ANOTHER SUSTAINABLE VICTORY! Marriott Towels to be MADE IN USA

The Marriott Hotel Chain announced on March 10, 2016 that all towels and bathmats in its 3,000 US hotels will be Made in the USA.  This is a tremendous victory for US workers who will now be able to have these manufacturing jobs that were taken overseas.  "If you can bring 150 jobs back to the USA and we can put on all our towels and bath mats 'Made in the USA,' I think that gives a certain amount of pride to all of our associates and management," said Bill Marriott, chairman of the Board of Marriott.  The company annually produces 7.5 million towels, not including washcloths and bath mats and is committed to "creating a sustainable infrastructure."


“As a global company based in the United States, we’re proud to be the first hospitality company to commit to providing our guests with ‘Made in USA’ bathroom towels in our U.S. hotels,” said Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson.




             





With the depletion of jobs in the United States, more people are becoming aware of products and services made overseas and sold back here to consumers.  Much of the political discussion in the current presidential race focuses on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States.  In addition to providing jobs, this move will reduce the company carbon footprint by eliminating 300 annual ocean container shipments. 


Overall, this commitment will mean the annual production of 2.6 million bath towels and 4.9 million hand towels - the equivalent of as much as 5.6 million pounds of textiles. If laid end-to-end, the textiles Marriott will purchase in one year would stretch more than 4,300 miles. The commitment to manufacture these textiles in the U.S., also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating more than 300 ocean going container shipments annually.


According to the company, having products Made in the USA, "Makes sense today than ever because the customer is very much more attuned into looking at an item to see if this is made far, far away,” says John Adams, Marriott’s senior vice president of global operations.  Standard Textile will manufacture the towels and bathmats in their factories in Georgia and South Carolina.  The fabric will be 100% USA grown cotton.   150 jobs are expected to be produced. 


“We believe our guests will appreciate knowing that even simple items they use every day in our hotels represent progress for the U.S. economy,” said Marriott.  “We also hope this sends a message to other businesses that buying locally can make business sense.”