The State of Our Union

SPESA | March 31, 2025

Lucky #7. This is the seventh State of the Union address our team has written to share our plans for the upcoming year with our members. And we’ve still got a lot to say.

While we are eager to share the exciting activities we have in store for the organization (we’ll get to those in a minute), we also know that many of our members, and their customers, are having a hard time making plans for the future as we are bombarded with geopolitical maneuvers impacting supply chains and businesses, paired with a general lack of answers as to what lies ahead.

In fact, if you google “state of the textile industry” right now, Google’s AI overview tool offers this statement: “The U.S. textile industry, while facing economic and trade headwinds, remains resilient.” Which is great! It then adds: “Here's a more detailed look at the current state of the U.S. textile industry:” followed by a blank screen. The system can’t come up with any more details, which tracks. As we all know, artificial intelligence relies on large amounts of data, and that data isn’t easy to come by for our industry right now.

Once again, we find ourselves reaching into the dark a bit as we look toward the future and are faced with more questions than answers. But this isn’t the first time we’ve been in this situation. 

In an update to the SPESA Board of Directors at the beginning of 2024, SPESA Chairman Mark Hatton shared: “Going into 2024, the headline appears to be ‘uncertainty.’ We are experiencing some of the most challenging and confusing business conditions I have ever seen.” He could make the exact same comment this year. We aren’t saying this to be negative, that our situation continues to be less-than-great. Rather, despite facing continued uncertainty with tariffs, trade wars, climate change, and general supply chain upheavals, we now know that “uncertainty” is hard, but it isn’t going to break us. We made it through all of last year, and we’re still here.

And the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that. In fact, for the current SPESA team, which officially took over management of the association in 2019, uncertainty and volatility are pretty much all we know. Our first major challenge was Covid-19; our first trade show was cancelled. But we survived. And so did our members.

When we were brainstorming ideas for the upcoming Texprocess Americas Symposium (we’ll get to that too), we got a little stuck on how to address the topic of uncertainty in a panel discussion. We couldn’t focus on tariffs because no one knew what they would look like come May; we couldn’t invite our biggest trading partners to speak because supply chain routes continue to be in flux. But then one of our advisory committee members (please feel free to take credit whoever you are) reminded us that we’ve been here before. We will probably (hopefully) never face a more uncertain time than at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was hard and awful and unprecedented, and businesses struggled, but they eventually adapted and survived. Some even thrived by pivoting to PPE production and other services needed at the time. And now, as we face different challenges but a similar level of uncertainty, we have a precedent. We can look back at the lessons, successes, and failures of that time to provide insight and guidance into how we navigate the murky waters today. 

All this to say, our industry is resilient. With a broad perspective, the ability to adapt when hit with new challenges, and maybe a little luck, we will continue to not only survive, but even thrive in the future.

Before we dive into updates on SPESA’s activities, we also want to add an important note: SPESA supports a unified Western Hemisphere industry. We share common goals with our neighboring countries, and believe that strengthening the industry and manufacturing capabilities of any and all parts of the Western hemisphere is a benefit to us all.

Now on to the good stuff.

SPESA Is Growing

After 6.5 years as M&M&M, SPESA is adding another member to our team. Growing from a team of 3 to 4 is a big step for us, and we can’t wait to officially introduce you all to our new hire very soon. The brand new position will focus on membership and business development, looking at ways to grow both SPESA’s membership as well as the reasons companies should want to stay a SPESA member.

When it comes to membership growth, the new team member will get a head start as the 2025 edition of Texprocess Americas kicks off. Back in January, we announced an initiative offering a free year of SPESA membership to people and organizations who attend the 2025 show. This was born from our authentic excitement to bring the industry together for a show we care deeply about, and a hope to drive interest in both joining SPESA and attending the show. 

We have already received a good amount of interest in the offer, and we look forward to the challenge of showing those new members that SPESA membership is definitely worth the price of admission, and they should stick around for the long-term.

Texprocess Americas

Speaking of the most important trade show for our industry in the Americas, we are very much looking forward to seeing our members on display in Atlanta! 

If we haven’t said it enough times, sewn product manufacturing cannot happen without SPESA members, and manufacturing in the Americas runs through Texprocess Americas. It is THE gathering place for people to experience the vast and essential manufacturing ecosystem that exists in this hemisphere, and the most important place anyone can go to understand how to build soft goods in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and CAFTA-DR regions.

Through the thousands of touchpoints that occur on the show floor at Texprocess Americas — with customers, competitors, adjacent participants, brands, and retailers — exhibitors and attendees will walk away from the event with a deeper understanding of the market and the latest trends driving change in the market. It’s through this direct in-person engagement that you can adapt and grow your business. 

SPESA’s job is two-fold: to entice attendees — manufacturers, brands, designers, retailers, and other stakeholders — to attend the show; and to ensure the show is as good as it can possibly be for the SPESA members exhibiting at it.

To the potential attendees we explain: Attending a show like Texprocess Americas requires an investment. An investment in time, money (although SPESA always has free floor passes, just hit us up), and resources. But the return on your investment is substantial. In just three days, you’ll better understand the tools needed to build competitive production capabilities. You’ll learn how and where to invest, strategically. And, you’ll be introduced to some of the industry's most disruptive players who — like you — are committed to production closer to home.

To the exhibitors we promise this: We fully recognize that the investment exhibitors make at trade shows is substantial. We also know that there is an incredible economic opportunity that exists at Texprocess Americas — for both SPESA members and other industry suppliers exhibiting at the show — and SPESA is committed to investing our time and energy and money into getting the right decision makers to Atlanta. 

For the 2025 edition of Texprocess Americas, we’re doing more to reach the right people. In addition to a larger comprehensive marketing strategy, we have prioritized the following:

• Expanding our reach to more brands and retailers — specifically, the people pulling the levers when it comes to supply chain strategy and those seeking intel into the production capabilities in the Americas. 

  • While these brands and retailers may not always be the buyers of the products being sold at the show, they do offer both suppliers and manufacturers a better understanding of market opportunities. 
    

• Connecting, personally, with manufacturers across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and CAFTA-DR regions — specifically, the manufacturers who want to build more efficient and effective systems closer to home. 
  

  • We want them to come to Atlanta to learn what to buy and where to buy it. 

• Leveraging support from other industry associations who represent the brands, retailers, and manufacturers.
  

While we can never guarantee a sale will be made on the show floor, we can guarantee you will walk away from the event with stronger connections that will help build and expand your business opportunities in the Americas.

For anyone interested in learning more about Texprocess Americas 2025 (May 6-8), please take a moment to review the floor plan and the educational offerings, or just reach out to the SPESA team. We would be happy to answer any questions you have about the show.

Alphabet Soup Collective in Atlanta

In the face of uncertainty (see above), we are bound and determined to be united as an industry, and Texprocess Americas, in many ways, serves as a symbol of that unity. We are grateful for our continued partnership with Messe Frankfurt North America. For the past 15 years, SPESA and Messe Frankfurt have been committed to creating a trade show experience that not only exemplifies the massive manufacturing ecosystem that exists in the Western Hemisphere, but also a trade show experience that prioritizes networking, education, and industry advancement.

We are also grateful for new connections and opportunities. As is our tradition, SPESA and Messe Frankfurt will co-host the Official Texprocess Americas and Techtextil North America Opening Night Reception to kick off the trade shows. This year, however, we are also bringing the Alphabet Soup Collective into the fold as event supporters.

The Alphabet Soup Collective — composed of eleven major industry associations representing the sewn products, textiles, apparel, and nonwoven industries — launched in 2024 as a means to enhance collaboration and bridge gaps across the supply chain. A special shout-out to SPESA’s own Maggie McDonald for being a key leader behind the initiative!

The Collective held its first meeting last August during the 2024 edition of Techtextil North America in Raleigh. That meeting was followed by the Inaugural Alphabet Soup Collective Shindig, which many have claimed to be the best industry event they’ve ever attended. Though, to be fair, there was a good amount of whiskey involved.

SPESA members and members of the other Collective associations can receive discounted registration of $50 per person for the Opening Night Reception in Atlanta. Email maggie@spesa.org for more info.  

SPESA Events

We have one more major stop to make before we make it to Atlanta. This week, SPESA will be hosting our 2025 Advancements in Manufacturing Technologies Conference in Austin, Texas. We are excited to be hosting the event in Austin for the first time, and thrilled to have gained such amazing local partners to help introduce us to the local industry.

The more we researched and learned about the growing fashion and sewn products industries in Austin and Texas, the more impressed we were by the creativity and determination of those who are working to not only keep the industry alive but allow it to thrive despite enduring challenges (an inadvertent call back this time, we swear). We are honored to include some of those creators and innovators in the discussions at the conference. 

This year’s conference will focus on utilizing and integrating technology to support U.S. manufacturing, a part of SPESA’s larger focus on the overall Western Hemisphere.

To bring in even more local networking opportunities, we have decided to open up our conference’s Welcome Reception to the industry, free of charge. We haven’t done a SPESA After Hours in a while, and it seemed like the best way to put those funds to work and help our members better connect with the industry in Austin and Texas. If you are interested in attending the reception or, even better, the Advancements Conference, please email Marie@spesa.org for more info.

SAVE THE DATE: Later this year, we will round out SPESA’s event calendar with the 2025 SPESA Executive Conference in Chicago! More details will be available soon, but be sure to mark August 27-29 on your calendars now. You won’t want to miss it!

In the meantime, If you have an idea for a speaker, topic, or location of a future SPESA event, we are happy to hear them! Send your recommendations to Marie@spesa.org or Maggie@spesa.org.

Thank You

As always, we want to close by thanking the SPESA membership for your continued support of our team and our association, and for your dedication to the betterment of the sewn products industry.

We also want to thank our current SPESA leadership, especially our Chairman Mark Hatton for his guidance these past two years and his unwavering belief in the industry, even in hard times.

When Mark gave those remarks in 2024, he also said that he was optimistic for a better future. And he was right. And we all have the right to be optimistic now. 

Thank you. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Sincerely, 

Your SPESA Team