The final closure is slated for April 1, according to Hallett’s letter.

“As part of our regular business planning, we continually evaluate the progress and potential of our offerings and have made the decision to close Fabric.com,” said Amazon’s Betsy Harden. “We are focused on supporting our employees through this transition.”

Workers have been offered other positions within the company, according to spokeswoman Betsy Harden, who declined to offer any more information about where those positions might be.

Affected employees will be given severance pay, she said.

Amazon has about 1.6 million employees worldwide, and the layoffs come as many economists forecast a recession in the next year, the result of higher interest rates crimping the spending of companies and consumers. They also follow announcements of job cuts in a number of technology-centric businesses.

Amazon, which expanded rapidly during the first two years of pandemic as suddenly constrained consumers poured spending into goods rather than in-person services, has also been coping with a shift back toward pre-pandemic patterns.

Kennesaw-based Fabric.com was originally the website of Phoenix Textile Group, a wholesale distributor of apparel fabrics, one of a number of sites snapped up by Amazon as it surged to dominance in online purchases.

Amazon acquired Fabric.com in 2008, and for many fabric companies, it was the industry’s largest buyer, according to the Craft Industry Alliance, which tracks the sector.

However, “the labor costs involved in cutting fabrics were too high for Amazon’s current business model,” according to an industry executive quoted by Craft Industry Alliance.

Another executive quoted said there were also problems in the company’s operations.

“They expect us to cut and ship overnight for free,” the executive said. “They don’t understand fabric at all.”