The story of Dignity Apparel, an American-made, union apparel company

Josh Ruyle and Matt Davis from Image Pointe and Dignity Apparel joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast this Fourth of July to discuss their union-made and American-made apparel and what it means to be USA-made and union-made.

Image Pointe began its screen-printing business over 50 years ago in Waterloo, Iowa. Ruyle joined the company with his wife in 2015 and became CEO in 2019. Davis joined Ruyle as the Director of Business Development shortly after. Ruyle talked about the company's long history of screen-printing for several unions nationwide. Ruyle and Davis explained how the pandemic highlighted the need for more American and union-made apparel. This led to the creation of Dignity Apparel in 2022 and moving the operations to Tennessee this year.

As Ruyle discussed, starting an American-made apparel company was difficult, but choosing to make it a union facility in the South added to it. He explained the reasoning behind the choice to go union and why they chose to do that in Tennessee, where the so-called “Right to Work” has been written into its constitution. Davis discussed the positive reception they received from unions, including a handful of Internationals who wanted to work with the union company. Ruyle said that nearly all Image Pointe and Dignity Apparel workers are members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 246, District Council 81 or Workers United Local 38.

Finally, Davis and Ruyle discussed the difference between their union-made and American-made products and those of some other companies in the market. With the struggling American-made apparel industry, Davis talked about some loopholes allowing a garment to be considered American-made despite materials not coming from the U.S. and why they don’t use those tactics. Davis explained that every piece of apparel produced by Dignity Apparel starts with raw materials sourced from the U.S. By starting with the raw materials, Ruyle believes they are creating a higher quality product that the industry currently lacks and unions want.

For more information about Dignity Apparel, please listen to the show above. Afterward, please visit their website to purchase American and Union-made apparel.