Mike St. Pierre, the founder and CEO of , has a problem. He can鈥檛 find enough skilled sewers near his Biddeford, Maine,听facility to stitch all his ultralight tents, bags, and stuff sacks. This despite running ads in local papers, regional papers, and on the web.听鈥淚鈥檓 trying to hire five people right now, and as soon as they鈥檙e hired, I鈥檓 going to immediately need five more,鈥 he says.
Growing has been hard for a lot of outdoor听companies, not just听Hyperlite,听because skilled labor is hard to find in the U.S. Many American manufacturing jobs have moved overseas鈥750,000 apparel-related jobs听between 1990 and 2011鈥攁nd along with them went the skills. Take听Arc鈥檛eryx, the outerwear behemoth. The brand听puts a premium on building high-quality gear in North America (Vancouver in its听case).听In their large听facility where all their top-end gear is made鈥攅verything from the Alpha SV jackets to the harnesses to their military apparel鈥攖he floor is filled with skilled immigrants from countries like China,听who learned to sew back home then came here.听
Smaller brands face similar pressures but are coping in different ways.听Voormi, based in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, started with one skilled sewer in its local Pagosa shop and has since gone on to train four more sewers, and plans to onboard several more before the end of the year.听Dustin English, the brand鈥檚 director of product integrity, says the company,听which makes technical wool garments,听has recruited people who either sewed at home听or learned to sew in organizations like 4-H, a national youth development program,听and then taught them to sew their much-sought-after skiing, fishing, and hiking kit.
Voormi also sends some of its production to , a small clothing manufacturer in Rifle, Colorado, and has encouraged communities around Colorado to form their own small cut and sew operations so the brand can send them work.听鈥淲e really want to ramp up these micro factories as a way increase the capacity of rural communities,鈥 English says. 鈥淲e also really believe in the philosophy that a bunch of 10-person factories can compete with any large factory out there.鈥
As for听Hyperlite, St.听Pierre has formed an informal training school. Right now he has 26 sewers and the veterans in the group train the听newbies. It鈥檚 key for each sewer to get the proper training because his products are made from technical,听expensive materials.听鈥淲e need to bring manufacturing back to America,鈥 he says. 鈥淢anufacturing is what made this country great. We were able to build shit. We were able to build anything we wanted as a country,鈥 says St. Pierre.听
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