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Walmart is looking to bring apparel manufacturing back to the USA

Written by George Anderson

Classic Fashion’s Jordan-based manufacturing – Photo: Classic Fashion

Walmart has been public about supporting American manufacturing wherever it makes business sense and that commitment was reinforced last week at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new factory in Santa Ana, CA, that will cut and sew apparel exclusively for the retailer. The new facility opened by Jordan-based Classic Fashion will produce garments for Walmart for the next five years. It is expected to create 125 jobs by 2023 before eventually employing 350. The factory’s opening is the first part of Classic Fashion’s plan to serve the American market. The brand is also looking to identify countries close to the U.S. to source materials it needs before being able to eventually do so domestically. Walmart, in a press release to announce the factory’s opening, reinforced its commitment to supporting American manufacturing jobs, pointing out that nearly two-thirds of the dollars the company spends on products are either made, grown or assembled in the U.S. Last year the company announced an additional $350 billion investment to that end. “Walmart is proud to work with Classic Fashion, which will soon be manufacturing its excellent products here in the U.S.,” said Jason Fremstad, senior vice president, supplier development & sourcing at Walmart, in a statement. “Investing in local manufacturing creates American jobs, helps small businesses expand and benefits communities like Santa Ana. We're excited to feature Classic Fashion's American-manufactured apparel exclusively in our stores.” Supply disruptions caused by the pandemic have spurred increased interest on the part of brand manufacturers and retailers in bringing production capabilities closer to, if not to, the U.S. market. A CNN report earlier this week cited last Friday’s U.S. jobs report for September, which showed 22,000 jobs being added in the manufacturing sector. That brings the total of new manufacturing jobs added to nearly half a million over the past year. Nearly 13 million jobs in American factories puts that number at its highest level since the Great Recession. The reality is that even more jobs could be added if there were workers to fill them. “For every 100 jobs openings in the sector we only have 60 people who are looking,” Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, told CNN. “I think it’ll take quite a while to fill that pipeline.”

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