The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Immigrants play essential role in textile industry
The sewing machine is already threaded and ready to go when María Cambrón sits down to work. She eyes the device carefully through her glasses, picks up a piece of fabric, slides it onto the needle plate, and fastens it with the presser foot. The pattern is in place.
One touch to the floor pedal is enough for Cambrón to begin sewing. The fast, rhythmic sounds of the sewing machine are difficult to ignore.
One piece, two pieces, three pieces... this has been Cambrón’s life for the last seven years, while working at Luvu Brands, a furniture manufacturer located in Doraville. Thirty percent of the factory’s workforce is Hispanic.
“As a little girl I would sew dresses for my dolls. I made clothing for them. I’ve always liked sewing. I’ve been a seamstress for as long as I can remember,” said Cambrón, who came to the United States from her native Mexico 27 years ago.
Through sewing, Cambrón has fulfilled her own “American Dream.” Despite finding the English language to be complicated, it has not proven to be an issue for Cambrón or her coworkers.
“We communicate with signs, using our hands...,” explained María Monzón, a supervisor who has lived in the U.S. since 1979.
Monzón, who is originally from El Salvador, also began her career as a seamstress. She learned the trade when she was 16 years old. It is a skill that has served her well as an immigrant, she adds. “Every day I wake up at 5:00 in the morning to work with my group. For me, the best thing about being here is arriving in the morning and greeting my coworkers,” said Monzón.
She further explained that perhaps the most challenging aspect of her work environmentis knowing how to treat the staff, with the presence of so many cultural differences. “You have to keep in mind that we are all equal and that we all came here because of needs we have.”
Another 50 percent of the factory’s workforce is comprised of immigrants from Vietnam, Russia, South Korea and several coun- tries in Africa.
In fact, a recently published study by the Pew Research Center (2017) indicates that the workforce in this country is becoming more and more diverse.
“Hispanic participation in the workforce increased from 14.3 percent in 2007, to 17 percent last month,” according to the study.
Although these numbers do not speak to data gathered from the textile industry specifically, they do reflect how the Latino workforce has grown in the U.S.
In Georgia, atleast, in the textile industry, some 50,240 jobs exist in 820 factories. Of that number, 22.2 percent of the employees are Hispanic, according to recent statistics from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
“The textile industry has always been an important component in the state of Georgia. And it remains important given its con- tinuous viability,” confirmed Roy Bowen, President of the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, in an interview with MundoHispánico.
The organization represents the textile industry in the state and has served its members since 1900.
“The textile industry requires many skills from its employees, since jobs can vary from making fireman uniforms, up to high fashion pieces,”assured Bowen.
For Bowen, the industry is not particular to just one state.
“Textile companies in Georgia depend on the North American Free Trade Agreement to supply companies in Mexico,” he explained.
Therefore, “producing cotton, for example, isn’t something that can only be done in Kansas. Here in Georgia we are finding more and more textile companies that are producing new products to also supply Central and South America,” said Bowen.