Startups are returning to American factories, and it’s no longer (just) about patriotism or marketing. These brands want to create the best, most innovative clothes in the world. Read more
Tag Archive for: Reshoring
The concept of “Made in America” is slowly giving way to “Made by China … in America,” as Chinese investors are increasingly snatching up U.S.-based companies and assets and raising the eyebrows of some regulators and market spectators. Read more
On February 4, 2016, President Obama signed the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement on behalf of the United States. The TPP agreement has been in negotiation behind closed doors since 2010 between the United States and 11 other countries around the Pacific Rim: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The TPP is a “docking agreement” so other countries could be added without the approval of Congress. India, China, and Korea have expressed interest in joining the TPP.
The stream of millions of U.S. jobs going overseas has stopped, according to a report from the Chicago-based Reshoring Initiative. Read more
Advanced manufacturing technologies are helping to push the United States back toward being the most competitive manufacturing nation in the world, according to a new survey of global CEOs and other senior executives. Read more
Not so long ago, this rural town an hour outside Atlanta was a hotbed for textile manufacturing. Read more
Made in the USA & apparel reshoring is a hot topic in the apparel industry these days. Corporate America is definitely interested- we need to look no further than Walmart’s American Manufacturing Commitment to buy an additional $250 billion dollars of goods made in America over the next 10 years to see evidence of that. Read more
Donald Trump has a lame excuse for outsourcing the production of his clothing brand. The North Face, meanwhile, is proving that it’s possible to keep business local. Read more
Whirlpool Corp. confirmed on Thursday said it would invest $40.6 million in its Findlay, Ohio, plant, and anticipates adding 50 new jobs at the dishwasher-manufacturing facility. Read more
Imports from China by Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and biggest importer, eliminated or displaced over 400,000 jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2013, according to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group that has long targeted Walmart’s policies.
Read moreBy closing loopholes in the Buy American Act, the 21st Century Buy American Act will increase demand for U.S. manufactured goods and create at least 60,000 to 100,000 U.S. jobs. Read more
SPRING HILL, Tenn.—The hulking General Motors factory in this town south of Nashville undermines the complaints by politicians left and right that America doesn’t make things anymore. Read more
Wondering why Under Armour couldn’t make some products in U.S.? Read more
“American manufacturing is back!” breathlessly exclaim the ebullient cheerleaders in locales such as Forbes and the Boston Consulting Group. But while U.S. manufacturing may have bounced back slightly from Great Recession-lows, the reality is that America’s manufacturing recovery remains tenuous. On this National Manufacturing Day, policymakers can and should be doing much more to stimulate the growth and competitiveness of America’s manufacturing economy. Read more
After years of meeting demands for ever cheaper prices, many Wal-Mart Stores Inc. suppliers are saying no to new margin-squeezing storage fees and a payment schedule that could delay for months how quickly some are paid. Read more
Call centers are coming back to America, and flyover country is proving to be the biggest beneficiary in new jobs and overall boosts to local economies. Read more
When the leader of the free world comes calling, most people jump. When the Obama administration first contacted Michael Araten, in November 2012, he hesitated. Read more
When President Obama visited Oregon in 2011, Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker foreshadowed what was on the sneaker giant’s horizon. Read more
The White House posted the full text of President Barack Obama’s speech at Nike headquarters near Beaverton on Friday morning. The White House has also posted a video of the speech. Read more
Walmart, the nation’s largest importer of foreign goods by volume, is currently hosting an open call for American-made product pitches at its Arkansas headquarters. This “American manufacturing summit” is part of the company’s commitment – made very publicly, with lots of fanfare, in 2013 – to buy $250 billion worth of American-made products by 2023. Read more
100 new hires. That’s how many Emilia PC expects to add by the end of this year, all resulting from one step the beauty product manufacturer took roughly 12 months ago: attending Walmart’s Open Call for products that support American jobs.
Manufacturing in the United States of America is becoming more affordable. The reason? Fracking. Read more
Made in America – Most Americans love the idea of buying a Made in USA product instead of an import. But sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Read more
The thousands of products that pass through Consumer Reports test labs each year come from all corners of the globe. There are washing machines and water heaters from Mexico, TVs and refrigerators from South Korea, dishwashers and vacuums from Germany. We see lots of appliances that are made right here in the U.S. too, of course. Every country has winners and losers when it comes to quality and performance. Read more
KENTWOOD, Mich. (WZZM) – A toothbrush company that outsourced some of its manufacturing to China years ago is bringing work back to West Michigan. Read more
The SewBots have arrived and they are bringing manufacturing back to the United States. SoftWear Automation, in Atlanta Georgia, has developed robotic technology for the textile industry to automate sewing, significantly reducing manufacturing labor costs. The machines are surprisingly inexpensive and allow for greater precision, higher speed and much longer hours than the traditional seamstress can manage by hand.
We first became aware of SoftWear thanks to Valerie Uhlir. Valerie serves as our Chief Marketing Officers, in addition to leading a boutique marketing agency based in Atlanta where she has worked with a large number of high-growth global brands over the past few years. She served as SoftWear’s head of marketing and PR from 2014 through the end of 2015, helping the company perfect their messaging leading to the wave of coverage including features by The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, The Economist, and many others. Given the company is based in the USA and could have such a large impact on American manufacturing, we’re happy to cover them.
“Not only will this technology help manufacturers bring operations back to the United States with the reduction of labor costs, it will create higher paying technical jobs for American workers.”, said Valerie. Traditionally, manufacturing jobs are some of the least desirable roles that many individuals do not desire due to the repetition, poor work environments (hot warehouse, anyone?) and low wages. High turnover and an aging workforce have made it difficult for manufacturers to keep jobs here. Additionally, other nations do not have minimum wage restrictions and are willing to use underage labor due to less stringent regulations. All of these factors have created a void of manufacturing in the United States, SoftWear Automation would like to change that.
This month alone, the company is delivering several LOWRY systems to manufactures in the southeast United States. The future of sewn product manufacturing has officially arrived.
The U.S. has lost thousands of jobs in the past 10 years due to offshoring. In 1960, 95% of clothing sold in the USA was made here. Today, 98% of clothing purchased in the U.S. was made abroad. By implementing this technology, American manufacturing plants have several advantages:
- Lower costs on both labor as well as shipping costs, dramatically dropping the costs of creating sewn products
- Increase precision of products with ThreadCount™ technology
- Speed up production and deliver products to consumers faster
- Reduce waste
- Customization will become commonplace and inexpensive
- Localize manufacturing
Tailored clothing and details customized to an individual have long been expensive due to the additional time and costs to create customization. SoftWear technology eliminates that additional cost. Add this to online ordering and it is a recipe for low cost customization. For example, the software could make your jeans slightly smaller in the waist than the last pair of jeans in the same amount of time it would have made them anyway.
“Robotics are already taking over multiple industries, creating safer work environments and helping with some tough, dirty jobs. Textiles have been challenging to automate due to the pliable nature of fabric. SoftWear has created hardware that detects bunching and can fix creases before fabric is sewn, changing the game in fabric automation.“, said Valerie.
Walmart believes in bringing manufacturing back to the United States, but they also know that keeping prices low will be a challenge for their brands. Walmart invested a two million dollar grant to SoftWear Automation, through ATDC, to help bridge the gap and provide this technology to brands that want to bring their manufacturing home.
Sound exciting? We left out just one thing: this technology is for ALL SEWN products. Shoes, curtains, jackets, pants, carpet, towels, ties, hats, backpacks, blankets, bedding, car upholstery, handbags, hair ties, baby toys…
Watch the SoftWear LOWRY system work its magic here:
Connect with the friendly team @SoftWearInc on twitter to stay updated on how they continually disrupt the manufacturing industry.
What sewn products are you most excited to have Made In America?
While the reshoring tide is undeniably rising, the prospect of clothing and apparel manufacturing returning to the United States remains uncertain. Back in the 1960s, about 95% of clothing worn in the U.S.A. was also made here. Today the opposite is true. Can we flip the switch again? Read more
For all expecting and new parents, you probably have learned how quickly buying your child’s products adds up! So why would you be willing to pay more for an American-made product when you could purchase a similar product or even the “same” product, produced overseas, for half the cost? Read more
Later this year along the banks of the James River outside Richmond, Virginia, a paper products maker based in northeastern China will begin construction on a new U.S. manufacturing plant. The factory will churn the region’s straw and corn stalks into household products including napkins, tissue and organic fertilizer—all marked “Made in the USA.” Made by China, in America.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jack Brown Produce workers sort apples on a packing line in Sparta, Mich. The state, a big exporter of agricultural goods, is among U.S. regions raising its export profile.
It’s well-known American jobs have been lost to overseas competition. While work on U.S. manufacturing floors has declined, overseas markets have developed a growing appetite for American-made goods—from chemicals and wood products, to medical devices.
