NCTO Commends Bipartisan Group of Senators for Calling on President Biden to Crack Down on China’s Predatory Trade Practices and Help the U.S. Textile & Apparel Industry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Kim Glas issued a statement today, applauding the actions of a bipartisan group of senators who are raising alarm about the impact of China’s predatory trade practices on the U.S. textile and apparel industry and calling on President Joe Biden to lead a multi-agency effort to substantially step up enforcement and develop a strategic plan to combat it.

In the letter to President Biden, the senators warned that without immediate and improved enforcement against these predatory trade practices, the U.S. textile and apparel sector faces a “coming disaster.”

The letter, led by U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), was also signed by Senators Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Ted Budd (R-NC), J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tim Scott (R-SC), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM).

Please see a link to their joint press release here.

NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas, said: “I want to thank Senator Tillis and Senator Brown for leading these efforts and strongly commend the bipartisan group of senators for taking the lead in calling on President Biden and the administration to take urgent action to address a wide range of illegal trade practices that are severely impacting the U.S. textile and apparel industry.”

“The industry is being overwhelmed by a multitude of compounding factors, including a lack of effective customs enforcement, unfair trade practices fueled by a loophole in U.S. trade law known as ‘de minimis’ shipments, import fraud undermining our free trade agreements (FTAs) and their rules of origin, and forced labor in our supply chains making their way into the United States and through other markets,” Glas said.

The senators’ letter calls on the administration to take the following specific actions:

  • Step up enforcement of forced labor subsidized textiles and apparel flooding into our FTAs
  • End duty-free treatment for clothing made with forced labor under de minimis
  • Review all executive authorities to hold China accountable for its predatory trade practices

“To maintain the industry’s operations and competitiveness, the administration must take immediate steps to increase its enforcement activities and crack down on systemic abuse that is undermining the very fabric of our domestic textile supply chain and its workforce,” Glas added.

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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

  • U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 538,067 in 2022.
  • The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $65.8 billion in 2022.
  • U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $34 billion in 2022.
  • Capital expenditures for textiles and apparel production totaled $2.27 billion in 2021, the last year for which data is available.

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CONTACT: Kristi Ellis

(202) 684-3091

www.ncto.org

VA’s Inaction in Implementing the Make PPE in America Act is Hurting American Textile and Apparel Manufacturers

It has been 19 long months since legislation designed to increase federal purchases of American-made PPE was enacted, but the inaction of at least one key federal agency in purchasing more domestically-produced items is posing a threat to the very U.S. supply chain that stepped up overnight to protect our nation during the COVID pandemic.

Fortunately, at least, one congressional oversight committee is taking notice.

The overarching question on the mind of many U.S. textile and apparel executives who retooled production lines to produce millions of facemasks, hospital gowns and other critical PPE items at the height of the pandemic is whether they will ever see a demand signal and contracts from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

This leading agency which procures PPE for the government seems to be mired in bureaucratic red tape when it comes to fully implementing a strategic plan to purchase more American-made PPE, as mandated by law.

The legislation at the heart of the matter—the Make PPE in America Act, which took effect in February 2022—requires that all PPE purchased by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS) and VA be made by manufacturers in the United States using domestic components.

Last week, a House congressional oversight committee held a hearing and finally started asking the right questions of VA officials.

On Thursday, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ (HVAC) Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing on “VA Procurement: Made in America,” to explore the agency’s action plan on several Made in America policies, including the Make PPE in America Act.

The chairwoman of the oversight subcommittee, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), raised concerns about the VA’s inaction and lack of a strategic plan.

“Congress and both this administration and the Trump administration made it a priority to ensure the federal government is buying American-made products,” Kiggans said in her opening statement.

However, she expressed serious concerns about the VA’s approach, noting that a year and a half after the law was enacted, “there appears to be very little that has changed.”

“I understand that new legislation takes time to implement, but issues at the VA don’t normally get better with time. A recent inspector general report highlighted significant issues with VA’s compliance with decades-old Made in America laws.”

She also noted it is concerning that she has heard from industry leaders that as recently as a few months ago the VA “didn’t even seem to have a plan to implement the law.”

See her remarks here:

https://youtu.be/ndzZawcJG6w | Video Credit: Rebecca Tantillo

“Many American companies have overhauled their production lines to meet the demand for world-class goods and supplies,” Kiggans said. “The VA must similarly change their procurement process to step up their outreach and market research to identify opportunities to work with American companies. I’m concerned many of these companies will be forced to close down their operations if the VA doesn’t immediately follow the law and take a more proactive approach to buying American.”

“Relying on foreign products in a time of crisis is a flawed strategy that unfortunately was felt directly by the VA employees and veterans,”said Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN) in his opening remarks. “This requires a concerted effort across VA to comply with the laws and the presidential directives in place to provide opportunities for American companies to provide personal protective equipment and other supplies.”

“Without a consistent demand for these products, we cannot ensure that American companies will be around for the next crisis,” he added.

In his written submission and opening remarks at the hearing, Michael Parrish, the VA’s Principal Executive Director of the Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction and Chief Acquisition Officer, stressed the agency is committed to full implementation of its statutory requirements but noted “achieving the goals espoused in these statutes, policies and executive orders takes time.”

He acknowledged that availability of 100% domestically-produced PPE “requires a clear and organized federal demand signal to support the existing and future industry investments, innovation as well as a long-term commitment. VA is committed to working with other Federal agencies to communicate to industry the importance of domestically-produced PPE.”

He claimed the VA has found in many instances that inputs of PPE are “not yet [manufactured] in the U.S. and raw materials are manufactured overseas.”

This statement will undoubtedly cause concern among NCTO member companies who have worked vigilantly to be certified over the past three years and repeatedly communicated to the VA and other agencies that there is an existing supply chain ready and able to meet their procurement needs. The root of the problem is not lack of capacity, but rather lack of planning, strategy and demand signal on the part of the VA.

Parrish said the VA has taken the following steps thus far: developing an executable acquisition strategy for each PPE item identified in the Make PPE in America Act that has been prioritized for action; developing common requirements and an acquisition strategy for all items on the consensus PPE list by the end of calendar year 2023; and reporting noteworthy accomplishments towards the development of a long-term PPE strategy under the President’s Management Agenda.

Following a multi-agency Make PPE in America Industry Day in April, at which NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas participated in a panel discussion, Parrish said the VA issued a request for information to Blanket Purchase Agreement holders participating in the VA’s MSVP program to “gauge how many are fully compliant with Made in America Act requirements.”

“To date, through vendor self-certification, VA has identified 129 items on its MSPV product list that are 100% Made in America compliant,” Parrish said in his written submission.

Among the PPE items that are not yet compliant are things like nitrile gloves, he noted.

“The journey requires support beyond the Federal health care space of VA (and DoD) to achieve the goal, maintain supply chain resiliency and reduce dependency on overseas markets for PPE requirements ranging from raw materials to finished products,” Parrish noted.

Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS), a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, asked a series of questions related specifically to the VA’s implementation efforts, noting that she has met with manufacturing associations representing American PPE producers that “feel they are being underutilized by the VA.”

Radewagen asked VA officials testifying at the hearing to explain the process for identifying domestic PPE sources, whether the VA has entered into any PPE procurement contracts since the law was enacted; and, if so, what percentage of these contracts are compliant with the Make PPE in America Act as well as how the VA ensures the PPE it purchases from its vendors is compliant with the Make PPE in America Act.

Andrew Centineo, Executive Director of Procurement and Logistics for the VA in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said several agencies met with industry partners in April at the government-sponsored Industry Day and have since held medical surgical prime vendor industry opportunities, in addition to biweekly engagements with industry.

He said the feedback he has received from industry is that it will provide the products but it needs assurances the demand signal from the VA and other agencies is there.

See the full exchange with VA officials here:

https://youtu.be/B4Pc1L8Hp4c | Video Credit: Rebecca Tantillo

NCTO has been strongly advocating for full implementation of the legislation and pushing for a strong demand signal for American-made PPE.

See an op-ed by NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas here: Opinion: The Time to Act on American-Made PPE Is Now.

In addition, Glas participated in the multi-agency Make PPE in America Day in April.

See three clips from her remarks here:

This failure to date on the part of the VA and the lack of a demand signal from agencies and the private hospital sector is hurting U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers that retooled production chains overnight and are now left sitting with idled capacity and very few purchasing orders.

Three NCTO member companies outlined their concerns in a press release last week.

“The VA and all federal agencies need to fully implement this law immediately. It is critical to the viability of the domestic PPE supply chain and to our nation’s long-term health and national security,” Glas said in the statement. Without the commitment, our manufacturers will be forced to shutter operations and the PPE domestic supply chain will disappear, leaving our country overly reliant once again on unreliable imports from China and other foreign suppliers,” she added.

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Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Textiles, Dr. Laurie-Ann Agama, Tours U.S. Textile Industry; Participates in Industry Roundtable

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dr. Laurie-Ann Agama, Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for Textiles, wrapped up a three-day visit of state-of-the art U.S. textile manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina today, highlighting the importance of trade policies that bolster the competitiveness of the vibrant domestic supply chain that contributes significantly to the U.S. economy and workforce.

Dr. Agama, who advises the nation’s top trade chief on textile and apparel trade policy matters and conducts and oversees negotiations affecting textiles and apparel products, was joined by USTR textile trade officials in touring seven textile manufacturers including: Glen Raven, Barnet, Standard Textile, Parkdale Mills, Beverly Knits, Gildan, and Unifi.

Her three-day tour culminated today in an industry roundtable discussion with key textile executives hosted by Unifi, in Greensboro, N.C.

U.S. textile executives spanning the fiber, yarn, fabric, and finished product textile and apparel industries participated in the roundtable and outlined critical policies, such as: the importance of maintaining the yarn forward rule of origin in the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) and other trade agreements; advancing the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) and its importance to domestic manufacturers; closing the de minimis loophole in U.S. trade law; addressing larger systemic trade issues, particularly the use of forced labor, with China; and upholding buy American and Berry Amendment government procurement policies.

“We deeply appreciate Assistant USTR Agama’s visit to the heart of the U.S. textile industry in North and South Carolina this week to meet with U.S. textile executives and experience first-hand the breadth of the industry’s innovation, advanced sustainability practices, capital investments and critical contributions to local economies and the U.S. economy as a whole,” said Kim Glas, president and CEO of NCTO. “The three-day visit by Dr. Agama and the USTR textile team included facility tours of several NCTO member companies, all of which have made major investments in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities that are part of a broader domestic industry supply chain that produced $65.8 billion in output in 2022 and employed 538,000 workers.”

Glas continued: “We are also grateful for Dr. Agama’s participation in the industry roundtable hosted by Unifi and substantive discussions around policy opportunities and challenges. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Agama, the USTR textile team and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai to advance policies that provide incentives for onshoring and nearshoring production and bolstering the industry’s competitiveness, while enforcing policies that address illegal trade practices that undermine this industry.”

“The U.S. textile industry has always been resilient, innovative, and a driving force of our nation’s competitiveness,” said Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Textiles Dr. Laurie-Ann Agama. “For USTR, this local engagement and conversations underscore our need to create trade policies that put workers first and promote inclusive economic growth. The spinning, knitting, and weaving operations of the textile industry are at the center of many communities across the Carolinas. This was another opportunity to hear first-hand how we trade can create jobs that allow workers, businesses, and communities to thrive”.

 

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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

  • S. employment in the textile supply chain was 538,067 in 2022.
  • The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $65.8 billion in 2022.
  • S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $34 billion in 2022.
  • Capital expenditures for textiles and apparel production totaled $2.27 billion in 2021, the last year for which data is available.

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CONTACT:

Kristi Ellis

Vice President, Communications

National Council of Textile Organizations

kellis@ncto.org |  202.684.3091

Glen Raven Hosts Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer Knight, Highlighting Industry’s Competitiveness, Sustainability, Capital Investments & Jobs

WASHINGTON –Glen Raven hosted Jennifer Knight, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Consumer Goods, Materials Industries, Critical Minerals and Metals with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, at the company’s state-of-the art manufacturing facility in Anderson, South Carolina today, where the company manufactures its Sunbrella® flagship brand. The company is beginning to scale a major expansion plan started in 2021, illustrating continued investment and growth by a leader in the U.S. textile industry and its importance to the U.S. economy.

“We were honored to host Deputy Assistant Secretary Knight at our Sunbrella facility in Anderson, South Carolina to give her a firsthand experience of our advanced manufacturing facilities, sustainable initiatives, and the passionate work of our U.S. manufacturing teams,” said Glen Raven CEO Leib Oehmig. “The opportunity to discuss with a key trade official the impact of our nation’s global trade polices on our company and our dedicated workers is invaluable. We highlighted the importance of Glen Raven’s contribution to our local communities, as well as the critical need to maintain a domestic textile and apparel industry and to promote policies that support a resilient and competitive supply chain, innovation and research and a vibrant and well-trained workforce. We are thankful for Deputy Assistant Secretary Knight’s commitment to understanding the challenges we face in the global trade arena and appreciate the dialogue we had with her here today.”

“Public-private sector engagement is key to supporting a competitive and resilient textile and apparel supply chain and I am pleased to visit Glen Raven, a prime example of our modern domestic textile industry with its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities for high-performance fabrics,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Knight. “ITA continues to support American manufacturers and recognizes the importance of building an innovative, diverse and skilled workforce.”

Glen Raven, a family-owned company founded in 1880, operates five manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina employing 2,500 people, including their joint venture with Shawmut Corporation. The company is currently in the process of scaling a $250 million multi-phase U.S. capacity expansion plan of its facilities and infrastructure to meet customer demand.

At Glen Raven, Knight toured Glen Raven’s Sunbrella® facilities, part of the company’s Custom Fabrics division, which includes flagship brands Sunbrella® and Dickson®. Glen Raven also has two other divisions, including Glen Raven Technical Fabrics with GlenGuard®, StrataTM and Glen Raven Logistics; and Trivantage, one of the nation’s largest business-to-business distributors for the awning, marine, upholstery and shade sail industries.

Glen Raven is a leader in the upholstery, marine, shading, automotive, military, geotextile, and protective workwear markets and operates national distribution and logistics subsidiaries.

Knight’s visit to Glen Raven’s Sunbrella® facilities comes at a critical time for the company and the U.S. textile supply chain, which produced $65.8 billion in output in 2021 and employed 538,000 workers. Glen Raven is part of the broader textile industry that is a critical manufacturing segment contributing to job growth, investments, and innovation. From 2012-2021, capital investment in U.S. yarn, fabric, apparel & sewn products manufacturing totals $20.9 billion.

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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

  • U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 538,067 in 2022.
  • The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $65.8 billion in 2022.
  • U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $34 billion in 2022.
  • Capital expenditures for textiles and apparel production totaled $2.27 billion in 2021, the last year for which data is available.

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CONTACT: Kristi Ellis

(202) 684-3091

www.ncto.org

Fashion’s environmental governance begins with nearshoring and onshoring

If the US fashion industry shifts to onshoring and nearshoring it will reap the benefits from both a business and environmental point of view, writes National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)’s Kimberly Glas in https://www.just-style.com/.

Decisions made decades ago have come back to haunt the fashion industry when it comes to environmental governance. About 30 years ago, free trade dogma took hold in our industry and the halls of government. New trade agreements were negotiated. The World Trade Organisation was established, and China was rewarded with Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the United States. Consequently, business was globalised, while economies became evermore intertwined.

In the case of textiles and apparel, offshoring was all the rage. Many sourcing executives scoured developing countries looking for the lowest-cost producers to make their products with a fierce competition that was a race to the bottom for fast, disposable fashion. But lost in all of this were domestic manufacturers and labour and environmental standards necessary to ensure a sustainable supply chain.

However, globalisation brought unforeseen consequences such as well-documented environmental harm, lax overseas labour standards, and a hollowing-out of the middle class here at home and in developed economies — actual costs with real implications for people everywhere.

The fashion industry — from material sourcing, through supply chains to washing and waste — is estimated to be responsible for 8% to 10% of global carbon emissions according to the United Nations.

But what can the industry do? The entire sourcing system needs to be overhauled. Changing times like those in which we live demands no less.

To real the full piece, please click the link here.

 

 

Domestic Textile Groups Tell Biden Administration Penalty Tariffs Counteract China’s Unfair Trade Advantage & Give American Producers a Chance to Compete

WASHINGTON –The Biden administration’s Section 301 penalty tariffs on finished textiles and apparel counteract China’s unfair trade advantages and give U.S. manufactures a chance to compete, two key American textile manufacturing groups told the Biden administration today. Removing tariffs, the associations said, would reward China, put U.S. manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage and do nothing to reduce inflation.

In a formal submission to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office, which is conducting a four-year statutory review of the tariffs, the associations, representing the entirety of the U.S. textile production chain, expressed strong support for the continuation of current Section 301 penalty tariffs on finished textiles and apparel imports from China and outlined the effectiveness of U.S. tariff actions.

“In some cases, such as on finished apparel, the tariffs have worked to partially offset and counteract China’s unfair trade advantages,” the groups said. “The tariffs on finished textile and apparel items are giving U.S. manufacturers the chance to compete, and we are seeing encouraging investment and growth in moving some production and souring from China back to the Western Hemisphere.”

“The CAFTA-DR [Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement] region has seen more than $1 billion in new textile and apparel investment this year, for example, which is historic and due to the textile and apparel rules negotiated under the agreement and sourcing shifts from China,” they added. “This investment and growing U.S. imports from the Western Hemisphere is attributable in part to the 301 tariffs on finished apparel.  The tariffs on finished items in our sector are broadly supported by textile/apparel producers in the hemispheric co-production chain, and it is essential that they remain in place, absent China reforming its practices.”

The submission was filed by the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and the U.S. Industrial and Narrow Fabrics Institute (USINFI).

The groups have long advocated for a fair, transparent process to remove tariffs on textile machinery, certain chemicals and dyes and limited textile inputs that cannot be sourced domestically to help U.S. manufacturers compete against China.

They also stressed that lifting the tariffs on finished textiles and apparel products from China “will solidify their global dominance in this sector for generations to come and reward their abusive behaviors, exacerbate the migration crisis, hurt domestic manufacturers and workers, undermine our ability to recalibrate essential PPE supply chains, and blunt the positive supply chains shifts and investments in the Western Hemisphere that are happening.” They added it would “do nothing to solve the inflation crisis facing U.S. consumers and manufacturers right now.”

See the full submission here.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) is a not-for-profit trade association established to represent the entire spectrum of the United States textile sector, from fibers to yarns to fabrics to finished products, as well as suppliers of numerous support services such as trucking, banking, chemicals, and other such sectors that have a stake in the prosperity and survival of the U.S. textile sector.  U.S. textile and apparel manufacturers produced $65.2 billion in output in 2021, and our sector’s supply chain employs 534,000 workers from fiber to finished sewn products.  NCTO’s headquarters are in Washington, DC.  www.ncto.org

The United States Industrial and Narrow Fabrics Institute (USINFI)  Member companies manufacture highly-specialized textile products, advanced materials, and components used to support a variety of high-value-added and sophisticated industries.  These include the aerospace, automotive, construction, marine, medical, military, and safety/protective gear sectors among others.  USINFI currently has over 90 member companies, and its headquarters are in Roseville, MN. https://usinfi.textiles.org/

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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

CONTACT:

Kristi Ellis

Vice President, Communications

National Council of Textile Organizations

kellis@ncto.org |  202.684.3091

US nearshoring vision closer than ever on global supply chain snafu

A recent documentary has explored US nearshoring, and Kristi Ellis, VP of communications at the National Council of Textile Organisations (NCTO) believes it is closer than ever to becoming a reality, but policy is needed to secure its long term sustainability. (Read the column on Just Style here.)

By Guest Author

Nearshoring, probably a pipe dream for many US brands just a short while ago, is now closer than ever.

The Financial Times and its global business columnist, Rana Foroohar, have produced one of the most honest and accurate portrayals of the adverse effects of globalisation on US textile manufacturing over the past two decades, while capturing the industry’s current renaissance in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

In this documentary film entitled “Manufacturing in America, postglobalisation,” Foroohar looks at why the US should bring manufacturing jobs back home and highlights the existing textile industry which has played an instrumental role in supplying thousands of products for all industrial segments, the military, consumer market, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to the public and private sector.

In the second of three films, based on her new book, “Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World,” Foroohar follows the all-American supply chain of clothing company American Giant to see how it impacts jobs, businesses and communities.

American Giant CEO and founder Bayard Winthrop, Parkdale chairman and CEO Anderson Warlick, Carolina Cotton Works president Bryan Ashby, and National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) president and CEO Kim Glas, among others are all featured in the newly release film.

“I wanted to make this film about US manufacturing, because I believe that we are at a turning point. Since the 1980s manufacturing jobs have plummeted. In the constant drive to make things cheap, factories and jobs were moved overseas. Textiles were hit especially hard,” Foroohar says in the opening of the film. “But I want to show you how post pandemic there is a new regionalisation of industry taking place. And jobs are starting to move back. It’s about being focused not on what is cheapest but about creating better jobs for local communities.”

Globalisation’s impact and the China Effect

 The film opens in a cotton field in North Carolina and takes us on a US manufacturing journey stretching from the field to all points in the production chain and finally to a store shelf in New York.

It is a narrative within a broader narrative about how “prioritising efficiency over resilience, and profits over local prosperity, has produced massive inequality, persistent economic insecurity and distrust in our institutions,” which was expertly outlined in Foroohar’s new book.

Foroohar provides new arguments on why a post-global industrial strategy is needed and the “rise of local, regional and homegrown business is now at hand.”

Thirty years ago, the US was leading the textile sector, Foroohar explains in the film, but globalisation advocates and forces coupled with other seismic international trade actions, such as China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), exacted a heavy toll on the US manufacturing sector.

“What we were told was that we needed to normalise our relationship with China so that they would play by the rules,” says Glas in the film. “So their accession to the WTO, granting them Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status — there’s nothing normal about it. We have suffered greatly.”

On globalisation and China’s accession to the WTO former US trade representative ambassador Robert Lighthizer notes: “There was this kind of hubris that the world had changed and that market forces forever now were going to move us in the direction of economic growth and freedom throughout the world and all these notions, which were lovely except they just don’t exist.”

Foroohar notes that many in the US manufacturing sector “feel that free trade was never really free, because it didn’t account for the lower labour and environmental standards that allowed a lot of countries overseas to make things more cheaply.”

“Free trade is about price optimisation and consumption,” Lighthizer says. “I think the important thing is production. Production leads to good jobs, good wages and solid fundamental American communities.”

Lighthizer believes the drive to globalisation saw the US effectively giving away its prosperity, Foroohar notes.

“If there is a sacrifice of a price of a T-shirt or your third television set, in order to have strong communities in America, that’s the sacrifice that I’m willing to make,” Lighthizer adds.

On globalisation and access to US markets, Parkdale chairman and CEO Anderson Warlick notes: “This is the largest economy in the world and the price of admission is not that high and it should be. They should pay their share just like every American taxpayer.”

It’s like letting other athletes start a 100-metre race closer to the finish line, she says citing Warlick.

“Competition is good and Americans thrive on competition. Now free trade? That’s a unicorn I’ve been chasing for 30 years, trying to find anybody in the world that practiced it,” Warlick says. My best way of describing it is, it’s economic treason.”

Resurgence of resilient nearshoring US textile supply chain

 Yet, even as companies rushed to offshore production, gutting the US manufacturing sector’s workforce, a core industry remained here and thrived.

The film focuses on one US company’s perseverance and success, under the leadership of American Giant’s CEO Winthrop.

“The original idea behind the company was to reclaim the very high quality American-made stuff. I had felt that… the care and the passion and skill and craft and work that goes into making a product was not just important from an understanding about how you build quality product but emotionally important and societally important,” Winthrop says.

“The idea that there isn’t a good textile capability in the United States anymore is nonsense.”

Foroohar observes that American Giant’s supply chain encompasses cotton gins, mills, knitting and sewing factories all within a 120-mile radius.

“That not only cuts down on shipping costs. It also means he knows his clothing is in line with American environmental and labour standards.

For Bayard, it’s about keeping relationships and expertise close to home.”

Winthrop embraces that proximity to the entire supply chain, noting that standing in a cotton field talking to farmers about varietals and crop production is critical. “It’s creating that connection to the men and women involved in highly complicated processes of making the things we consume today.”

For Parkdale Mills, a major cotton yarn spinner and supplier to American Giant, “it’s all about being able to compete in a global marketplace, leveraging efficient production in the US to go up against the cheap cost of labour overseas,” Foroohar explains.

“We invest heavily in technology to create better efficiencies, to create better quality, roughly US$500m in the last 10 years to create more automation to have the latest, greatest equipment to prepare the fibre and to spin the yarn,” says Davis Warlick, executive vice president of Parkdale.

Warlick adds, “We are constantly striving to make things more automated in order to compete, I think that’s been one of the reasons we are still here.”

Cautious optimism prevails in the US textile industry. The pandemic and ensuing global supply chain crisis has turned the long-standing global sourcing paradigm on its head, forcing retailers and brands to diversify out of China and move production closer to home. And that is driving a renewed sense of optimism.

But Bryan Ashby, president of Carolina Cotton Works, stresses that policymakers must provide a long-term commitment to building the domestic supply chain.

“It’s great for a politician to stand in front of a microphone and say: ‘Let’s bring jobs back to America,’ but show us the commitment by giving us some sort of reason to believe that 18 months from now the narrative doesn’t flip and we all of a sudden want to sell industries out.”

One need look no further than the latest US government trade data as evidence that onshoring and nearshoring is ticking upward.

“We have seen historic investment in the US textile production chain as well as in our Central America free trade agreement partners, including Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador,” Glas said. “We expect over $1bn of new investment to go into Central America this year alone for textiles. That’s an indication the world’s changed.”

About the author: Kristi Ellis is vice president of communications at the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO). The NCTO is an association that is the voice of the entire spectrum of the textile industry. There are four separate councils that comprise the NCTO leadership structure, and each council represents a segment of the textile industry and elects its own officers who make up NCTO’s board of directors.

Valdese Weavers: Taking Sustainability to the Next Level

Valdese Weavers has been working with recycled yarns for nearly 20 years but in a bid to elevate its sustainability profile, the company turned to the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE based in Spain.

A leading fabric and textile producer that has been manufacturing residential and contract textiles for the furniture market in the foothills of North Carolina for more than 100 years, Valdese Weavers is widely considered to be an industry leader for designing and innovatively weaving beautiful decorative fabrics.

While the company takes pride in being a Made-in-USA manufacturer, one of its loftier goals has been to minimize its impact on the environment and the planet’s natural resources.

Valdese Weavers has used yarns recycled from plastic bottles for the past two decades to produce its environmentally-conscious products, especially in its contract division, but company officials began searching a few years ago for new ways to expand their sustainability efforts and achieve more innovative, sustainably-minded solutions to attack the existing problem of ocean pollution.

Fast forward to today and the journey has led Valdese to a dizzying array of new initiatives, including: a licensing arrangement with a Spanish non-profit organization named the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE; the launch of a new line of performance fabrics made from recycled ocean fabrics, InsideOut Performance Fabrics®; a collaboration with an award-winning artist; and a museum exhibit that opened on Friday (Nov. 4) at the Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, N.C.

“We have been trying to find next steps of sustainability in terms of materials for several years,” says Christy Almond, vice president of product development and marketing at Valdese Weavers. “We have said ‘no’ to a lot of product material ideas that did not have an authentic story or durability, did not meet where we felt industry was headed, had inconsistent supply chains, or the price was out of line.”

In 2018, Valdese discovered the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE. After studying the non- profit organization’s mission, Almond says Valdese determined it could “take our recycling story to the next level.”

This organization founded on creating a collaborative community against pollution has brought together an extensive network of individuals, organizations, and companies “working together to help clean our oceans, raise awareness of the issue of marine litter and highlight those helping to fight it.”

“Their goal is to organize the individual organizations, cleanup committees and fishermen to bring their cleanup efforts together to incentivize them, clean up oceans, collect ocean trash, and use collective power to go to recycling agencies to process products and sort through it to use materials that can ultimately be upcycled,” Almond explains.

To view the entire process—from collection of ocean plastic waste to the production of the end product of Valdese Inside Out Performance fabrics, click here.

“When we met with SEAQUAL before COVID they were in 42 countries and now they are in 60 countries,” Almond says. “The amount of waste and upcycled materials has dramatically increased. We know they are making a difference.”

SEAQUAL has processed 600 tons of marine litter from the ocean. Of that total, the organization has transformed 200 tons of plastic into upcycled marine plastic and yarn for companies like Valdese to use.

“They actually embed the yarn with tracers, so that they know it is authentic. They are very serious about that process and they have certification at each of the steps in the supply chain that companies must adhere to,” Almond says. “As their network cleanup committees and processing grows, we are hoping that is going to continue to increase as more material becomes available.”

Hundreds of global brands and retailers are listed as licensing partners with SEAQUAL on its website, including such well-known retailers as American Eagle Outfitters, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Ikea.

“We had seen a lot of different ocean plastic stories out there. No one had this multi-faceted story about cleaning up the ocean, upcycling and properly disposing of the trash,” she said. “It’s one thing to sift through and take out the parts that you want, but you are not really making a difference.”

SEAQUAL, on the other hand, properly disposes of the ocean materials that are not recyclable.

“Taking on new yarn SKUs is an investment. To meet their 20 percent content, we had to invest in the right tools to get that content assured. In terms of raw materials, we felt like it was in line with our existing cost structure,” Almond notes.

Valdese Weaver’s goal is to expand development with SEAQUAL and bring awareness to the initiative and “challenge our industry to think about sustainable materials.”

“Just regular upcycled plastic is not enough,” Almond notes. “How do we move this journey forward? More needs to be done.”

One way to move the story forward is to partner with an award-winning artist and amplify the story to the public.

SEAQUAL and Valdese Featured in Museum Exhibit

That’s just what Valdese and SEAQUAL have done.

Valdese is collaborating with MacArthur Genius Award winning artist, Mel Chin, as part of an exhibit at the Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, N.C. “to promote the power of design to fuel change in our industry.”

Chin, an ecologically and environmentally-minded artist, has been behind projects seeking to raise awareness on issues such as contaminated soil in New Orleans and abandoned homes in Detroit.

The Hickory Museum of Art has opened a new exhibit highlighting the problem of ocean pollution, in conjunction with an experiential exhibit, SEA to SEE, that has been created by Chin and is housed at the Mint Museum in Charlotte.

The Valdese exhibit at the Hickory Museum showcases the company’s partnership with the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE and explains how the company and the furniture industry is working together to help solve the problem of ocean pollution.

“We bring so many people through our facility to train them on the textile process, including salespeople with furniture manufacturers, furniture dealers, and large-scale retailers. These are big companies that are trying to help their sales team understand how to sell fabrics. I thought it would be great to connect our SEAQUAL story with what is happening at the museum and tell a bigger picture story about how the industry is using design to propel change,” Almond says.

“Textiles get a bad rap, not just in terms of manufacturing, especially if you’ve grown up in a textile town. You’ve seen and heard people lose jobs that go to China, or say that furniture is not a reliable career, or that furniture is not an innovative industry,” she adds.

“We wanted this exhibit to highlight technology and design and innovation and cool things happening in this community that are impacting not just Hickory but the United States.”

Barnet Hosts Congressman Greg Murphy (R-N.C.); Highlights the Importance of Supporting Policies that Bolster the Competitiveness of the U.S. Textile Industry

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) met with executives at William Barnet & Son LLC (Barnet) and toured a facility in Kinston, N.C. today, where the company’s innovation, advances in sustainable practices and its important contribution to the North Carolina economy were on full display.

Congressman Murphy’s visit is critical and comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. textile supply chain, which produced $65.2 billion in output in 2021 and employed nearly 535,000 workers. Barnet is part of the broader industry that is a major factor in high-tech and sustainable innovation in the production of everything from heart valves and stents to aircraft bodies and advanced body armor.

Barnet is a global manufacturing, recycling, and trading company, specializing in a wide range of fibers, polymers and yarns. Founded in Albany, N.Y. in 1898 by William Barnet, the company has been dedicated to a vision of being the world’s most respected, creative, versatile and sustainable solution provider to its customers and suppliers. The company currently employs over 400 employees worldwide.

During the discussion with Congressman Murphy, Barnet executives discussed several policy priorities that have far-reaching implications for North Carolina and the entire U.S. textile industry.

They also outlined the importance of policies aimed at bolstering onshoring and nearshoring production, closing a legal loophole in U.S. trade law that continues to undermine American manufacturing and gives China an advantage, and U.S. trade policy on China.

“We are honored to have hosted Dr. Murphy at our Kinston facility today,” said Chuck Hall, president of Barnet. “The opportunity to discuss important policies that impact not only our everyday business operations but the entire industry’s operations is invaluable. It is critical that U.S. trade policy centers around keeping the industry competitive. In particular, we discussed the need to maintain China 301 penalty tariffs, to fix a loophole in U.S. trade law known as the de minimis mechanism, which allows a package of goods valued at $800 or less per person to come into the country duty free every day and gives China backdoor access to the U.S. market, and to find a better process for renewing the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) which allows U.S. manufacturers duty-free access to raw materials that are no longer produced within our borders. We look forward to continuing to the work with the congressman on policies that help drive onshoring and nearshoring to the U.S. and the Western Hemisphere and those that support strong government procurement and American-made products.”

“It was wonderful to meet with Barnet’s officials and tour their impressive textile facility today. North Carolina’s textile industry is a huge driver for our economy, directly employing nearly 40,000 workers and generating over $2.7 billion in textile-related exports,” said Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D. “I am grateful to the industry leaders who took the time to discuss how we can expand this great industry, grow our state’s economy, and protect domestic manufacturing.”

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NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

  • U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 534,000 in 2021.
  • The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $65.2 billion in 2021.
  • U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.4 billion in 2021.
  • Capital expenditures for textiles and apparel production totaled $1.85 billion in 2020, the last year for which data is available.

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CONTACT:

Kristi Ellis

Vice President, Communications

National Council of Textile Organizations

kellis@ncto.org |  202.684.3091

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