Fairfax, Virginia-based Custom Ink (PPAI 594384, D2) has announced that it’s closing its production facility in Dallas and laying off 490 employees across the United States.
- The majority of those workers being let go – roughly 240 – are located in Dallas, the Washington Business Journal.
Layoffs of administrators, managers, production workers and salespeople will begin as early as February 13, 2024, and the division will be closed by March 29, 2024, according to a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission.
- The promo firm says laid-off employees will receive severance pay of four to 26 weeks, a health care subsidy and professional job placement assistance.
Custom Ink, which Fortune ranked as No. 8 on its Best Workplaces in Retail 2023 list, is ceasing all in-house production “to improve performance and better align the business with its tech-oriented growth strategy,” the company told the Washington Business Journal.
- This is the second round of layoffs this year, as Custom Ink previously shuttered production facilities in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Reno, Nevada, resulting in 338 workers being let go, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
- At the time, Custom Ink said that the plan was to “consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility.”
Custom Ink’s Growth
Founded in 2000 by three former college classmates, Custom Ink has achieved tremendous growth over the past nearly quarter century.
- In 2005, the firm debuted on the Inc. 500 ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. at No. 55.
- In 2021, Custom Ink acquired Swag.com, a promotional products distributor and “gifting-as-a-service” platform provider.
- Last year, the company acquired Denver-based distributor Printfection (PPAI 331556, D2), whose enterprise management platform is used by major companies to create, store, manage, track and distribute their custom swag and gifts.
