Triad companies search for alternative socks sources to replace quota saturated China
16 May '05
3 min read
For Bill Redding, CEO of Acme-McCrary Corp., an Asheboro hosiery and sock maker, "We actually have some goods in China that we're having to fly here," he said. Acme contracts out all of its sock manufacturing to other facilities in the U.S. and abroad. Though small, Redding parried that with the quota limit looming, he just couldn't afford to wait for 20 to 30 days that it usually takes to ship socks. Instead, Acme-McCrary will fly-in socks this week.
On the positive side, Darrell Frye, chief financial officer at Harriss and Covington Hosiery Mills Inc. in High Point said that some business that moved to China, actually has started returning to the company.
Employing 240 odd in the High Point based Harris and Covington Hosiery, late 2004 saw company lose orders to Chinese factories that make socks for other companies, Frye added.
"We lost close to a million dozen of production from our plant to China last year," he said. "That is a significant percentage of our business."
All said and done, industry observers expect a push for another year's worth of quota on Chinese socks later this year which offers great potential for destinations waiting to fill-in Chinese shoes.
marketing@alchempro.com
