PEDS Legwear, formerly known as Richelieu Legwear, is an international legwear company. It manufactures

sock A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the Calf (leg), calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. ...

s and

hosiery Hosiery, (, ) also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the foot, feet and human leg, legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also ...

. PEDS Legwear has offices in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec; Hildebran, North Carolina; and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China.

History

The Simard family founded Richelieu Legwear in Sorel, Quebec in 1934. The family gained prominence in the region as shipbuilders and owners of

Marine Industries Limited Marine Industries Limited (MIL) was a Canadian ship building, hydro-electric and rail car manufacturing company, in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, with a shipyard located on the Richelieu river about 1 km from the St. Lawrence River. It employed up ...

(M.I.L.). Richelieu grew to eventually employee over 600 people in Quebec at its peak in 2002. The Simards maintained ownership of Richelieu until 1997, when Harvey Penner a Montreal businessman who joined Richelieu in the 1960s as a sales manager bought out the Simards and became president of Richelieu Knitting. He remained with the company until 2006 when he sold the Richelieu Hosiery division to his son, Michael D. Penner, who is currently president and CEO.Ligaya, Armina
How the CEO of Montreal sock maker Richelieu Group got to meet Barack Obama
''The Financial Post'' (Toronto), May 20, 2014, Retrieved April 22, 2015, The company suffered in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when unfavorable exchange rates, competition from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and other lower costs countries impacted the Canadian manufacturing industry. Like many other Canadian textile companies, Richelieu moved production off-shore or risk going bankrupt.Carmichael, Kevin
An American revival: A Canadian manufacturer’s quest to rebuild itself
''The Globe and Mail'' (Toronto), July 5, 2014, Retrieved April 22, 2015, In 2011, PEDS Legwear invested $7 million to buy the assets of International Legwear Group (ILG), a failing sock company based in Burke County (Hildebran),

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The assets included the PEDS and MediPEDS brands In 2014, Richelieu Legwear changed its name to PEDS Legwear to better reflect its new main brand. In 2007, Deloitte named Richelieu Hosiery as one of Canada's 50 best managed companies. In 2013, the

Canadian Chamber of Commerce Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

and

Grant Thornton LLP Grant Thornton LLP is the American member firm of Grant Thornton International, the seventh largest accounting network in the world by combined fee income. Grant Thornton LLP is the seventh largest U.S. accounting and advisory organization. The ...

named Richelieu Legwear as a finalist for the ''2013 Private Business Growth Award''. In 2014, Peds announced it was investing $16 million and hiring 200 workers at its Hildebran location over a five-year period after a multi-year commitment from Walmart. In June 2016, the Governor's Office and the North Carolina Department of Commerce announced the award of a $500,000 building reuse grant to Peds so it could expand the Hildebran location with the promise of adding 50 new jobs. Burke County and the town of Hildebran approved a 5 percent match to the state grant. In 2016,

Gildan Activewear Gildan Activewear Inc. (/ˈɡɪldən/) is a Canadian manufacturer of branded clothing, including undecorated blank activewear such as t-shirts, sport shirts and fleeces, which are subsequently decorated by screen printing companies with designs ...

announced its $55 million purchase of PEDS. In 2018, Gildan Activewear Inc. announced its plans to close the operation in Hildebran and lay off all of its manufacturing and distribution workers.

US investment

With its investment in ILG, PEDS Legwear became part of the rebirth of the American manufacturing sector, which had sustained severe losses during the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, particularly in the textile industry. On March 11, 2015, the company opened a new $16 million manufacturing facility in Hildebran that is projected to create more than 205 jobs by 2018. This investment was part of the

SelectUSA SelectUSA Investment Summit is a U.S. federal government program founded in 2007 that was aimed at promoting foreign direct investment into the United States, facilitating job creation and economic development. It coordinates investment resources ...

program of the

US Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

. As a result, PEDS has been cited as an example of how foreign investment can save and create American manufacturing jobs.Remarks by the President at SelectUSA Investment Summit, March 23, 2015, Gaylord National Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland, Retrieved April 22, 2015, Penner was invited by President Barack Obama to talk about the company's investment at a roundtable meeting.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.peds.com
Pilate Socks
Socks Hosiery brands Clothing companies of Canada

History

US investment

See also

References

External links