New Walmart fund to profit garment production

Retail giant Walmart announced the creation of a fund to support manufacturing

in the United States, which would benefit the production of garments and textiles as well. Walmart CEO William Simon mentioned the creation of a 10 million US dollar fund at the US Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC last Thursday; a clear move toward selling more products that are “Made in USA”. “The 10 million dollar fund will identify and award leaders in manufacturing innovation,” Simon said.

The company plans to distribute the fund over five years and starting from March 2014, will award grants for manufacturing innovations to encourage such projects in the US, according to a company spokeswoman.

Early last year, the retail giant had spoken of increased sourcing of US-made products by 50 billion US dollars over ten years and its plans to focus on goods made in the US and helping vendors to set up shop in the US and bring production back from overseas. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the move could potentially create one million jobs in the United States.

Walmart also announced on Thursday that the company would hold a second summit meeting on American manufacturing in August; the first one was held in August 2013.