Thinx is joining a growing list of retailers commencing layoffs at the start of the year.
The period care brand will lay off 95 employees, according to a WARN notice filed Tuesday in the state of New York. The layoff takes effect on May 1.
The notice cited “merger” as the reason for the layoff and “plant layoff” for the reason for the filing. Thinx did not immediately reply to Retail Dive’s request for more information regarding the layoffs.
Several retailers and brands have turned to layoffs as a way to cut costs. Levi’s last week announced it would lay off as much as 15% of its workforce, with a goal of achieving long-term profitable growth. Wayfair earlier this month said it would cut about 1,650 jobs, or about 13% of its global workforce, marking the third job cut since the summer of 2022. And REI said 357 will be laid off in its third restructuring round in less than 12 months.
Retail jobs cuts last year were the highest in the industry since October 2020, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Retailers announced 72,182 job cuts through October last year, a 258% increase from the year before, per the report.
The Thinx layoffs come after Kimberly-Clark acquired a majority stake in the company in 2022. At the time, the companies said the investment would be used to support the brand’s DTC channels and drive growth for Kimberly-Clark’s retail partners. Kimberly-Clark initially made a minority investment in Thinx in 2019.
Shortly after the deal, Thinx in May 2022 announced former Johnson & Johnson executive Meghan Davis would replace Maria Molland as its CEO.
In recent years, the brand has been working to expand its product offerings. After debuting its lower-priced Thinx for All line at Target in 2021, the brand brought the line to Walmart in 2022 and onto its own website in early 2023.
