An already fragile and highly complex supply chain was nearly decimated during the pandemic. Four years into the pandemic—or is it endemic now?—supply chains are recovering, long shipping delays from Asia are mitigated somewhat, and shipping prices are coming down. Yet there is still demand for reshoring manufacturing—i.e., bringing manufacturing back to the United States, especially in textiles and apparel, as well as other important segments such as alternative energy, innovative batteries, chips and semiconductors, and more. The pandemic was a giant warning, and brands/manufacturers appear to be listening. Governments, too.

But the concept of reshoring was born largely out of the need to create jobs in the U.S. that had been migrated overseas and to produce products locally with shorter delivery times, lower shipping costs, and, where possible, using materials Made in America. In other words, let’s bring manufacturing back home and produce the same stuff we were producing overseas.

What it doesn’t encompass is American ingenuity and the ability to think completely differently about the manufacturing process as we build new factories, provide new training to people, utilize the latest technologies, and reposition the country as a leader in innovative, sustainable manufacturing that offers challenging and exciting work for employees and delivers a higher quality of products to consumers and businesses. For which they are likely willing to play a slight premium.