American Roots Opens Union Shop in Portland, Maine, Making USA-Made Fleece Apparel

American Roots, a new union apparel shop in Portland, Maine, launched in October 2015 to make fleece pullovers, jackets, vests and blankets. The company said everything in its products, from zippers to tags and labels, is made in the USA.

The company

• Co-founder Ben Waxman, 36, is a former adviser to the president of the AFL-CIO. He started the business with his fiancée, Whitney Reynolds, and his mother, Dory Waxman.
• The shop on Danforth Street shares space with Old Port Wool and Textile Co., Dory Waxman’s 2-year-old company.
• Its fleece is Polartec fabric made in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Waxman said he got the idea from a jacket whose fabric was made nearby but was sewn overseas.
• American Roots was set up as a business-to-business manufacturer.

Workforce

All employees must join a union. Coastal Enterprises Inc., Goodwill Industries and the Portland Jobs Alliance helped with training, job placement, a loan for machinery and grants for instructors. The shop trained immigrant and disadvantaged women to sew fleece, including workers from the Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Peru.

Waxman said stitchers’ wages average about $8 an hour and that he aimed to raise American Roots workers’ pay to $15 an hour, with annual raises, a bonus and a 401(k) plan.