The hurdle, as has always been the case with made-in-America garments, was price. The challenge was making a t-shirt that, while pricier than others on the shelves at Walmart, still needed to cost dramatically less than any other made-in-America t-shirt.
The key unlock was Walmart’s scale and willingness to make the financial commitments necessary to bolster American Giant’s fledgling supply chain. The prospect of making t-shirts at the volume of Walmart’s needs incentivized all parties involved to invest in efficiency improvements, which helped drive costs down. American Giant also implemented less labor-intensive sewing methods and swapped in less expensive yarn to lower costs further.
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