Fila USA, a global sports apparel brand with tennis roots and a U.S. headquarters in Sparks, will lay off 61 Maryland workers at the end of the year in a move to “right-size” operations.
The company plans to cut 54 jobs at its Curtis Bay warehouse on Gambrills Cove and seven at its office in Sparks by Dec. 31, according to a notice filed Tuesday with the Maryland Department of Labor.
A company spokeswoman said the effort to “right-size our business” affects 70 employees overall, including some in New York, but that Sparks and New York continue to be hubs for Fila’s North American business.
“These decisions are never taken lightly and were made after careful consideration,” said spokeswoman Heather Zeller. “These actions will allow us to strengthen our performance and transform FILA North America’s operations as we focus on executing our five-year global strategy.”
The sports brand, founded in Biella, Italy, in 1911, was acquired in 2007 by former subsidiary Fila Korea, now Fila Holdings Corp. Under its current model, license holders around the world design and make Fila products for their markets.
Before being sold to the Korean licensee and restructured, the brand had soared in popularity in the 1990s, led by a Sparks-based U.S. corporate team that launched a hugely successful basketball category.
As of 2018, the apparel maker was seeing a resurgence in demand, with growth spurred by the retro appeal of its products, such as Fila’s throwback sneakers and its “heritage” collection of ’90s-inspired apparel.
At the time, the company had doubled the size of the distribution warehouse in Curtis Bay’s Brandon Woods Industrial Business Park to more than 731,000 square feet. In 2018, the company employed 101 full-time employees at the warehouse and another 56 worked in Sparks in finance, information technology, credit and other back of house operations.
The company, which considers tennis, water sports, outdoors and training as its key categories, is in the midst of a five-year strategic plan to redefine its brand identity. Under the plan, U.S. sales, which grew to $497 million in fiscal 2021 from $432 million in fiscal 2020, are projected to reach $650 million by fiscal 2026.
