Made in America Company Lacks Support
But what if you couldn’t find investors to help you grow your American-made business unless you took your product overseas. A local business is facing that dilemma and 10News spoke with the owner who says that the company is now turning to the general public for help.
|
|
“I had an issue with my underarms sweating when I got nervous,” said Billy Thompson, owner of Thompson Tee.
Thompson turned his unusual problem into a thriving business — making garments that uses patent-pending technology to prevent embarrassing pit stains. The company is growing, profitable and made in America. But that seems to be a problem.
“You’re definitely fighting against the grain trying to produce garments here in America,” Thompson said.
Thompson and his partners are proud to be American-made. They want to keep Thompson Tee in the U.S. and they’re willing to pay twice as much in labor to do so.
But they can’t seem to find an investor who feels the same way. They had a big offer to take the product overseas, like a lot of other major clothing lines, where production costs would be cut dramatically. But Thompson and his partners turned down the lucrative offer.
“You know when you sit back and you think about it and you do a gut check and you think ‘OK, when we started this thing what were the core values to us?’ ” said Thompson. “And one of them was being made in the U.S.A.”
Now, the company is turning to crowdfunding. It started a grassroots, online campaign to raise the $25,000 needed to cover materials and labor. That would keep Thompson Tee in America and create American jobs.
“So we’ll see if the American public really does have an appetite for American made goods,” he said.
The crowdfunding campaign began June 1. Thompson said failure is not an option and that the company plans to stay in the U.S. no matter what.
Learn more about the company by watching the video below:
Am I missing it – but are they looking for investors from the general public? I didn’t really see any explanation as to how someone could invest with them other than purchasing their shirts.
They are looking for funding, by using crowd funding they are hoping to get enough small donations to cover the investment they need to continue. You should be able to make a donation to them through the crowd funding platform they are using.