Underwear and outerwear apparel company Hanesbrands Inc. is to close its textile manufacturing plant at Ponce, Puerto Rico, and move production to an existing lower-cost facility in the Caribbean basin. Production at the plant, which makes fabric for T-shirts and underwear, will cease by the end of January 2007, with a loss of some 500 jobs.

The closure is part of the company’s strategy to improve efficiency and competitiveness, which includes increasing high-volume, lower-cost production at its new textile manufacturing facilities in Central America and the Caribbean basin.