The Wear American Act would increase the content requirements under the Buy American Act for textiles, textile components, and apparel only and would still be subject to Buy American Act exceptions in the case of domestic non-availability of an item.   

“Manufacturing helped make this country great. Good-paying manufacturing jobs have allowed hundreds of thousands of Americans to buy homes, send their children to college, and retire with security. But for too long, we've seen American manufacturing jobs—including textile and apparel jobs—shipped overseas due to unfair trade that has stacked the deck against American workers,” Senator Sherrod Brown said.

“We know how to make things in America, and the textile sector employs more than half a million workers in the United States—which is why the federal government should be purchasing, whenever possible, apparel that is domestically produced. With our widening trade deficit, we should be doing everything we can to support American manufacturing and job creation.”

“On behalf of the U.S. textile industry, I applaud Senator Brown’s (D-OH) leadership in recognizing the value that domestically procured textile and apparel items bring to our government and to our national economy.  Whether on the playing field or as part of the federal government, using the Made in the USA brand should be an integral part of how the United States represents itself to our citizens and the rest of the world. 

Our country should stand proud of our products made in this country, proud of our manufacturing base and proud of the workers who produced those goods” stated NCTO President Cass Johnson. 

Johnson also noted, “Increased U.S. government procurement of U.S. made textile and apparel products also helps our economy grow.  Instead of outsourcing these products, let’s help bring more manufacturing back to the United States.  Every textile job created in this country supports three other U.S. jobs, so the payoff to the overall economy is significant.”

“The Wear American Act is being introduced at a time when the textile industry in the last three years has invested over $3 billion, including building new plants in the United States that produce some of the most innovative yarns and fabrics found anywhere in the world. The U.S. textile industry has added more than 2,000 new jobs during a time when the U.S. economy is struggling” Johnson continued.

“In fact, the U.S. textile industry shipped $53 billion worth of textile products last year, and therefore could easily supply the federal government with its entire textile and apparel procurement needs.”