Posted August 14, 2017

 

By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)

 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Nestled in the Tennessee Valley is a “big little” textile company with a massive reach and a genuine made-in-America story.

 

Minnewawa, Inc., the oldest American woven label maker in the country, is thriving, investing and growing in order to meet marketplace demands and better serve its broadening customer base, according to co-owner and President Bob Poovey. The company, which traces its roots to 1929 as a manual, labor-intensive weaving operation in the Utica, N.Y., area, in recent years has been adding and upgrading equipment, hiring staff and adding shifts, he said.

 

“Our intrigue was to remain strong to our roots of American manufacturing and modernize the company to compete in the global marketplace,” Poovey said. “Our made-in-the-USA story is very compelling to our customers and something we promote very heavily.”

 

The company offers a wide variety of all-custom-made products, including ribbons, and they can be found in just about every closet, home, hotel, hospital, et al, in a diverse range of goods such as calendar bookmarks, home fashions, mattresses, apparel and eyeglass accessories. It has manufactured labels for many national brands, including Pottery Barn, Hanes, Ralph Lauren and Guy Harvey and also produces labels for fabric makers.

 

Several years ago, Minnewawa management identified a larger customer demand for American-made jacquard narrow fabrics, so it began to beat the made-in-the-USA drum louder, said Poovey, 75.

 

“Our capital investment is a direct result of our made-in-the USA products and our ability to compete globally,” he said. “At this point, we have modernized nearly every single process in our facility, from order entry all the way through packing. “We’re a flag-waving company, and we have the base to sing that song. It has turned into an excellent situation for us.”

 

Over the last two-and-a-half years of so, Minnewawa has spent more than half of its annual sales on new, modern, high-speed equipment, he said. As a result, the company has more than doubled production at its facility here and continues to increase output, he added.

 

The company buys all of its yarn (mostly polyester) domestically, its largest supplier being Unifi. The company has added several new Jakob Müller weaving machines, and recently expanded into air-jet weaving technology with Dornier weaving machines. It also recently installed new Müller finishing.

 

“We are having a difficult time keeping up with orders, and that’s a wonderful problem to have,” Poovey said. “We’re adding looms, and that will double the amount of woven products we’re manufacturing today. We have also doubled the production capacity in finishing. Weaving is another animal because it’s so expensive. But we have modernized and replaced and stepped into the air-jet technology, and we plan to add more. When you start adding those things with their speed and width, it’s amazing the amount of labels you can produce. It’s incredible.”

 

Company purchased in 2006

 

Poovey, who also owns Champion Thread in Gastonia, N.C., purchased Minnewawa with a group of investors in 2006. At the time, new equipment and some new thinking were needed, but generally, the company was a well-run, profitable organization, he said.

 

“That prompted us to acquire it,” he said. “With our exposure to the market, a lot our customers used printed and woven labels. We felt like it was a natural synergy for us.

 

“Textiles is what we do and what our family knows,” he added. “Our family has put three generations through N.C. State’s College of Textiles.”

 

Not long after the acquisition, the market and much of the economy crashed, of course, and Minnewawa was not immune to economic vagaries.

 

“The downturn was tough on us but we had already seen most of the pain through NAFTA and later Asian finished good imports,” Poovey said.

 

As a result of having virtually no debt, the company was able to get through the Great Recession as the made-in-America movement was beginning to gain steam, he added.

 

“We were plowing everything right back into the company, and I mean everything,” Poovey said.

 

Also, for more than a decade, Minnewawa has expanded its customer base so as not to be too dependent on one market or one customer, he pointed out. Its customer base today spans about 20 different market spaces, from apparel, home textiles, industrial, electronics, decorative retail and wholesale, corporate brand promotion, mattresses, tapestry quality artwork, military, footwear, etc., he added.

 

“Our product line for years was apparel driven, but today we make a variety of products for many different end-use markets that we never would have dreamed of 15 years ago,” Poovey said.

 

On any given day, the company can have as many as 1,500 SKUs running through the plant, so business is good and growing, added Office Manager Nina Beasley.

 

“For the last several years, we’ve had calls from people saying, ‘hey, I have a startup and I need made in the USA,” she said. “We’ve seen a big surge of that. And we’re seeing some of our customers moving back onshore, and that's positive.”

 

Pride in American-made craftsmanship

 

A tour of Minnewawa’s production facility and chats with employees reveal that a certain pride for made-in-America craftsmanship pervades. Plus, the general career longevity of its employee base seems to confirm the company’s family-like, “great-place-to-work” perception.

 

“Minnewawa has been a great employer,” said designer Melissa Holder, who joined the company more than 40 years ago, in 1975. “Not only do I have a rewarding and sometimes challenging career, I’ve earned a living wage, received excellent benefits and enjoyed being a part of a ‘work family’ in a professional environment. Many of the past and present employees have worked here for years and I think that stands as a testament to the company and its good standing with its employees as well as the business community.”

 

Indeed, the company counts several employees with 20 or more years of service. Another employee retired a couple of years ago at age 78 after a 60-year career with the company, and he “never called in sick,” according to the company’s general manager.

 

Bill Roberts joined the company right out of high school – 48 years ago. He serves as shipping manager now but has handled just about every responsibility in the company, including weaving and cutting and folding, and still fills in as needed in various departments.

“I really like that we’re a made-in-America company,” he said. “More and more people are learning that that is important, and I’m glad it’s on the upswing.”

 

“It's really like a big family here, and I've enjoyed the work,” he added. “I've always found it interesting and rewarding. We get different labels every day, so it's not the same thing all the time.”

 

Tim Webb, weaving manager, joined the company nearly 40 years ago and knows the equipment inside and out, he said.

 

“I've taken them all apart, from one end to the other,” said Webb, who was trained on the equipment in Switzerland and Paris. “I've done everything in the building here, but I love weaving.”

 

He added that Minnewawa has been an excellent place to work and support a family.

 

Penny Simerly, a 24-year employee who runs the cut-and-fold machines, said she takes pride in seeing the company’s products in the market.

 

“I see our labels everywhere – in Belk, JCPenney and Walmart,” she said. “That makes you feel good.”

 

James Storrs and his wife Shirley have worked in label-manufacturing nearly their entire careers, from Pennsylvania to Nebraska to Virginia to West Virginia, before joining Minnewawa a decade ago. He serves as cut-and-fold manager.

 

“I’m glad things are starting to come back (to the U.S.),” he said. “When you talk about quality, we do a pretty darn good job.”

 

Beasley, the office manager, has been with the company about 21 years after working 15 years for a competitor that went out of business. She spoke to the close-knit atmosphere fostered at Minnewawa.

 

“The big thing is, when people come here, they don't leave because it's like family,” she said. “We're not huge, so that makes it more personal, where everyone really knows everyone and are genuinely concerned about each other.”

 

Beasley handles all of the company’s purchase orders and much of its customer service, but fills in in other departments as needed, she said.

 

“We are growing so fast because a lot of people are coming back to wanting stuff made in the USA,” she said. “We're expanding and getting new equipment so we can keep up with the business. And it's all about keeping customers satisfied and getting the orders out on time.”

 

One of the newer employees, four-year employee Dustin Roberts (no relation to Bill), said he has found a home at Minnewawa. This day, eTC caught up with Roberts in the finishing department, where various levels of starch are applied, depending on the customer’s requirement.

 

“This job – I love it, I love it,” he said. “This is my first manufacturing job. Everything we weave comes through this department. I've seen tons of ribbons and labels come through here. When I see them in stores, I say, ‘hey, I did that!’ It feels good. We all feel a sense of pride in what we do.”

 

Every product produced at the plant also must go through the inspection department, this day being run by six-year employee Matt Webb (no relation to Tim), who works in several different departments doing “whatever needs to be done,” he said.

 

“When I started here, the man who trained me said everything that goes out the door has your name on it, so you need to treat it that way. And I notice them whenever I’m in a store, but only I can see my name on them,” he quipped. “I feel strongly about made in America.”

 

Pride in one’s work is certainly noticeable at each step, and every department is important to the operation in order to meet customer needs. And that starts before the production process begins, at the design step. For every order Minnewawa receives, specific determinations must be made, Holder said.

 

“Generally, our clients have an idea of what is desired for their woven label or ribbon, so dimensions, quality (weave structure), colors and art are the first factors I need to get started on a new design,” she said. “I set up the number of picks and ends, choose the appropriate weaves according to quality, select yarns to match colors and import the art into the design computer. The design never comes in ‘clean,’ some editing always has to be done, and certain techniques have to be applied so that the yarns will interact properly. After editing, the design is converted to a card file and sent to the loom, and the actual manufacturing process begins.”

 

American-made focus

 

U.S. manufacturing is the lifeblood of Minnewawa’s business, Poovey said, and to produce in America today, a company must be highly efficient, lean and customer focused, as well as have a strong balance sheet, he added.

 

“We have done a heck of a good job at Minnewawa and we’re proud of what we do,” he said.

 

And, of course, the company is succeeding with a strong focus on the made-in-America movement.

 

“There’s no question that made in the USA matters to some of our largest customers and we are proud to say that not only are we made in the USA but our ownership is also 100 percent American,” he said. “Made in the USA is not only about national pride but it is also about being close to the largest consumer market in the world. Our customers have automated and modernized their own facilities to stay in the USA and close to their customers, and we are standing right there with them in partnership.”

 

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