Adidas to shutter Cedar Rapids office

Adidas Group will close its operations in Cedar Rapids, which will result in about 120 employees losing their jobs.

A spokeswoman for the footwear maker, with headquarters in Germany, confirmed the closure late Wednesday. She said Adidas plans to shut the location by the end of the year.

The closure, Adidas said, was due to a decision to divest from its NBA licensed business and from Mitchell and Ness, a Pennsylvania-based sports clothing company.

'As we continue to grow our business in America, we have made the decision to integrate our licensed business into our wider organization. This means we have to make strategic changes in our operations,” the company said in an emailed statement.

'Decisions that impact our people's lives are never easy and we're working to make sure our people are supported during this transition.”

The company prints and ships t-shirts from the Cedar Rapids space, located on 32nd Street SW. That location housed Valley Apparel, a Cedar Rapids-based sports clothing company that Adidas purchased in 2004.

Valley Apparel started in 1986 under the name Galt Sand.

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