Factory Relationships
Identification, qualification and ongoing management of mills built over 25+ years on the ground in South Asia.
The Comeback
I built a $6M apparel sourcing operation. Then I spent 18 years in technology. Now I'm back.
From 1999 to 2007, I ran International Sourcing Company out of Orlando, FL, sourcing 100% cotton T-shirts, polos, hoodies, sweatpants, sweatshirts, twill bottoms, and denim for US brands and private-label buyers. Annual volume exceeded $6 million. I kept a team of five on the ground in Pakistan and managed full-cycle production from yarn specs through delivery. I built the kind of factory relationships that take years and thousands of hours to build, not a directory search.
Before that, I spent a decade on the manufacturing side in Karachi: Merchandising Manager at Fash Forum, then General Manager of Operations at Mode Merchandising, where I drove 30% annual growth. I started on the factory floor at Schon Textiles.
Eighteen years in technology and operations followed. Good years they sharpened project management, systems thinking, and process discipline. But the factory floor knowledge and the relationships built across Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka don't expire, and the industry I came back to is exactly where I left it — except the brands and buyers have changed.
That's the opportunity.