Job fears as iconic clothing firm loses $190m

The jobs of 430 people who work for some of New Zealand's best known clothing, footwear and bedding brands have been thrown into doubt by the global recession.

Australian company Pacific Brands has announced it intends to slash 1200 manufacturing jobs and 650 non-manufacturing jobs over the next 18 months - and at least some of them will be in New Zealand.

The company controls more than 300 brands across Australasia. The Australian Government said this week it had urged the company three weeks ago to reconsider its plans, but had been told that wasn't an option.

Like Fisher & Paykel Appliances, it has been particularly hard hit byand volatile exchange rates and has struggled to compete with cheap Chinese-made goods.

The company has revealed it lost A$150 million ($190.5 million) in the second half of last year, and has agreed with its bankers to a radical review of its operations.

It has said it intends to close most of its Australian clothing manufacturing operations, discontinue some brands, and sell its smaller businesses.

Staff at the company's Auckland head office were yesterday referring all inquiries to Australia. An Australian spokesman, Matt Horan, said it was not yet known what the impact would be on its staff and brands in New Zealand, but redundancies here were likely.

Pacific Brands also controls the brands including Berlei, Jockey, Bonds, Rio, Liberty, Playtex, Kayser, Voodoo, Hush Puppies, Dunlop Sport, Hestia, Holeproof, Hard Yakka, Slazenger, Clarks and Sleepmaker.

* This story previously stated incorrectly that pacific Brands owns CCC Canterbury. It produces socks under licence for CCC Canterbury.