More about All American Clothing and their products can be found at:
http://www.allamericanclothing.com/
Lawson Nickol and family are bringing to life an empty, cavernous, former cabinet factory on the edge of town, helping rebuild an American industry that some gave up for dying or dead.
Nickol’s All American Clothing, fresh from a surge of national publicity following reports that designer Ralph Lauren had U.S. Olympic team uniforms made in China, is gearing up to begin manufacturing clothing here in 2013.
Nickol, a soft-spoken, earnest 60-year-old, is riding a new wave of buy-American consumer sentiment. His business model is straight-up, unabashed patriotism. He’s domestically sourcing every thread that goes into jeans, shirts, shorts and outerwear all along the production chain from U.S. cotton growers to clothing producers in Kentucky and Texas.
Nickol’s “traceability” system, featured on his company website, lets consumers track the origin of cotton products all the way back to the U.S. cotton field and farmer.
If all goes to plan, he’ll have up to a dozen new employees next year and launch a cut-and-sew operation here. At one time, the 45,000-square-foot factory complex employed 200. Near term, it’ll house warehousing, a showroom, retail store, and offices, Nickol said.
His expansion is helped by a $150,000 loan from a Darke County low-interest revolving loan program, along with plenty of enthusiasm from local officials.
Marc Saluk, economic development director for the county’s Community Improvement Corporation, arranged the 1.5 percent interest loan.
“By the time you talk to Lawson, you are so enamored of his goal in doing business, and the goal of what he wants to accomplish, you can’t help but be excited about it,” Saluk said, adding that filling a large, vacant industrial complex was a “double win” for the county.
Saluk cites All American as one of several large Darke County industrial expansions this year, a list that includes appliance-maker Whirlpool’s Kitchen Aide division in Greenville and medical equipment manufacturer Midmark in Versailles.
“We are not messing around here,” County Commissioner Mike Stegall said. “We are aggressively seeking good manufacturing jobs.”
The enthusiasm has carried over to the town of Arcanum, where Nickol’s wife, Mary Ann Clark, grew up on her grandfather’s farm.”It’s great,” said Kurt Troutwine, owner of the insurance company by the same name. “It’s going to put Arcanum on the map,” he said.
Said Village Administrator Curt Garrison: “”This has been a tremendous opportunity. It could be even better than what we had here.”
Nickol said momentum is strong with sales increasing by 70 percent annually on average for four years. He’s predicting 2012 sales will be double that of last year.
Including the purchase price of the former Creative Cabinets factory complex, Nickol said he’ll put more than $1 million into the operation this year. Nickol founded All American Clothing, a family-run business with Mary Ann and son B.J., 34, in reaction to learning a decade ago that his employer was outsourcing work to Mexico.
Challenges are significant. Nickol is pressing against relentless offshoring. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. apparel manufacturing industry employment declined from about 900,000 to 150,000 jobs over the past two decades. Apparel manufacturing in Ohio employed 1,514 through 2011, half what it was in 2001.
Nickol is relying on item quality and durability as the counter-argument to aisles loaded with inexpensive foreign-made clothes sold at the big box retail outlets. Nickol figures that if $50 were spent annually for every American for U.S.-made clothing, the spending would generate $15.7 billion and provide jobs for thousands.
“It’s time for people in the apparel industry to step up and say, ‘Let’s go,”’ he said. “Our hope is we can grow substantially over the next three years. I have no desire to be a millionaire, but I want to live a standard of living, and I want that for my friends, family and employees.”
In no small part thanks to reaction to the Ralph Lauren story and persistent high unemployment, his mission has caught the eye of large media outlets. Nickol and his company have been featured on CNN, CNBC, ABC, and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz show, among others. The publicity surge has led to his appearances on radio talk shows around the country.
“We get called a lot,” Nickol said. “We spend a lot of time talking about the economy and jobs.”
In July, Nickol gave testimony about his business to a Senate committee. Lately, he’s fielded inquiries from major retailers wanting to stock his label. But Nickol isn’t ready for that yet.
For the immediate future, All American is selling direct to the consumer from its website, shipping daily through its Arcanum warehouse and shipping facility.
“A lot of people are excited we are moving in,” Nickol said.
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