Wal-Mart admits reshoring apparel is difficult | Apparel Industry Analysis … – just-style.com (subscription)

Michelle Gloeckler, EVP consumables and health & wellness, US manufacturing lead, at Walmart, presents at the 2015 US Manufacturing Summit

Executives at US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores have admitted that reshoring apparel is “difficult, but not impossible” – with a new innovation fund set up to tackle the challenges of domestic textile and clothing production.

The comments came as the retailer last week staged its third US Manufacturing Summit and second Open Call event, where around 2,000 suppliers were encouraged to pitch their US-made products to buyers from Walmart, Walmart.com and Sam’s Club.

The two-day event is part of an ongoing initiative to boost domestic manufacturing by buying an extra US$50bn in US-made products over the next ten years. Launched in 2013, the commitment represents a cumulative investment of $250bn by 2023, the retailer says.

“It is not an unrealistic goal,” Michelle Gloecker, executive vice president of consumables and health & wellness, and US manufacturing lead at Walmart, told the summit. “The evidence speaks for itself, the evidence is real, this is not a PR stunt.”

Telling the audience “over two-thirds of what we already buy is made in the US,” she added: “We’re making shoes in Georgia, knits in Brooklyn NY.”

“At Walmart, as a retailer, our role has always been to facilitate and accelerate the progress of making, assembling and growing products here in the US. And we’ve done that in three ways: by reshoring production from overseas, expanding production of goods that are already made here, and by bringing goods and suppliers who are making things here in the US that are new to Walmart, by opening our doors and bringing them in.”

She continued: “Making goods closer to where they’re consumed just makes good business sense.”

That said, she also acknowledged “certain categories of merchandise are more difficult,” noting that apparel in particular, “is more difficult but certainly not impossible.”

Among its efforts to find solutions to challenges linked to reshoring and growing US production is the Walmart US Manufacturing Innovation Fund, launched last year with the Walmart Foundation and the US Conference of Mayors. With $10m committed over five years to fund innovations, it has so far awarded seven grants worth $4.2m.

Its latest offering, according to Cindi Marsiglio, VP US sourcing and manufacturing, is “Innovation Fund 2.0…we’re opening up the next round of our grants with a focus exclusively on textiles. It’s an important area and has lots of opportunities for us.”

Some of last year’s award winners, and “some applicants this year,” she said, “are working on cutting and sewing, weaving, dyeing, robotics, changing the face of how textiles can be made again in the US.” The innovation grants are open to non-profit organisations, universities and research institutions.

Another new resource is the Jobs in US Manufacturing Portal (JUMP), a website to build on the momentum of the Open Call initiative by allowing suppliers and potential suppliers to continue to submit new ideas for products made in the US, keep up with progress on the US Manufacturing Initiative, and share stories.

Another new resource being launched as part of the JUMP portal is a partnership with ThomasNet, a product sourcing and supplier database listing more than half a million manufacturers of products and components across the US.

A free subscription service called Corporate Edition has been designed specifically for Walmart in response to feedback from vendors that finding US sources of supply was a challenge.

Among the features companies can add their approved supplier list to the platform so they can easily see when an existing vendor might meet the need for a different product.

Users can also invite an unlimited number of suppliers to reply to a single request for information (RFI), quote, or proposal; and ThomasNet will follow up with suppliers to determine disposition of an RFI and help expedite a response. There are also collaboration tools so that users can share “saved suppliers” and shortlists with others in their company.

The portal, which is free but requires registration, can be accessed here.