AVSportswear, manufacturer of brands like Avalanche Wear, has relocated from its former quarters in Chelsea to the third floor of the J.B. Blood Building on Wheeler Street.

In addition to the Lynn factory, where workers busily cut and sew fleece garments made for the outdoors, the company runs a small outlet store on the premises.

Customers can purchase merchandise at the outlet for far below retail cost. For example, fleece jackets selling in stores and mail order catalogs for about $75 can be bought for less than $25.

Each week, AVSportswear, owned by Nahant residents Ron and Marie Petrucci, buys massive rolls of fleece, mostly Polartec from Malden Mills in Lawrence, and Yukon Fleece from Huntingdon Mills in Canada, as well as some of Europe's finer fabrics by Schoeller Mills in Switzerland.

Fleece is essentially polyester made by Dupont that is air-spun into yarn. The quality of the material and the way it is loomed mostly determines how well it keeps the wearer warm, blocks wind, and wicks away moisture. Some fleece material is more windproof or waterproof that others.

"That's why we mostly buy from Malden Mills," said Ron Petrucci, noting that the Lawrence factory turns out some of the best high-tech fabric in the industry. "Nothing else compares with it. At one time in the industry, fleece was made from recyclables, like green 7-Up bottles. They had to be green. I don't know exactly why, but those days are gone. It was a great idea, but the biodegradable fleece didn't last as long and it wasn't a technical fabric."

The rolls of fleece, some more than 50 yards long, are turned into outdoor wear at the company's factories in Lynn, South Boston, and in Toronto. The finished products are sold in stores like REI, Olympia Sport, Decathlon Sports, Boards & Blades, City Sports, Sport Authority, Bob's Stores, Bass Pro Shops, and Blairs, and in mail-order catalogs such as Campmor and Cabela's Hunting, Fishing and Outdoor Gear. About 40 percent of the overall production is done in the U.S.

AVSportswear even offers a line of Black Dog outerwear, replete with the popular canine logo stitched in plain view.

"We do business with Black dog. It's one of our customers," said Ron Petrucci, referring to the Black Dog restaurant on Martha's Vineyard and its associated merchandise.

According to Petrucci, merchandise in the outlet store is exactly what customers can find at retailers, but at deep discount. "It's fun for people," he said, nothing that the outlet opened in mid-September with little fanfare. "Everyone looks for a deal and every day there are new styles and colors coming in."

The factory outlet features jackets, vests, pants, blankets, hats, and scarves, the stock of merchandise fresh off the company's manufacturing floor at the other end of the hall. Out let prices range from $15-25 for jackets and $12-18 for vests. The store is open Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Petrucci's wife, Maria, who designs many of the patterns for the cutting machines, said AVSportswear's mission "is to provide our customers with performance and quality." The focus on tradition coupled with a quest for innovation and performance ensures that the product line reflects styles that tend to rejuvenate themselves each season.

AVSportswear was founded in 1985 and originally located on Sixth Street in Chelsea. In 1996, the company purchased an 82,000-square-foot building at 130 Crescent Ave. and later ran an outlet store for four years.

"We ended up selling that building because we wanted to come to Lynn," Ron Petrucci explained, nothing that Lynn Economic Development Industrial Corp. Executive Director Peter DeVeau was instrumental in help making that happen.

"We had been talking to Peter about this for a couple of years, but there was no place for us inLynn until this location opened up, and it's just great," said Petrucci, adding that the company leases space from the EDIC, which owns the building.

"The EDIC even offered to pay for training some of the workers to sew," he said. "Any city that makes those kinds of offers to bring manufacturing back in, especially to a company as small as ours, is definitely trying to make it work. I was just unbelievable."

If the outlet proves a success, the Petruccis plan to expand it, either on the first floor of the J.B. Blood building, if space becomes available, or at another ground-level retail storefront in the city.

"Right now, our outlet is seasonal, opening in September and usually closing in March, but we may stay open all summer next year," said Ron Petrucci. "We're one of the last manufacturers still producing garments in the USA. We could have gone to Mexico where the labor is cheaper, but you also inherit a lot of other problems. That's why we chose Canada for some of our operations.