It may seem such a long time ago, but there was a time that apparel-making was a large industry for Americans. Overtime, these processes were outsourced to factory workers in developing nations and the craft became much less common in the United States. However, apparel design began making a comeback in the U.S. after the fashion industry witnessed a factory collaspe in Bangladesh that killed more than 1,000 workers, according to the New York Times.
As a way to improve work conditions for their workers, American design companies are working on bringing back these operations into the U.S. The issue with this shift is that there are not many qualified seamstresses and tailors out there these days because 77 percent of these jobs were outsourced in the 1990s.
This is a great opportunity to utilize HR software solutions to pinpoint students who attend design colleges and vocational programs.
At J.W. Hulme, a leather goods company based in Minnesota, chief executive Jen Guarino told the Times that the sewing industry “withered away and nobody noticed.” Guarino added that many companies “stopped investing in training, they stopped investing in equipment,” which makes the challenge at hand more difficult, but not all is lost. Wages in this sector rose 13.2 percent between 2007-2012 whereas overall pay for private-sector jobs only saw 1.4 percent growth.
Hiring managers at apparel companies know that demand for American seamstresses will continue to increase as the industry begins to do more of its operations in the U.S. again, but they can get ahead of the race with the support of HR software solutions.