Fairy Meadow-based Poppets Schoolwear will launch a campaign encouraging support for Australian-made garments after it was forced to retrench most of its staff.Major clothing franchise Lowes chose not to renew a major component of its contract on June 30, after taking its business to China.The loss, after a 10-year association, equates to a reduction in orders from the previous annual output of 200,000 garments down to just 40,000.
Poppets schoolwear factory lays off workers Poppets general manager Melissah Gervaise said she had no choice but to retrench 47 of her 76 textile workers as a result."Tuesday (when the retrenchments were announced) was the worst day of my life, it was just devastating," Mrs Gervaise said.The 29 remaining staff members will fill small Lowes orders, as well as contracts placed by schools who insist on Australian-made products.Mrs Gervaise said the "Australian only" stipulation would be the focus of a campaign to safeguard the family owned company and hopefully help her to re-employ lost staff.She said contractual obligations had prevented Poppets from selling to the market at large, but this was no longer the case."I will have two sales reps hitting the streets on Monday, once school goes back ... with the hope of expanding our operations, supplying Australian-made uniforms directly to schools, organisations and other retailers," she said.Poppets was started in 1973 by Mrs Gervaise's mother, Elizabeth Kingston, at Thirroul before relocating to a larger premises in Montague St, Fairy Meadow. It has since grown to become Australia's largest manufacturer of children's schoolwear.Both women are also on the board of the St George Illawarra Dragons Women in League program, recently helping to raise $45,000 for breast cancer.Mrs Gervaise said her mostly female workforce had an average age of 50, many serving for as long as 20 years with the company."It's such an awful age to have to re-enter the workforce ... we've organised training talks, people are coming out on Monday," she said.The "family" focus had resulted in many employees, even those who had been retrenched, providing support for Mrs Gervaise on Tuesday.Lea-Ann Gray, 46, had been with the company for 23 years but understood the decision to let her go."Poppets was started with the intention of having happy workers and I came to work for 23 years with a smile on my face. They were excellent employers."I'm absolutely certain they did all they could to keep us on. I blame the Government for not safeguarding Australian jobs."Bulli's Judy Mills, a machinist with the company for 17 years, said she was devastated by her retrenchment and, at 58, was not confident of finding a job elsewhere."I didn't plan to retire, but I understand the decision," she said.Lowes management did not return the Mercury's calls.
