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Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
20 years

Hanes subsidiary is latest textile firm to leave Costa Rica, laying off 1,250

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September 9th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Textile firm, Cartex, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Hanes Brands which has produced men’s underwear for export around the globe from Costa Rica for the last 40 years, announced it will close its operations in Costa Rica and lay off all of its 1,250 staff.

 

The company said its Costa Rica operations would be relocated to Vietnam, where the firm already has a manufacturing presence.

 

The company cited costs as the main reason for the decision, saying that being closer to fabric suppliers in China would lead to cost reductions.

 

The closure is only the latest in the decline of the textile industry in Costa Rica.  In the past six years, nearly 10,000 jobs have been lost after the closures of several textile firms in the country.

 

The sector recorded exports of $194 million in 2013, well below the $772 million in exports recorded in 2000, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

 

 

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  • disgusted

    Jockey, Hanes, Mabe, HP, Intel and call centers. This is a hemorrhage that seems to have no end insight. Thousand of Jobs and Families here scared and worried about their future. So what can President Solis do about all this?? unfortunately, looks bleak!

    • Karen Mata

      No Maybe about it, dg

    • duke ster

      Disgusted, did Intel of Grecia leave CR? And was this textile company also the one in Grecia? If so-to either question–oh oh Grecia–here comes crime big time!

      • disgusted

        Not sure .. I thought it was in Belen near the airport. Only what I saw on the news. They are moving to Vietnam..

  • toolman78

    The only reason for these companies to produce something outside of their countries of origin is cost savings. Costa Rica has lost that competition due to the political climate here. Ticos are betting on high tech jobs to replace these low wage ones, I have my doubts that they can compete in that sector. There are too many Asian countries that can do it cheaper and better.

    I wonder how long it will be before Costa Ricans start going to Nicaragua in search of work?

    • Guest

      With the Canal construction starting in December, you can bet thats when the reverse trend begins.

      • mhogan

        If that happens, you think the Ticos will start remitting money back to Costa Rica for their families? Understanding how selfish some are could mean “if I earned it, it’s all mine” and “if it’s mine, it will never be yours”

    • mhogan

      Contrary to what some people want to believe, companies are not in business to provide jobs–that’s the role the government has taken and in Costa Rica has gone overboard. It’s all about keeping their bottom line in the black. The shareholders who put in their assets want and deserve a return on their investment.

  • prdatki

    Do you think this may be caused by the over priced Caja? Crooked Congress , stupid bureaucrats,or over price electricity or they just like the climate in Viet Nam?

    • toolman78

      I’m guessing it’s all of the above. The biggest problem here is the corruption, it turns everything into an inefficient mess. Until someone starts holding government employees here accountable, nothing is going to change.

      To be honest, I wouldn’t mind my Caja payments if my employees were getting decent medical attention for it. But on several occasions I’ve sent them to a private doctor because after repeated visits to the Caja doctors all they ever got was a few injections and a some pills that never addressed the problem. And the same issue can be seen in every branch of government here. Never do they address the root problem, always just a bandage to cope with the symptoms.

      • Karen Mata

        Exactly, band-aid on the cancer.
        If any problems take a couple aspirin.

        Awaiting 1500/dollar exchange. (Using the old Argentine metric) Coming soon to a bank near you. (I know the dollar is wounded)

  • Karen Mata

    CAJA to all unsuspecting expats and businesses, “Wait till we get out Hanes on you.”

  • lazymainer

    Very few Tico’s will find employment on the canal as a Chinese company is the builder…who will they hire? Their own..

    • Michael Connolly

      Nor will Ticos find construction work on the highway expansion to Limon. Chinese bank loan, Chinese equipment and Chinese laborers…….on a public works project nonetheless! Unbelievable…..but apparently reality!

      • duke ster

        who would want a Tico working when Chinaman will work way harder and smarter? And look at the workers’ rights in costa rica. Vacation, vacation, double pay for certain workdays, the worker’s laws scare the heck out of company owners. One time I had a crew working on my home, the boss of the company spent his forward labor advances so I hired them on as my workers, to keep the job going.No more as a contractor. Then 1 day they came to me and told me I owed double pay for the last few days or the week because it was a holiday–I said if I knew that-I would have fired them and hired them back after the holiday was over. But this is how they paid me back for giving them work. No gratitude at all. Only taking advantage of the Gringo. So I have absolutely ZERO pity on them—–ZERO!!!! And anyone who has had a tico work for them quickly finds out that any kindness you show them is mistaken for weakness and you are fuc**ed from that moment onward. Toold stolen? Anything not nailed down with big nails-stolen? Equipment abused? And you might get good work from them for the 1st day or 2 but as they see that they can slack off–boy oh boy do they slack off. And if you try to show them how to do anything better–they simply go home. I have never seen anything like it in my life as a construction boss/worker. They will strip your flesh to the bone my foreigner friends–to the bone! Now the ticos will start to starve. Boo Hoo. Karma anyone? They treat the Nicas as slaves–really slaves–a tico won’t want to do the hard work–that’s for a Nica–well now what tico shit?

        • Michael Connolly

          WOW! How, or better yet, WHY, do you remain in a country where you hold such hatred for the people? My experience with Ticos, while not as an employer, has been decidedly better than yours!

          • duke ster

            So your experiences have been better than mine? Don’t you want to add nya nya nya nya nya? Stick around pal, get out of the house once in a while– they will get you–that’s what “pura vida” means by the way–it means ” we will get you soon enough”

  • Ken Morris

    Now, if Costa Rica can get rid of the baseball sewing plant too, it will really be on the right track!

    Honestly, if Costa Rica has to compete with Vietnam and Haiti (where the other baseball sewing plants are located) for jobs, it will lose, lose, lose.

    And there’s no reason Costa Rica should compete for these lousy jobs. For crying out loud, it’s a middle-income country–not Third World–with comparatively decent educational outcomes and all the rest.

    I agree with toolman78 that it’s no sure thing that Costa Rica will be able to attract (or better yet create) good jobs to replace the loss of these lousy ones. I don’t see the kind of political vision or concrete plan required to accomplish this. However, it has to happen. When you only tread water in the global economy, you lose, lose, lose. The challenge is to break out of the Third World funk which imagines that these kinds of industries are beneficial and get busy creating value-added businesses.

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