a month ago.

Mr Alvos said three companies had approached Hellaby looking to buy Expozay in the past few months.

Paul Blomfield, chief executive of the Apparel and Textile Federation, said Expozay had been a "shining light" of local fashion for more than 20 years, and one of the first to make its name internationally.

"They were creative thinkers who broke the paradigm and for a time were world famous. They were in Japan and the US when it wasn't fashionable to be global."

Expozay employed as many as 120 staff in its heyday, but tariff cuts in recent years hurt the business.

An industry source said Expozay had lost market share five or six years ago when its new season's designs failed, and had never really recovered.

Expozay turned over $3.2 million last year out of Hellaby's total turnover of $256 million.

Mr Houldsworth said the company had not been profitable since Hellaby bought it in 1997 to support Hellaby subsidiary Levana Textiles, a major creditor of Expozay, when the Tauranga company was on the verge of receivership.

The sale prices, then and now, have not been disclosed.

The latest decision continues a pattern of closure and migration for clothing companies in recent years.

Moontide, another prominent swimwear company, has trimmed its local workforce from over 100 to about 15. Its manufacturing is largely done overseas.

Bendon last year laid off the rest of its New Zealand workforce, once more than 400, and now makes all its garments in Asia. Last year Bendon bought Fayreform Lingerie, which had gone into receivership and already manufactured overseas.

Despite that, Mr Blomfield said New Zealand clothing manufacturers with strong brands did not have to move production overseas to be competitive. The biggest problem facing the industry was getting skilled workers as companies had effectively stopped training about 20 years ago.

Expozay at its peak trained as many as 20 new Machinists at any one time, and its "graduates" were snapped up by other rag traders.

Mr Alvos said the buyer would probably produce the brand overseas. Expozay already uses contract workers in Fiji and had been moving more work there when it was sold.

"The new owners are talking about using some labour from this pretty good skill base we have here. One or two [staff] have expressed an interest in starting a factory, and I'll give them as much help as I can and look to find work for the others."

Expozay's Mt Maunganui shop will continue under the new owner, as will the company's nationwide team of commissioned sales agents.

"For the brand this is actually a good move, but it's difficult to admit New Zealand labour is not very competitive on the international market."

Expozay exported widely, and a competitive workforce was vital to that expansion, said Mr Alvos.

"I've always been pretty happy with residing in Tauranga and employing people from Tauranga."

Mr Alvos, who is 52, said he had no firm plans.