FutureStitch to Open First Domestic Plant, Employ the Formerly Incarcerated
FutureStitch is bringing its manufacturing expertise back to the U.S.
Since its founding in 2017, the San Clemente, California-based textile and technology firm has built a $65 million business manufacturing socks for Stance, Toms, Crocs, Everlane and other firms. But that production has all been at the company’s factory near Shanghai — until now.
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This week FutureStitch will open its first domestic manufacturing plant in Oceanside, California. But there’s a distinct difference between this factory and others in the U.S. The facility will be staffed in part by formerly incarcerated women.
Taylor Shupe, cofounder and chief executive officer of FutureStitch, is working closely with the San Diego Workforce Partners and North Country Lifeline to recruit and hire some 20 women this year, a number he expects to increase to 50 next year. The entire factory will employ 60 workers.
They will all be paid the same wage, starting at $20 an hour, and are offered paid vacation time, select paid holidays, full health benefits and are able to participate in the company’s 401K plan.
The unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people is significantly higher than the national average — about 35 percent — and jobs and support services are hard to come by. But by working with these two organizations FutureStitch will be able to help the women access programs including therapy and housing support in addition to providing employment.
Shupe said the factory, which was created in an existing building that FutureStitch is renting through a long-term lease, will offer the most technologically advanced knitwear manufacturing designed for fast replenishment to optimize the supply chain. Initially, it will produce socks exclusively for Stance, but may expand to other brands in the future.
The concept of hiring the formerly incarcerated “aligned with our original hypothesis that if we create the right culture and invest in infrastructure, we can maintain a workforce at a high retention rate,” Shupe said.
This is a strategy that he will also use at another factory that he will open in Texas sometime after 2023. That facility, in Dallas, will be larger and will employ 300 people, many of them visually impaired, Shupe said. Like the California plant, he will work with a local charity to find the workers.
So what is Shupe’s motivation for seeking workers from groups facing challenges finding employment? “It just feels good for us and our brand partners,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not a marketing strategy. We know that both populations have high unemployment rates and we saw an opportunity to address communities that couldn’t find work elsewhere. We hope that by offering them the right benefits, they’ll stay. And we hope other businesspeople will attempt to help them as well.”
The California plant will produce mainly socks but will also manufacture sleeves and other circular knits, he said. And producing domestically also cuts down on excess inventory, allows him to offer drop-shipping to his customers, and reduces his company’s environmental footprint, Shupe said. His factory in China is LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for both its construction and operational efficiency.
FutureStitch will continue to manufacture product at that factory in China, but that product will be focused on the Chinese market, he said. The company also has a joint venture in Turkey that services Europe and Central America, which will also continue.
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