Global Schoolwear plans to expand its business distributing Tommy Hilfiger-branded uniforms with a proposed new facility in Oak Creek that would eventually take over operations currently in Illinois.
That facility could grow to have about 100 workers during its peak summer months, said CEO and founder Adam Weil. The facility would embroider, hem, package and ship school uniforms for more than 600 schools across 50 states, fulfilling orders directly to families and schools, including through sales on Amazon.com.
Weil said a goal of the new facility is to shorten the amount of time needed to fulfill orders after they are placed.
“The size of our company has tripled in the last 18 months,” Weil said. “While this growth is going on, we’ve outgrown our space. What we’ve done is kind of revolutionize school uniforms from a product perspective and also how you want to sell it.”
Weil created the company in partnership with Rupesh Agrawal, a Milwaukee entrepreneur in the software space whose businesses include Amla Commerce. Weil is well-established in the school uniform industry, and was an early adopter of online sales in the early 2000s. His prior experience includes managing Lands' End Inc.’s school uniform division.
Agrawal and he in 2018 created Global Schoolwear when they acquired the Hilfiger-licensed uniform business from a New York company where Weil formerly worked and helped create the operation.
After that purchase, they moved the shipping and embroidery operations from Jacksonville, Florida, to Downers Grove, Illinois, where they are currently located. Global Schoolwear’s headquarters offices are in Wauwatosa, where Weil is also a resident.
Global Schoolwear is now working through the approval process in Oak Creek for a 75,000-square-foot new building at the OakView Business Park. Land is reserved for an up to 60,000-square-foot future expansion, according to plans submitted to the city of Oak Creek.
If approved, Global Schoolwear would maintain operations in both Downers Grove and Oak Creek after the new facility opens, Weil said. They would eventually transition fully to Oak Creek, he said. That would mean about 30 jobs at first in Oak Creek, growing to more than 100 during the peak summer season.
“The whole idea is to provide the best customer experience that we can, and that is why we are trying to evolve our operations,” Weil said.
Pending approvals, the Oak Creek building could open as early as March 2023 to ramp up operations before students need their uniforms for the fall semester start.