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Supply Chain
American-Sewn: A Once-Thriving Sewing Industry is Lining Up for a Comeback
By R.J. King, Editor of DBusiness Magazine
With clients ranging from manufacturers and contractors to different branches of the U.S. military, Tim Rose and his dozen employees are on pace to produce more than 150,000 bags, straps, and canvas covers this year. That’s more than double the output from 2023.
“We get the drawings and the specs from our customers, and we make covers for military personnel and equipment,” says Tim Rose, president of Textile Fabrication and Distribution Inc. in Mount Clemens, Michigan. “We also have automotive and industrial clients.”
While there’s plenty of demand for domestically produced products, the craft of threading by hand or operating a commercial sewing machine is notches from where it once was. At the same time, the production workforce has steadily been trimmed by overseas competition and robotics.
The challenge at Textile Fabrication, which was founded in 2001, was that although it had steady sales, Rose knew they could do more with trained seamsters. Enter the power of networking.
Through a recommendation, in 2022 Rose began working with the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC), a nonprofit organization located on the third floor of a former Chrysler dealership along Cass Avenue in Detroit’s Midtown district.
Designed by noted architect Charles N. Agree in 1928, Rose says the ISAIC center matches the mission of workforce development.
In some way, he says the company now has a certain kinship with the Art Deco space. Before machines took over in the 1950s, thousands of car seats and liners were hand-stitched across scores of automotive assembly plants.
“We had an enormous amount of professional seamsters in Detroit, but as times changed, demand fell off. Now, ISAIC and others are offering training programs as a way to expand local job opportunities,” says Rose, who earned an advertising degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
“That’s been a big help to me. We also work with agencies to provide jobs to the hearing-impaired, which we developed a specialty for. My wife and several of our employees are hearing-impaired.”
ISAIC’s training curriculum is being used in multiple states across the country, while its learning and contract manufacturing factory, in which it strives to teach mass-production principles, is located at the Detroit facility.
“To find trained workers ready to go has been very helpful for the business,” says Rose, who developed a novel way to produce camouflaged tarps for the military.
With the added momentum in recent years, he’s eyeing a future expansion. “There’s plenty of work to go around if we can find more workers,” he says. “Rather than see orders go overseas, jobs can be created right here.”
Source: dbusiness.com
ISAIC, the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, is a fundamental new approach to talent force development and economic stimulus. A Detroit-based 501c3 nonprofit, ISAIC is a national resource for those committed to positive impact through responsible production of high-quality garments and provides solutions centered around people, education, advanced manufacturing and upward mobility for workers. ISAIC’s proprietary training curriculum is being used in multiple states across the country. Its learning and contract manufacturing factory is located in mid-town Detroit, above Carhartt’s flagship store.
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