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About 130 of Fort Payne's remaining hosiery workers will lose their jobs by the end of the year.

Gildan-Prewitt company officials announced Tuesday it plans to relocate 30 percent of its Fort Payne-based knitting equipment and all its remaining wet processing operations to Honduras.

According to Genevieve Gosselin, Gildan's director of corporate communications, the move will result in the shutdown of operations at the company's C.S. Bell building in Fort Payne. She said the building would likely be sold.

She said the remaining knitting operations would be consolidated and four Gildan-owned knitting plants would continue to operate in Fort Payne - Alabama Footwear, McKeehan Hosiery, Pioneer Hosiery and V.I. Prewett Knitting.

She said the C.S. Bell plant would close in the fall and all affected workers would receive at least a 60-day notification before being laid off. Also, workers would be eligible for extended unemployment benefits.

She said the layoffs will be made gradually, beginning in September and some affected workers would still have jobs through the end of the year. Gosselin said some administrative jobs would also be lost.

"The objective of this reorganization is to consolidate similar equipment in the company's locations and standardize quality, as well as to remain competitive in response to increasing global competition," Gosselin said. "Gildan regrets the impact that this difficult decision will have on the approximately 130 dedicated and experienced employees in Fort Payne that will be affected by this reorganization, their families and the Fort Payne community.