In the Perry Herald

At ACO 1Travelin’ Light Writer Tours ACO
By Lorraine Sturm (Perry Herald)

Travel writer Kelsey Timmerman of Ohio will feature American Classic Outfitters in his upcoming book, “Where Am I Wearing?” and related articles. ACO was the last stop on a world round tour Timmerman made in search of the people who made some of his favorite articles of clothing. The story idea came to Timmerman, 28, when he looked at a pile of his laundry. He considers himself an All-American boy yet his clothes are made far away.

His favorite teeshirt with the “Fantasy Island” character “Tattoo” on it was made in Honduras; his “Jingle These” Christmas boxers were made in Bangladesh; his Teva flip flops in China; his Levi bluejeans in Cambodia. His 1992 Dream Team shorts, the ones he has worn to play basketball for 15 years were made by Champion, now ACO. Timmerman calls them his all-time favorite item of clothing.

ACO President Mark Block and staff greeted newlywed Timmerman and his wife, Annie, warmly during his Perry stop. The couple munched on Archway Cookies and got a primer on the plant’s history before touring it. They met long-time employees Maxine Flint, Donna Wampole and Debbie Quait, who actually worked on the shorts. The shorts were sewn in Champion’s Geneseo plant and then finished at the Perry facility where Flint is now Manager of Customer Service and Purchasing, Wampole is Assistant Production Supervisor and Quait is a Pattern Maker.

Flint has been with Champion-ACO for 37 years; Wampole over 21 years and Quait 32 years. That’s nothing, they say, Alanna Overholt and Martha Linsner have worked there for 40 years. At ACO 2

A stylish WNBA shirt catches the visitors’ eyes. It features cascading star patterns inked on each side panel. Wampole tells how the staff learned from experience years ago that the piece of fabric receiving an image had to be cut larger to allow for shrinkage during the heat process that bonded the stars to the material. She described having nightmares of stars shrinking under heat.

ACO’s experienced workers mentor the younger ones and more youth are needed to ensure continuity, said Block. New sewers undergo a year of staged training.

When Timmerman asked about ACO’s growth in the wake of Champion’s closing, Block replied that it is due to the staff’s ability to churn out custom work—that’s all ACO does—for 3 NFL teams, 16 of 30 NBA teams, all of the WNBA and 70 college teams.

An area with empty sewing machines awaits the workers needed to keep up with the growth that will come from ACO’s new partnership with Addidas. Addidas owns Reebok, which has NFL licenses.

“Addidas picked ACO because they consider themselves at the top of their industry and to our credit, they consider ACO at the top of the field in quality, performance and success,” he said. “It wants us to do any and all sports in the U.S.”

And, “It’s all custom,” Block explains. For comparison, he cites the customer who goes to a tailor versus buying off the rack. When a Bills’ or Patriots’ player wrecks his uniform on a Sunday, the call comes on Monday to replace it. The replacement is made and in the athlete’s locker by the next big game. “They know they can get it in three days,” Block said. Offshore companies can’t do that.

The clothing industry, whether in a modern country or abroad, remains labor intensive. The only computerized operation is the pattern-making. “From there on, it’s all handcrafted,” Block said.

Heat press operator Annie Sullivan of Dansville, a 28-year plant worker, lays pre-made numbers on a jersey, then uses a ruler to ensure their placement. Timing is everything because numbers must be cooled after bonding. Block described the process to baking a cake. He also shared the story of employees who were watching a Denver-Buffalo football game. They spotted colors running off the numbers on a Bronco tackler’s uniform because they weren’t properly bound to the fabric. The jersey was made by one of ACO’s two competitors.

Every process used to make uniforms at ACO is inspected. For the final turn, every garment is turned inside out to look for any broken threads because they are a weak point. “The proof of the pudding is to look inside out,” Block explained. A weak spot can tear when yanked during a game.

The workers take a lot of pride in the garments and like to see them in action when they watch games. When Wampole saw the USA Olympic Dream Team basketball games on television, she was proud. “I just did that,” she recalled.

It is the community within the company—the people—that become friends and like family that several employees along the tour considered the best part of their jobs. 120 now work at ACO, which has a $2 million annual payroll. Block predicts 200 workers will be in house by the end of the year. He shared recently learned data: a company’s impact on a community is six times its payroll.

A honeymoon stay at the Glen Iris Inn and Letchworth State Park, breakfast at Silver Lake Family Restaurant and shopping at Burlingham Books preceded the Timmermans’ tour at ACO. They pronounced the people here friendly and the area beautiful. The couple spent the rest of the week at the honeymoon capital: Niagara Falls.

Timmerman’s journey is chronicled on his websites, www.travelin-light.com and whereamiwearing.com. They are interactive sites where people can view movies of his travels and post comments.

His first stop was Honduras in 2005 where he met 24-year-old Delta Apparel factory worker, Amilcar, from San Pedro Sula. Amilcar likely made Timmerman’s Fantasy Island teeshirt, which the writer gave to him.

Fast forward to 2007 and the next leg of his 3 month journey in Asia. In Bangladesh Timmerman posed as an underwear buyer to gain access to the sewing shop where his Briefly Stated boxers were made. It was clean and, to his relief, none of the workers are children. The workers there make about $50 a month and told of having to raise that much to pay someone in order to get a sewing job.

“Super friendly” Levi-Strauss company readily gave him information and access to its plant in the Cambodian capital. It takes 85 people to make a pair of Levi blue jeans. That doesn’t count the number working grindstones to give the jeans that frayed look. The plant makes jeans for Old Navy and Wal-Mart, too. Ai, 24, works there. She lives with 7 women who have one small room in Phnom Penh. Four of them sleep on a bamboo bed; the others on the concrete floor. She is from Kompong Cham, a village where her much-missed family lives, rice is grown and they eat fried tarantulas. Timmerman stayed in Cambodia for a month in a plush $13-a-day room with air conditioning and television.

The Decker Sports & Outdoors company headquartered in California manufactures Teva sandals in China. Li and his wife, Zhun, made Timmerman’s flip flops. They work 14-17 hours daily and hadn’t had a day off in over a month. They may see their 14-year-old son back in their rural village once a year. Indebted to a bank for their home and family for medical costs of Li’s now-deceased mother, the couple hope after five years to have enough money saved to go back home.

“I learned that working conditions in these countries are not the best and that the countries aren’t in the best conditions either,” Timmerman said. “Workers sacrifice to have their jobs…When it comes to clothing, some make it and some have it made. There’s a big, big difference.”-ls

 
Add a comment
Lynne says:

Hey, “Timmerman”, pretty neat article.

Kent says:

I’m g;ad they included background info and a few details about Cambodia.

Kelsey says:

The article appeared all the way back on page 10. Some stupid bank that decided to give $73,000 and a story on a pumpkin patch beat us out for the front page.

Elizabeth says:

Great article. It sums things up really well.

You’ve got a really powerful theme going, and congratulations on some more good press!

Kelsey says:

The people of Perry were great. The Perry Herald isn’t that big and we were honored to have 1,200 words of it dedicated to us.

Russell W. Dornisch says:

This ACO, is it the old Champion Products plant? My father was the plant manager back in the mid to late 70’s, would appreciate any feedback.

Russell Dornisch
w0rus@yahoo.com

Kelsey says:

Russell, yep they used to make Champion sportswear. Most of the employees used to work for Champion. In fact, some of them have worked out of that factory, first for Champion and now ACO, for 40 years. They would probably know your dad.

I’ll drop you an email.

Let your voice be heard!