Pen Apparel, Imperial Garments factories face closure

Following the closure announcement of giant textile company Esquel in Penang and Kelantan, two other factories have met a similar fate.

It is learnt that Tal Group of Companies, headquartered in Hong Kong, has announced the closure of its factories Pen Apparel in Penang and Imperial Garments in Ipoh, Perak.

The companies are well-known for brands such as Brooks Brothers, Bonobos, LLBean, Suit Supply, TM Lewin and Camicissima.

Lee Kah Choon, special investment officer to the Penang Chief Minister, told Malaysiakini, that the move would affect some 2,600 employees in Pen Apparel alone while it is uncertain how many would be affected in Imperial Garments.

At least 30 percent of the workers in both factories are locals.

Lee said the closure will take place after all labour issues are settled, and would most probably happen in the second or third quarter of the year.

Lee said both Pen Apparel and Esquel faced challenges in this Covid-19 era and movement control order period as they are labour intensive and employ more than 50 percent of foreign labour.

"They also face rising material labour costs, stiff competition from China, India and other less developed countries such as Pakistan, Myanmar and Vietnam, among others," Lee said.

"During this economic downturn, there will be a contraction in garment consumption and these companies have manufacturing facilities in other less developed countries," he added.

Lee said shutting down Malaysia’s facilities, consolidate and rationalise operations to other cheaper locations became inevitable for these factories facing such challenges.

He added, Penang's Career Assistance and Talent Centre is working closely with the factories to carry out job matching for the retrenched workers.

Lee (above) assured that the state is working with other government agencies such as the Labour Department to share information and place employment to retrenched workers.

An employee of the company in Penang expressed sadness over the company decision, and said the staff were only informed verbally of the closure yesterday.

The staff, who has worked in Pen Apparel for about eight years, said the company has yet to announce an exact closure date.

"In the light of such a situation, we workers hope that a full range of salary can be obtained for the month of April, until the closure date of the company.

"We hope the management would act fairly and compensate all employees accordingly to the Labour Law," she told Malaysiakini.

"Many have nowhere to go as they have been working for decades in this factory, the scheduled closure will bring a bleak future for many," she added.

In its company website, Pen Apparel, which was established in 1983, claim it is one of the world ‘s largest apparel manufacturers.

"Since 1983, we have sold over one billion garments. Today, one out of every six dress shirts sold in the US is manufactured by TAL Apparel," said the company.

Meanwhile, Imperial Garments, claimed it is the largest garments manufacturing plant in Perak, which currently employs over 1,400 people.

Established in 1972 and joined the TAL Group of Companies since 1987, Imperial Garments had embarked on a multi-million ringgit factory expansion project which was completed in 2001. - Mkini