Transcription
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The economy kinda took a nosedive. I got laid off on May the 2nd. Factories have gone over to China, and that was our main business here, the textile business. Do you know where your products come from? A lot of them say "Made in China." I'm looking for value. Sometimes after I get it home, I notice it's made in China. China has become, as some people say, the world's workshop.
China's economic growth over the last 3 1/2 decades is really unprecedented in global economic history. It comes down to: Americans don't wanna do that kinda work. They don't wanna do the cheap jobs. We'd just rather go to the store and take it off the shelf, and it's easier for us. 'Cause we're quick, quick, quick.
[indistinct chatter]
My name is Jack Collins. I'm from Walhalla, South Carolina. I came to Star to work in 1980 to produce some of the most sacred fabrics in the United States, one of them being the American Flag for the V.A. department. My dad often told us he didn't want us to go to work in textiles. I can remember Daddy going up—we'd go to Lester's—Uncle Lester's up there. He had 17 kids, and about every one of 'em, at some point in time, textiles has affected their life.
If it wasn't for textiles, I wouldn't have anything. You know, and I've got no hard feelings about the Chinese or anybody about what happened to textiles. I'm just doing what I need to do to take care of myself and my family. I haven't been here in about ten years. This was one of the most modern plants in the area and in the country. To see what it is today, it is heart-breaking.
You know, in the early 1990s, we had a lot of business with Wal-Mart. I can remember 150 employees making $7.5 million in this plant. Wal-Mart told us, "No, we will not give you a price increase. We don't wanna hear anything about wages. We don't wanna hear anything about benefits. This is what we're gonna give you because we can get this fabric from overseas." So that's the straw that actually broke the camel's back.
About 2000, we ended up shutting the door. Now it's gonna take somebody with a lot of money to fund it to get it to where it'll operate and put some of the South Carolina people back to work in textiles, because it's in our blood. I grew up in the military, so you just don't ever know where you're gonna land.
This area that we're in right now was actually about 300 sewing machines. I've worked just about every department I think that there was. This department, it was just completely shut down and finished. In 2014, Schumacher officially was moved for Sun Fiber to own the complete building and house it by themselves.
China, from 1978 until the 2000s, didn't spend anything overseas. Last year, 2013, we had $14 billion of Chinese activity here. And what we're starting to see is "Made by China" in America, as the story. [speaking Mandarin] All the things that made China very, very cheap in the past are rising up very quickly: labor costs, environmental compliance costs, regulatory costs. Those things are all changing.
We have many other cost advantages in terms of man cost, utility cost. We have the very efficient port down in Charleston. I'm the only one from Schumacher that transitioned with the building. And even today, when I look around, I see what this place was and what it is now. I guess that's the sad point that you—you know, life goes on, and sometimes, you know, you're left behind or you're separated from friendships.
But I think it's great that jobs are coming back to the area, and I think the new space is gonna welcome, just because it's been so empty for so many years. It's really brought hope to a lot of people that don't have jobs. Today, we have globalization 2.0 for China. The American labor force, you know, is over 100 million people. By our count, we've got about 70-80 thousand Americans who are getting their paychecks from Chinese-affiliated companies today.
That's the new part of the story that we're living through right now. We're just at the very beginning of it. Greenfield dates back to the 1840s. When we were purchased by TDC, a Chinese company, the first things, of course, that come to mind is... they will no longer value the Made in the USA aspect that we bring to our customer base. They will take everything from here and move it to China.
And everybody was concerned jobs will be lost, opportunities will be lost. The interesting thing that's happened has been the exact opposite. They are basically closing down a spinning mill over in China and developing it here. It's exciting to see that the textile manufacturing business that was so prevalent here in the Carolinas is returning.
I do think people, particularly governors and mayors that are trying to attract Chinese investment, do think first of jobs, but it does go beyond that. And I think in some sectors, Chinese firms have become quite important in even the revival of U.S. industries. America's a massive economy. That's gonna be a relatively small part of the story, but an important part of the story.
In the communities where those investments are happening, it's huge. I would love to go in a brand new textile plant today. Will it make a comeback? I hope it will.
[woman] If China was to come over here and create a manufacturing plant, there's a good possibility that people with educations, my generation, would take a job because there's nothing else for them to do. My cousin works there, and they said the benefits after the Chinese purchased it were wonderful. A lot better than what they had.
People in poverty might be able to get out and find themselves something to do besides sitting at home wishing. It's just a fact of life that we have an integrated world economy now. This is a country, you know, we've always survived. And I've still got the belief that we're gonna flourish.
If you work together, you'd learn more about each other, and that way, you'd know each other's habits and you'd care about each other more.
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