Despite the fact that they manufacture work-wear, I'd hazard to guess that most of the "innovation" - like with any other apparel type - is in taste-making and

Despite the fact that they manufacture work-wear, I'd hazard to guess that most of the "innovation" - like with any other apparel type - is in taste-making and branding rather than any improvement in work-wear materials or functionality, and the talent pool for taste-making is likely much stronger in Southern California than Forth Worth, TX. The consolidation probably means they'll just add most of the Dickies brand workload to the existing employees in Southern California rather than hire/transfer 120 workers there. So a net reduction in labor costs and elimination of real estate costs, despite moving to a higher CoL area.