PRINTING United Alliance is grateful to serve its members who make such significant impacts on the printing industry. Through our Member Spotlights, we continue to recognize our members and help our community get to know their peers better, both professionally and personally. The following is a Q&A with Matthew Davis, director of Business Development at Dignity Apparel, headquartered in Waterloo, IA.
Please provide a brief history/background on your company.
Our core business (Image Pointe) has been decorating garments for almost 50 years. Dignity Apparel was born three years ago right across the street from Image Pointe in Waterloo, IA. As of February 2024, Dignity Apparel Tennessee has joined the family. Across the three companies there are close to 230 employees.
• Image Pointe – Screen Print, Embroidery, DTF, Dye-Sublimation, etc.
• Dignity Apparel Iowa – Garment Manufacturing (Fleece and Polyester products)
• Dignity Apparel Tennessee – Garment Manufacturing (Jersey) and Knitting
What was the inspiration behind making Dignity Apparel a union shop?
Our core business has been decorating garments for the last 50 years, primarily for Labor Unions, so we’ve seen how hard it’s become to source domestically made products. USA and Union-made apparel has diminished drastically over the last few decades. We not only want to provide folks with a quality, American-made product, but also provide transparency into the USA-sourced yarns used in our fabric, as well as the jobs we are creating right here in the U.S.
Are there markets or industries outside of your traditional offerings you are looking to add (or have added)? If so, what?
We’ve primarily served Labor Unions along with some political and government work, but now that we’ve got the manufacturing piece, we want to grow in those areas. Our goal is to partner with as many companies/organizations/brands as we can that share our values and strive to grow alongside us. Anyone who is committed to a true Made in USA brand and bettering the lives of Americans is who we want to work with. Music, entertainment, sports, and colleges and universities are just a few industries that we’ve seen some interest in, so we're excited to build on those relationships.
What would you say have been your company’s biggest accomplishments?
Our biggest accomplishment is living out our values and remaining true to our mission over the years. Our mission is to create dignified, life-changing jobs. We believe that there is nothing more powerful than providing someone the opportunity to a GOOD job where they not only make a good wage and receive good benefits, but where they feel valued and have a chance to grow both personally and professionally.
What are some future goals for Dignity Apparel?
We want to bring our factory in Tennessee back to its former glory, like it was at the height of U.S. apparel manufacturing, multiple shifts with about double the employees. We want to take our factory in Iowa to places it has never been in its three years of existence by offering many more jobs in our community. In the 1960's roughly 95% of the garments worn by Americans were made in America. As of 2009, that number was down to just 2%. We want to get that number headed back in the right direction.
Why did you decide to join the Alliance? What resources do you plan to or have already utilized through your membership?
The Alliance is known for being the number one resource for the print industry, from top to bottom. There is plenty we can learn from others that have been doing this for a lot longer than we have. We also know that there are a lot of folks out there that don’t know about us, and maybe don’t even know where to look for USA Made products. We knew this was the right place for us to be and the relationships we made at the 2024 PRINTING United Expo in Las Vegas (right after our membership began) is proof of that.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
We’ve been faced with some tough obstacles in our first few years of existence, many of which are due to the limited resources that are left in the supply chain here in the U.S. We are excited and willing to accept the challenge of making this a sustainable brand so we can continue to serve others and benefit the communities we’re in. We’re excited to be a part of the larger Alliance family and look forward to getting to know other members of this family in the future!
For more information on Dignity Apparel, visit their website at https://dignityapparel.com/.