Dennis Uniform, a national school uniform business based in Southeast Portland and owned for decades by a Jewish family that settled in Oregon after escaping Nazi Germany, plans to close down the business and lay off all its workers.
The company started in Portland in 1920 and claimed to serve 370,000 students from 2,000 schools. The Shipley family — who arrived in Oregon as the Schybilskis, according to an obituary for one of its members — operated the business since 1940, after fleeing Nazi Germany. The company’s website lists 39 stores in states from Texas to Hawaii, selling school uniforms of various types.
Dennis Uniform started in downtown Portland but its headquarters had been at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge since at least the 1960s.
In a Friday notice to Oregon workforce officials, Dennis said it had been experiencing “severe financial distress” for several months and was unable to secure financial backing to rescue the business.
“We will be closing all sites throughout the country,” interim CEO Lawrence Perkins wrote in a note to Oregon officials. His letter listed 111 layoffs but it wasn’t clear if all those jobs were in Oregon.
Ordinarily, federal law requires businesses to give workers 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff. Dennis Uniform invoked a “faltering company” exception for companies that unsuccessfully sought funding to stay open.
Private equity firm SBJ Capital acquired a majority stake in Dennis Uniform seven years ago. At the time, Thomas Shipley, a descendent of the family that escaped Germany, maintained partial ownership and was executive chairman.
SBJ brought on another investor, Origami Capital, in January. Neither SBJ nor Origami responded immediately to questions about what went wrong with the company in the 10 months since their most recent investment in the business.
Dennis Uniform started out providing nursing uniforms, according to its website, then shifted to linens and apparel for soldiers during World War II. It began selling school uniforms in 1947.
In 2022, Dennis Uniform laid off 71 Portland employees when it moved some operations to Texas. Those jobs were in uniform production and warehouse operations.
Many of the company’s laid-off remaining employees were unionized, represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers. The union did not immediately respond to inquiries about the layoffs.
— Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com or 503-294-7699.
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