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Knitwear company Norsewear said today it has sold its brand and six retail stores but had not reached a deal on its two factories, and warned redundancies were likely.
The 40-year-old company has sold its brand to New Zealand clothing company Apparel Brands, which could continue making Norsewear socks in New Zealand.
Management had bought the six Norsewear stores.
The company said it was also continuing "intensive work" on the future of the factories in Wanganui and Norsewood, but was unlikely to make a final decision for some time.
"We appreciate our staff have concerns about the future of their employment. It is still likely there will be some redundancies and Norsewear wishes to assure all staff that they will receive all their entitlements in full," the company said in a statement.
The company expected to tell staff about the decisions early next week.
Norsewear, which employs about 85 people, promotes itself as an iconic New Zealand company which manufactures locally. As well as the socks, it makes a variety of outdoor garments mainly from wool.
The company began in 1963 when keen knitter and extreme sports enthusiast, Ola Rian, started up Norsewear Homecrafts, according to the company's website.
Apparel Brands is owned by Ben Nathan, the former owner of Barkers Men's Clothing. Mr Nathan registered a company in July called Norsewear Brands.
- NZPA
