Tactical Gear Sewing

It won’t make headlines, but the landscape for defense suppliers just changed. DoD acquisitions generally fall under the Berry Amendment or Buy American Act. These guidelines require 100% of raw components and manufacturing labor to be derived in the U.S. However, the rules are different now. A recent determination made by the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy ruled that the Buy American Act “component test” is inapplicable to acquisitions of commercially available off-the-shelf items (COTS).

What does this mean???

The raw materials that go into certain finished products don’t have to be Made in the USA. This is a huge shift in policy. I’m sure a lot of analysis went into this. It’s a very fine balancing act supporting the current needs of our country while still adhering to the principle of self-defense. The reality today (which I am very well aware of) is that it is very difficult to make a 100% Made in USA product. There is simply not a strong enough textile base in this country anymore. Across the entire spectrum of textile components (fabric, velcro, fasteners, molded plastics, thread, etc), there is only a tiny fraction of suppliers there once was. My frustration grows day by day as more businesses exit textiles and smart people leave the industry for good.  

The Dept of Defense is certainly recognizing this and clearly is frustrated by how difficult it is to buy items that otherwise are common in the marketplace. In these times of global threats, our military can’t go without the supplies they need. And they need them fast too.

Back to my world…When I am presented with an opportunity to make an item, often the biggest challenge is not making the item (we can sew as well or better than anywhere on this globe), but sourcing the components. Leave the price differences aside. The bigger effect of  a ravaged textile base is fewer choices, higher minimums, and longer lead times. You can’t find what you need or get it when your customer has to have it. This doesn’t work well for government entities that like to take a long time to make decisions.  When the decisions are finally made, they need it yesterday. No one will solve the bureaucracy issue. Instead, more frequently than not,  I get to explain the bad news and look like the bad guy.  

It’s important to remember that the ruling applies to off-the-shelf items only, not the significant amount of items that are made custom for our U.S. military. So we’re only talking about a smaller segment of the DoD budget. Selfishly and from a short-term perspective, this creates more opportunities as a finished product manufacturer. However, long term it’s going to make things even more difficult for our  manufacturing supply base, and for me, making the custom items. That’s not good news for our country.  

Obviously, there’s not a perfect decision. Soldiers can’t go without.  While long term, we need to ensure we have the manufacturing base to defend ourselves against the growing threats of this world.

I’d love to hear what you think.

A walking foot machine is great for industrial applications that require working with heavier materials. It looks just like a straight stitch/single needle machine, but it is designed to move materials evenly together during stitch formation.

How it works?

The sewing foot on this type of machine features a set of teeth that interact with the sewing machine feed teeth to grip the fabric while running the machine. Instead of relying on the bottom feed dog to pull the fabric through, the foot keeps one foot on the fabric as the other rises with the needle. This even feed motion allows both pieces being sewn to go through with minimal slippage, keeping patterns and cut pieces straight during sewing. The needle actually makes a circular motion as it rises and falls. The needle will rise up, come down in the hole, but the hole and needle move together to the back along with the fabric and the needle rises up again.
The purpose of this walking motion is to keep your layers from shifting as they are receiving equal pressure from the top as well as the bottom. It will also prevent puckered seams when working on items with longer seams.

These machines are very popular in the tactical gear sewing industry. In mass production, time is money and the customer won’t pay you to spend a lot of time sewing any one piece, so a walking foot is often used.

Contract manufacturing is a tricky business sometimes. I’m given the specs of the product/invention/item, and we go to work to make it. I can make a lot of things for a lot of different industries. But we’re not  product application experts. I can’t replicate the environment where your product is used and don’t conduct market research before it leaves the door.

So I always have a conversation with my customer before they place an order that goes something like, “Remember, you’re not a distributor, and I’m not a product manufacturer”. Meaning…I don’t make products, I provide a service.  I can make a product exactly the way it is spec’d, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work/fit your application. Never take receipt of your order and ship it out without checking it first. Maybe the specs you supplied were wrong? Maybe there are small tolerances in some of the dimenions. Maybe there were slight differences in the raw materials that were not perceptible to the sewer.

Sewing is not and will never be a science of perfection, but always an art. Ever look at a roll of fabric, you’ll certainly find imperfections. Order a roll of 1″ web strap sometime and grab a ruler. From end end to end, you’ll likely find width measurements anywhere between 7/8″ to 1-1/8″. It’s not perfect and issues can and do arise in a world where you rely on visual inspection. It’s the nature of human error. 2% rejection rate is not uncommon in the textile world. We’re proud of our craftsmanship, but my customers always know to check and test their product before it is sold. My production staff  completes in the neighborhood of 75-100 custom jobs every month. We’ll never be the experts. Our knowledge is wide, but not deep.

We had the opportunity to work with this type of web for the first time. This stuff is very tough. 12 seconds on a hot knife at 800 degrees and it would not cut. Ended up using a table saw to get it done. In general, we have very tough machines. But this stuff does a doozy on your sewing machine parts, especially knives.