And among Americans, a correlation between the made-in-America movement and the “go green and do good” effect exists, she reported. According to a study, almost two-thirds of American consumers (62 percent) say they are more likely to buy a company's products if they believe in the company’s “cause.”
With increasing demands by consumers, brands and retailers for made-in-USA products, OTEXA has developed an online registry that showcases domestic manufacturers and suppliers of apparel, textiles and footwear, she pointed out.
Concurrent with the push for made in the USA, several public and private-sector activities were launched to stimulate retaining U.S. companies and jobs, recruiting foreign direct investment and reshoring efforts piloted by both the public and private sectors, Landgraf said.
She went over numerous factors driving industry to the U.S. and provided several examples of industries and companies that are reshoring. Other positive signs are initiatives such as the Revolutionary Fibers & Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute (RFT-MII), Walmart’s recommitment to U.S.-produced goods and a strong Berry Amendment, she added. She also provided information about resources available to help companies in their reshoring efforts.
With things looking up for U.S. production, she said that manufacturers will need to make big, long-term bets as to where they will manufacture as China’s growth slows down to a potential 4 percent next year.
“European companies are starting to move plants to the U.S., where the products are eventually sold in order to reduce transportation costs,” Landgraf said. “The U.S. is still the biggest consumer market, an attractive market for manufacturing to North America, and EVEN to export overseas. Smart companies are looking at how things will be impacted in the years to come.”
Textiles manufacturing, once considered a poster child for job-loss and offshoring, is now making a comeback, she added. Fueled by revolutionary new technologies, the American textile industry is adding jobs for the first time in decades; has increased shipments by 14 percent since 2009; and has grown exports by 39 percent since 2009, citing insiders.
All told, the trend line is positive for American manufacturing, Landgraf said, noting that in 2014 alone, 60,000 manufacturing jobs were reshored and by 2020, the differential between factory wages in China and the U.S. is expected to disappear.
“So there’s hope,” Landgraf said. “It’s not happening at the speed of light – it’s happening at the speed of business. It’s happening at the speed of business because you all have to make very critical decisions.”
Posted November 23, 2016
By Devin Steele (DSteele@eTextileCommunications.com)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Mary Lynn Landgraf, senior international trade specialist with U.S. Dept. of Commerce/Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA), covered the topic, “Reshoring: Reality of Fiction – Factors Impacting the Realization of Reshoring” during SPESA’s Executive Conference here this month.
In introducing her presentation, she shared an anecdote about attending a Heimtextil show in Germany a number of years ago, when someone from China told her, “we are going to bury the U.S. textile industry,” she said. “And I said, ‘over my dead body you are.’ ”
The outlook, of course, has turned for U.S. textiles, and China is now even building textile production plants on U.S. soil.
Early on, Landgraf mentioned a 1964 song by Bob Dylan titled, “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” and noted that things are changing again after years of offshoring, U.S. job loss and mill closings. “That song now heralds good news for U.S. manufacturing – foreign direct investment, reshoring and re-thinking training the U.S. 21st century workforce.”
She went on to cover a brief history of offshoring and the factors that led to it, the decline in employment numbers and the growing trade imbalance. But the tide began to turn around 2010, when rumblings of reshoring and a growing interest in made in the USA began to be felt. As such, from 2014 onward, manufacturing innovation institutes begin to arrive on the U.S. landscape, she noted.
To evaluate consumer mindset, the Boston Consulting Group surveyed more than 5,000 consumers in the U.S., China, Germany and France. Of the European participants, more than 65 percent prefer products made in their home countries, and more than 80 percent in the U.S. and a surprising 61 percent in China said they would pay a premium for American-made goods in comparison to products made in China, Landgraf reported.
Executive Conference
OTEXA trade specialist: The Times They Are A-Changin'
