RediHEAT Bags Have Always Been Sewn in the USA!!

I read with great interest the article that appeared in last week's New York Times.   The article's link is below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/a-wave-of-sewing-jobs-as-orders-pile-up-at-us-factories.html?_r=0

This article references sewing work that is beginning to return to the US.  The US consumer is starting to wise up to the conditions of sewing in light of the 1,000 + dead in a Bangladesh sewing operation.  In addition, the long lead times and quality gaps have US sewing operators starting to hire.  The US factories are more automated which has driven down the labor cost in the US.

When I first became involved with RediHEAT in 2009, I was pounded by suppliers who could do our sewing in China and save our company money.  I was visited by at least 50 sourcing agents at our booth a various trades shows.  Several agents even mocked me for making such a poor decision by not sourcing our goods overseas, and I heard comments that our demise was inevitable.  


While the promise of cheap labor is appealing, we never have moved our sewing outside of Cleveland, OH.  The driving force was volume and stubbornness.   While our volume has increase every year for the last four years, we have resisted the move to offshore our sewing. Our profit margins would have definitely increased by moving our work to China.  

This article highlights the movement of bringing manufacturing back to the US.  While overall number of jobs will never return, it is a great lesson on how innovative manufacturers can support a business model that long ago left for Asia.

Many folks throw around the slogan "made in the USA", but most consumers do not practice this in real life.  A simple walk down any isle at Walmart or Target will prove this point.  The consumers have spoken and Walmart and Target have answered.  

RediHEAT, is a small niche sewing company that sells a specialty product.  It has been difficult to run our business knowing that profits can be improved by sewing in China, but you can not put a price on the pride I feel knowing that we can survive doing things against convention.

See our unique products at http://www.rediheat.com/