Hatmaker Bollman Moves Some Jobs Back from China to US, But Still Struggles

choi

Michael Rubinkam, Hat Brand Kangol Returns Jobs to US, Finds Itself Struggling. Associated Press, May 31, 2016
http://lancasteronline.com/news/ ... 0-7b699e4ed537.html
(Bollman's hat-making "moved [back] into a [Adamstown,] Pennsylvania factory last year from China * * * Bollman spends about $11 an hour per worker in Pennsylvania vs. $2.60 in China. * * * U.S. apparel production has increased 50 percent since 2009, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association * * * Last year, for the first time in decades, the number of manufacturing jobs created by US companies that moved operations back to the nation and by foreign companies investing in America exceeded the number of jobs lost by companies moving overseas, according to the Reshoring Initiative, a nonprofit * * * more than 97 percent of America's wardrobe still comes from abroad * * * Nearly a year later, Bollman's overall cost per hat is still twice as high as it was in Asia, partly because the Pennsylvania crew can't yet produce as many hats in a day as their more experienced counterparts at the now-shuttered factory in Panyu 广州市番禺区, in southern China. But the cost per hat was three times as high initially, and the company says it expects continued improvement")

Note:
(a) Bollman Hat Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollman_Hat_Company
(George Bollman set up his hat factory in Adamstown [a borough -- of 1,789 in 2010 census -- in Lancaster County], Pennsylvania in 1868)

This Wiki page suggests The company has struggled financially since before moving th emanufacturing back to US.
(b) Kangol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangol
(read sentence 1 in the introduction)

Quote:

"The Kangaroo logo was adopted by Kangol in 1983 because Americans were always asking where 'they could get the Kangaroo hat...'  (quoting Bollmanhats.com)

"The global rights to Kangol hats have been held by American hatmakers Bollman Hat Company since 2002.