WASHINGTON—An industry coalition representing the full spectrum of domestic personal protective equipment (PPE) production released a statement today outlining policy principles and objectives needed for reshoring and safeguarding domestic PPE manufacturing.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed severe shortages in our nation’s PPE supply and an overreliance on foreign sourced products, underscores how important it is for the U.S. government to incentivize, support and maintain domestic manufacturing capacity for PPE.
Our association members, encompassing every segment of the U.S. textile, apparel and PPE supply chain, as well as unions representing workers, acted swiftly to convert manufacturing facilities and build supply chains virtually overnight to produce desperately needed PPE.
“We are united in our support of important principles that must be adopted in order to address our current public health needs and guarantee our nation is better prepared to respond to future emergencies,” the 21 associations said in the joint statement.
The associations are calling on Congress and the Trump administration to adopt principles outlined in the statement through legislation, executive order and other appropriate means.
See the full joint statement and principles here.
The statement was signed by the following organizations. Please see relevant contacts where provided:
AFL-CIO
Alliance for American Manufacturing
American Iron and Steel Institute
American Sheep Institute
Coalition for a Prosperous America
Georgia Association of Manufacturers
Hand Tools Institute
INDA: Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry
Narrow Fabrics Institute
National Cotton Council
National Council of Textile Organizations
Parachute Industry Association
Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network
SEAMS: Association of the U.S. Sewn Products Industry
SEIU
South Carolina Textile Council
U.S. Industrial Fabrics Institute
United States Footwear Manufacturers Association
United Steelworkers
Warrior Protection and Readiness Coalition
Workers United/SEIU
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MAIN PRESS CONTACT:
NCTO
Kristi Ellis
(202) 684-3091
Coalition for a Prosperous America
Melissa Tallman, (202) 688-5145 ext. 3
National Cotton Council
Marjory L. Walker, (901) 274-9030
Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network
Michael M. Woody, (401) 331-8483
SEAMS: Association of the U.S. Sewn Products Industry
Will Duncan, (803) 642-1111
Warrior Protection and Readiness Coalition
David Costello, (617) 875-2492