By Neal Goswami/VTDigger
Orvis, a 168-year-old Vermont-based company, said Friday it will lay off 112 workers, close some undisclosed retail locations, and discontinue its catalog “to enable a smaller and more agile business.”
“Orvis is in a period of business evolution that requires us to think differently. Over the course of our nearly 170-year history, the company has experienced similar cycles, but today’s challenges are new, and they require us to be bold in order to continue sharing stories, experiences, and products that inspire our customers well into the future,” company president Simon Perkins wrote in a statement Friday, Oct. 4.
The pending layoffs represent 8% of the company’s workforce. Orvis was founded by Charles F. Orvis in Manchester in 1856 and makes and sells fishing and hunting gear.
The company announced in January that it was moving its headquarters from Sunderland to Manchester as it sought to shrink its footprint in response to a new hybrid work environment.
A spokesperson for the company, Laura Schaffer, said Friday that 50 positions “within driving distance of our headquarters have been impacted by the reduction in force.”
She said no additional details were available, including the type of jobs being cut, where the positions are based, or when the cuts will occur. “We’re not able to provide more detail at this time,” Schaffer said.
Perkins said impacted employees “will receive two months of full pay and benefits, additional severance pay, and assistance with health insurance and job transition services.”
“The people we are saying goodbye to have made indelible impacts on the brand, their colleagues and the lives of our customers. We are investing the time, care and resources needed to honor and support them throughout this process,” he wrote.
Orvis claims to be the oldest mail-order retailer in the U.S. It was purchased in 1965 by Leigh Perkins, who is credited with building it into one of the country’s largest sporting lifestyle brands. Simon Perkins is the third generation of the Perkins family to run the company.
