Private Firm Buys Spanjian Sportswear

DeLong Sportswear, a privately held company based in Grinnell, Iowa, said Monday that it has bought San Marcos-based Spanjian Sportswear, creating a company with annual sales of about $40 million.

The purchase makes DeLong the nation’s largest independent manufacturer and marketer of athletic sportswear, according to President Sharp Lannom. The company, competing in a sports clothing market estimated at $1 billion annually, makes team uniforms and supplies clothing sold in college stores across the country.

Spanjian, with $11.5 million in sales last year, employs 325 at its 220,000-square-foot facility in San Diego’s North County. DeLong has nine manufacturing locations.

Founded by Father

The San Marcos facility will “continue to grow over the next few years,” President Robert Spanjian said. The company, founded by Spanjian’s father in Chicago in 1932, moved to Los Angeles in 1944 and to San Marcos in 1971.

Spanjian said that he and his brother, Richard, who serves as chairman and vice president, sold the company because they wanted a “change of pace.” They will serve as consultants for the DeLong company, and three of their children will remain in management positions, he said.

“We purchased this plant with the intention of making it prosper,” Lannom said. “We didn’t purchase it to move it or jeopardize (Spanjian’s) strong name in the market.”

Although analysts said the sports clothing market is growing at a 6% to 8% rate, Lannom said that “we would be disappointed” if DeLong fails to grow faster than that rate.