“I was there when we went from nothing and turned into Cinderella in the industry,” Moody said. “And we bought it back and it looks like it's happening again.”

 

Investing in future

And that’s not by accident. The company has invested highly in technology, R&D and employees, and has expanded its product line into 14 new countries when limitations on territories were lifted after the buyout, Moody said. Vanguard Pai Lung for years has supplied rib and jersey knitting machines to leaders such as Fruit of the Loom, Hanesbrands and Gildan, and has since expanded its product line beyond those basic machines.

 

Among those new technologies is its Titan Pro Series, knitting machines that feature a number of advanced features.

 

“We showcased these at the recent Guatemala textile show and people were amazed at how fast the machines run,” said Angela White, Vanguard’s brands marketing manager and one of five of Moody’s seven children who work for the company.

 

That series, along with other advancements, were developed at its 273,000-square-foot facility here by Vanguard Pai Lung engineers in conjunction with its production force.

 

“We have an active R&D department that constantly pushes the limits of what’s possible in circular knitting technology,” White said. “We’re definitely investing in the future in new ways.”

 

Vanguard Pai Lung’s engineering department and its product development/marketing department has grown by 300 percent since 2009, she said. And the company recently spent $1.5 million on making the most precise cam in the industry, she added.

 

In addition to Vanguard products, the company also sells Pai Lung’s full product line. Also, it changed the name of its monitoring application to Total Manufacturing Management (TFM) as it has expanded into different industries beyond knitting. TFM was developed by Vanguard and allows users to gather data on machine performance on the plant floor.

 

“You don’t think of us as an IT company but it’s so important because the brand owners and retailers today are taking better control of their total product, from not only what dyes go in for the sustainability part but the constructions of fabrics,” said Gary Nestle, Vanguard Pai Lung’s director of marketing. “They need to get the same fabric produced at every factory. They’ve fixed that on the color side. But for standardization of fabrics, they want transparency right down to the mill. They want to be able to monitor what’s going on with their fabric. They don’t want bad fabric being shipped.”

 

New ways of thinking

Being a “fabric solutions provider” also means Vanguard Pai Lung is looking at new ways of competing. And that has involved reinventing itself as a company and taking on projects it believes will play a strong hand in America’s re-shoring effort.

 

One such project is its investment in AM4U (Apparel Made For You), a California company that has developed a game-changing and green technology innovation for the fabric and apparel industry. Through patent-pending Active Tunnel Infusion (AT-Infusion™), the company is able to digitally dye, print and label fabric in production without water. This process, according to AM4U, would “allow garment manufacturing to return to North America at a higher profit.”

 

“We really believe in this,” Moody said. “We did our research on it and James (Wang) did his research on it on the other side of the world and decided we wanted to be a part of this. There are a number of companies interested in this technology.”

 

Working with AM4U, Vanguard has developed a knitted fabric it calls “Janus” that can be printed with a denim pattern on one side and another pattern on the opposite side.

 

“I toured the factory in California,” said Nestle, who previously sold dyes and chemicals before joining Vanguard Pai Lung in January. “I’ve learned over the years what you have to do to dye fabric. And I walked out of there scratching my bald head. Once I understood the science behind it, I said ‘this makes sense.’ And it’s not sublimation.”

 

And a technological bonus: The dyed or printed fabric can be bleached.

 

“With diseases that can occur because you can’t wash clothing in bleach because of all the colors, this is a huge breakthrough,” Moody said.

 

The Design Center

Another major project in which Vanguard Pai Lung is heavily involved is what it calls its Design Center. In a nutshell, the idea is for brand owners and retailers to be able to better standardize fabric being produced at any mills, although the company is keeping most of the details under wraps until further development.

 

Working closely with Under Armour, Vanguard Pai Lung has put together an alliance of companies to work on the project. The alliance also includes Unifi, Parkdale, Archroma and Navis TubeTex.

 

“It’s wonderful to see everybody working together,” Nestle said. “The only thing that’s going to bring manufacturing back to this country is when people get together and say ‘we’re going to do this.’ ”

 

Vanguard Pai Lung currently has a mini-showroom of knitting machines for this purpose and plans to build a separate building to house the center, Moody said.

 

“We’re trying to anticipate what’s next and try to jump on it,” White said. “We’re getting out there and telling people what we can do and how we can help.”

 

High employee retention

Vanguard Pai Lung also invests in its employees and has created a close-knit atmosphere, White said, which may account for its high retention rate. Besides the Moodys (Bill and his five children), the company has 12 family connections (i.e. father-son, husband-wife, etc.) who are employed here. And two employees have more than 50 years of service.

 

“Our employee retention is high,” White said. “We invest in our employees and we are very family oriented.”

 

Added Moody: “The people we have, we’re not going to lose. And that was just like the old Vanguard, when nobody ever left us.”

 

In addition to White, sons Tim (sales operations), Mike (vice president, product development), Patrick (product manager) and daughter Mary Kate (vice president, sales) are employed at the company.

 

The company has grown from around 80 employees in 2009 to 114 today, including 74 production employees.

 

Vanguard has also sent dozens of employees to Pai Lung in Taiwan to “learn from the experts” for at least a week, during which time they take multiple courses on knitting technology and the business.

 

Another way the company has invested in employees and its future is by adding experienced personnel to its leadership ranks. Or, as Moody affectionately calls it, “the Geritol Group.” They include Nestle; Tom Hansen, the former president of textile machinery builder Van de Wiele-IRO; and Tony Alexander, sales director, who previously owned a knitting company. All three have extensive careers in the industry and bring a lot to the table, Moody said.

 

Hansen and Alexander, both of whom Moody have known for years, were hired after happenstance meetings that turned into productive conversations about the company’s future, Moody said.

 

“Customers and employees like Tom,” Moody said. “He is a good man. When he came in, I said ‘let’s see what you can do. Tom has always been organized. He has come in and organized our purchasing and our customer service. He brings knowledge to the table on numerous issues such as Lycra and other things.

 

“And Tony is a heck of a salesman and he is a heck of a buyer, too,” he continued. “When I sold to him previously, he drove a good bargain.

 

“Gary brings a different approach to our business,” he added. “His marketing expertise with the ‘flow through’ idea, or going to go buyer who has to have product made but has no way of understanding a lot of the things that go into it, is an asset.”

 

Nestle said joining the Vanguard Pai Lung ranks was a great career move for him.

 

“The brilliance of being my age in this business is I’m no longer chasing the dollar,” he said. “And if anything, if I can go out and say I had a hand somehow in bringing business back to this country, that’s enough for me. I’d be happy with that. I’m thrilled to be where I am now and this is exactly the right company to be for me.”

 

Moody said he loves where the company is and where it is headed. His only regret, he added, is he doesn’t have at least 20 more years left in the business.

 

“It’s been a fun ride,” he said, “and I plan to stay on it as long as possible.”