Partnering with premium factory groups in Asia, we will build large scale factories in Ohio and Arizona. Reshoring involves community building, educational integration and strategic partnerships.
The Problem
The last 25 years of manufacturing has centered around China-only manufacturing. The cost of not diversifying the world’s supply chain became evident during COVID because we were not prepared to pivot.
We forgot how to make things.
The infrastructure, materials, machinery and knowledge was not readily available and our economics were paralyzed by the incapability of domestic production for most consumer product goods.
Short term efforts in other Asian countries or small-batch US production underestimated the true lift needed to deliver quality goods at an affordable price.
The Solution
By partnering with large scale Chinese manufacturing partners to train our domestic footprint, McKnight Mfg will add the US to a global supply chain network. From training employees in the process of building footwear to creating community connections to the industry, manufacturing is more than putting machines in a building and taking orders.
A multi-brand approach that works backwards to build core strengths and community ties in education and local businesses will create long term opportunities.
The past meets the future.
Building Future Employees
Long term buy in is necessary to build in scale - from the local government and educational leaders to the families and social infrastructures. Without a complete buy-in from the bus stops at the factory to high school guidance counselors believing in manufacturing opportunities, scale will fail.
Our nonprofit Good Things has been working with two strong communities that evenly divide distribution across the United States. Dayton, Ohio and Tempe, Arizona are currently building sneaker curriculum from middle school to college.
People want work they can trust.
We’ve found partners with deep community roots that understand building to scale starts with every house and every classroom.
From Scratch
The final step in delivering quality product to consumer is literally delivering.
We start with 3PL.
Our Ohio partner - Fre-Flo - specializes in warehousing and distribution. With their facilities and employee training we will build our core footprint by establishing 3PL for our smaller brands. Training the community on the footwear industry at the inspection, warehousing and delivery level is an ideal way to identify talent and grow a workforce focused on production.
The heart of it all.
Let’s Start Building
With government support and community interest we can start from the end of the line. We begin with small factory lines and product that is 90% assembled. Sole laying is the most complex process in manufacturing.
We finish the last step first.
Within 5,000 sqft and 40 trained employees we can finish 24,000 pairs of shoes to be delivered in the United States. Our factory partners already produce over 60M pairs of shoes for brands like New Balance, Adidas and Skechers.
We can then ship quality product to distributors or direct to consumers.
From there we can begin learning and executing the rest of manufacturing as our footprint and trained employee base grow.
True Partnership
Our factory partner groups have been manufacturing product in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand for over 30 years. Today we know all of those countries have strong footwear manufacturing backgrounds, but they weren’t always there. Our factories partners have a long history of introducing footwear development and production to communities so they understand the hurdles and opportunities.
Never do anything for the first time.
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Produces over 20M units across 5 countries with a focus on casual and performance footwear.
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Produces over 5M units across 2 countries with a focus on casual and dress footwear.
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Produces over 30M units across 4 countries with a focus on performance and casual footwear.
Our Roadmap
2025
3PL development in Ohio with Fre-Flo
Facility buildout for training in Ohio
Test runs with staff buildout
2026
Continued 3PL with external brands
Internal brands with 10% production with 100% Ohio capacity
Facility buildout for training in Arizona
2027
Continued 3PL with external brands
External brands with 10% production with 80% Ohio capacity
Internal brands with 40% production with 20% Ohio capacity
Internal brands with 10% production with 100% Arizona capacity
Join Us
We are constantly developing new ideas with our partners around the world. We hope you like what you see.