Neely Manufacturing, of Croydon Iowa, made the decision this year to return their domestic manufacturing capabilities back into full swing. Until 10 years ago, Neely’s products had been primarily made in the U.S. for decades, before the company entered into relationships with overseas partners. But, even with the new partnerships, the company continued domestic sewing and even began taking over the domestic sewing for other suppliers who were getting out of manufacturing in their own facilities.
Recently, though, due to customer concerns for the problems with product quality from Chinese-manufactured products and the presence of chemicals and lead in products, Neely recognized they were in a unique position to be very responsive to the concerns of their customers and meet their customer’s demand for American made manufacturing–particularly as it relates to “green” products.
While Neely has never had any problems with their carefully selected, long-standing overseas partners, the company is in a much better position to have control over their “green” offerings by purchasing American-produced fabric and sewing these products in their domestic factories.
One of the issues that suppliers have with products they are importing which are stated to be organically grown is that there is no system in place to certify that goods coming from other countries are indeed organic as they claim to be. Neely is working with their Indian manufacturing partner for an organic-certification process, in conjunction with an independent quality-assurance agent, that would allow for an organic guarantee. However, presently, the only way to really guarantee an item is organic in all stages of production is to be an American manufacturer buying American-grown and converted fabrics which can be certified in the United States.
For more information on Neely, visit www.neelymfg.com
