Why an important change for the production of US clothing is unlikely.

The Push Made in America by President Donald Trump is taking some American clothing retailers to expand the national production of everything, from t -shirts to coats and costumes, several executives told Reuters this week.

But limited capacity makes a large -scale change to US production unlikely, and clothing made by the United States has a higher cost due to high labor expenses and tariffs on materials, executives said.

In a meeting with the US CEO on Tuesday, including the Chief of Walmart, Trump repeated his vote of reducing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% for US companies that manufacture products in the United States, according to a person familiar with his comments. He also defended its use of import rates and said they could multiply.

“We are receiving a lot of consultations of the brands (retailers) that seek to remake” by bringing production to the United States, said Mitch Gambert, owner and executive director of Gambert Shirtmakers, a manufacturer of dress shirts for men in Newark, New Jersey.

His firm supplies cotton shirts to three Nordstrom stores, and the department store chain has asked him to drive 50 stores at the end of June, he said. Nordstrom did not respond to a request for comments.

In the reform of the private retailer based in California, vice president of operations operations, Kathleen Talbot, said he is making more orders with his Los Angeles suppliers, since the women's clothing specialty chain adapts to Trump's tariffs, and can consider other states such as New York and Nevada.

“I believe in the spirit of trying to revitalize or invest in national manufacturing, but that will take time,” he said.

Talbot said Trump's planned rates in imports from Mexico, which will take effect in April, left the retailer fighting to change his supply chain. Reforma, which sells online and in more than 50 stores in the US., United Kingdom and Canada, gets clothes from six Mexican factories, all close enough of truck raw materials and finished products on the border to Los Angeles and back.

Joe Ferrara, CEO of Ferrara Manufacturing, based in New York, which manufactures clothing for Ralph Lauren and the United States army, said that more retailers have approached him to try a manufacture of rapid wool and wool products such as wool layers and blazers. Ralph Lauren did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

Steve Lamar, president of the American Association of Apopy and Footwear, said the industry group expects to see a modest increase in the manufacture of the United States.

“We don't have childbirth, the set of skills, materials and infrastructure” to make large -scale clothing and shoes, Lamar said.

Americans are used to buying clothes made by China and Low price Asia. According to Lamar's Association, approximately 97% of clothing and shoes sold in the US. China is the largest source of American clothing imports, although their participation has fallen in the last 15 years as clothing production grew in Vietnam and Bangladesh.

The US clothing manufacturing sector has been reduced since 1990 as brands and retailers changed to the supply of factories in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other low -wage countries, which allowed them to keep costs and prices low, said Yao Jin, associate professor of supply chain management at the University of Miami of Ohio.

“For the clothing industry, very few works will return to the United States because our work is not competitive,” he said.

For Gambert, the possible additional orders for shirts that are sold for $ 300 to $ 500 represent an important increase for their factory of 100 people.

“They would be a definitive positive shot in the arm for my business,” he said.

He said that about 90% of the 100 workers in their factory earn more than the minimum wage of $ 15.49 per hour of New Jersey.

But the limited production capacity of Gambert Shirts has forced him to adopt a cautious approach for new retail customers.

“We certainly do not want to overload it and throw the existing client base,” he said.

The main competitors of Gambert are shirt factories in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and India.
Another problem is that materials such as buttons, fabrics and zippers are imported and subject to Trump rates. China is the largest source of imports of American fabrics.

The costs of the Gambert buttons have increased by 18% due to US tariffs against China.

Alexander Tsar, CEO of the manufacturer of footwear and leather items, the Land Production and Design in Los Angeles, said he received consultations of sportswear brands interested in producing sneakers and shoes in the US. UU., ZAR aims to increase $ 10 million external investors to buy new machinery for his 60,000 square feet factory (5,600 mm) of the factory and meet the increased demand.

In a presentation of investors, the Land Marks Us Manufacturing as a way for brands “avoiding arbitrary tariffs and unexpected congestion of the supply chain affected by international geopolitics.”

“While the traditional manufacture of footwear in the United States may not be able to compete with global prices, the location offers substantial advantages when it is addressed with the correct technologies,” Zar said in an interview.

Since the minimum wage per hour of $ 17.28 of Los Angeles is among the highest in the country, Zar plans to invest in 3D printing and technology that could eliminate the need to sew in the running shoes, reducing work costs.

Even so, Tsar said that most shoes produced by his factory will probably have a higher price or limited edition.
The Adidas sportswear brand, which lists the LAND as a supplier, has no plans to change its supply chain, said a spokesman when asked if the company would buy more products made in the United States. LA LAND will produce “a special edition of shoes in very limited amounts” for Adidas, said the spokesman.

Kim Glas, president of the National Council of Textile Organizations, favors Trump's additional tariffs on China's clothing imports. But she said that tariffs in Mexico and Canada harm the industry that depends on sending us cotton and wool, thread and fabric through the borders for different manufacturing stages. Confusion about tariffs is also useless, he said.

“For national manufacturers of the United States to grow and invest, they need long -term certainty.”