Kangol prepares to shrink base in Cumbria
CUMBRIA’S long association with Kangol will take a knock in the coming months as most of the remaining workforce are made redundant.
Some 27 of the 35 workers will leave in June and July, leaving just seven staff to run a warehouse.
The changes follow a re-organisation by the company’s US parent Bollman Headwear which has been trading at a loss in the UK for some time.
The Cumbrian site at Cleator, near Whitehaven, was a significant distribution centre responsible for packaging clothing and hats shipped to the UK from China. This work will now go to another Bollman site in Amsterdam.
In its heyday Kangol employed around 850 workers in Cleator and at a sister factory in Frizington. Production stopped in the 1990s after the business nearly collapsed while under previous management.
GMB union organiser Kevin Young said: “When Bollman bought the business Frizington was closed and a lot of jobs were lost. Gradually the staff numbers have gone down and there are now 35 staff. Over the course of 12 years it’s been absolute decimation.”
He added: “It was a flagship company for the area. People have got fond memories of Kangol – if you weren’t employed by the company one of your family or friends certainly was.”
Kangol was founded in Cleator in the 1938 by Jacques Spreiregen. The company supplied berets to the armed forces and its headwear later became popular with fashion icons of the 1960s such as Mary Quant.
In recent years Kangol hats have been popularised by hip hop stars and actors like Samuel L Jackson.
Management at Cleator and at the head office in the Us were unavailable for comment.
