California Apparel News

Everyone talks about making their clothes in the United States, but is it all talk and no action?

Apparently not. According to a study by Chicago management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, 12 percent more cases of U.S. apparel production

took place in 2014 over 2013. This is amidst a trend for more production in other industries to move overseas.

In its “2014 Re-shoring Index,” the consulting firm said that off-shoring to other countries outpaced re-shoring in most industries. The index is expected

to show a 20 basis points, or 0.20 percent, decline in domestic production during the past year as more companies opt to manufacture in foreign markets

instead of domestically.

Key highlights of the study included:

• The top three re-shoring industries, as measured by the number of cases in A.T. Kearney’s database, are electrical equipment, appliance and component

manufacturing, with 15 percent of the cases; transportation equipment manufacturing, with 15 percent; and apparel manufacturing, which previously had not

been expected ever to come back, with 12 percent.

• Improvement in delivery time led the reasons for re-shoring, with quality improvement a close second, followed by brand/image.

• While there has been an overall lift in U.S. manufacturing for five straight years since 2009, imports of off-shored manufactured goods into the U.S.

have increased at a faster rate than any return of manufacturing operations here.

• The 14 top off-shoring locations are China, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Hong

Kong, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

“While the so-called re-shoring trend has helped improve the mood of U.S. manufacturing since the recession, the reality is that the import value of

manufactured goods into the U.S. from 14 low-cost Asian countries has grown at an average of 8 percent per year in the last five years,” said Pramod Gupta,

an A.T. Kearney principal and study co-author. “The ‘2014 Re-shoring Index’ is not only an indicator of U.S. manufacturing capital flows but also how the

U.S. stacks up in terms of attractiveness as a source of manufactured products versus countries like China, Bangladesh and Cambodia.”

The move to more domestic production of apparel was alive and well in Los Angeles. Recently, Made-Well-LA was formed to provide

full-package resources for apparel makers while offering low minimums and turning products in three to four weeks. It was launched by Mike Basteguian,

whose family owns two apparel factories in the Hollywood/Los Feliz area.

In December, Thelma Siguenza opened her Parker & Barrow store at 814 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. She offers custom-made items

such as shirts and skirts as well as casual trousers and pants sewn just a few doors down from her store.

Also helping the “Made in Los Angeles” cause was Houman Salem, who started an online directory of apparel- and textile-related businesses in Southern

California. The website is www.madebylosangeles.com and provides a badly needed service for those who want to manufacture clothes in Los Angeles

but don’t know where to go.

Another website launched this summer tries to connect consumers to American-made clothing and other brands. The American Brand Project is

based in Encinitas, Calif. The site, at www.americanbrandproject.com, has more than 300 labels and products listed for sale.