TY Garments donates 2,000 masks and protective gear to UAMS from its Chinese parent firm
by March 28, 2020 2:17 pm 2,996 views
TY Garments, a sports gear manufacturer for Adidas, Reebok and others located at the Port of Little Rock and in Suzhou, China, has donated 2,000 masks and protective gear to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to help Arkansas workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joey Walsh and John Zhu, production managers for TY, brought the protective gear to Kenny Worley, the UAMS director of value analysis, and Jami Ellis, director of supply chain logistics and capital management, this week.
The masks were manufactured in a re-tooled Chinese factory and were FedEx shipped to Arkansas.
“I greatly appreciate the welcome that the people of Arkansas gave to TY Garments when we located our manufacturing plant at the Port of Little Rock. I want to help our Arkansas family during this time of crisis and am honored to donate 2000 masks and protective wear to UAMS. These brave health care workers are on the frontline and we want to do what we can to protect them,” Ty Garments Chairman Tang Xinhong.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed his appreciation of TY.
“TY made a significant contribution to Arkansas when it chose to locate their business here and hire Arkansans. But not only did TY bring its business, Mr. Tang and TY brought their hearts. This donation to UAMS shows their commitment to helping protect the people of Arkansas in this time of great need worldwide,” he said.
Many Chinese factories had to re-tool to make personal protective equipment (PPE) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was first disclosed in the Chinese province of Wuhan.
TY Garments is located in the Port of Little Rock and opened its manufacturing operations in 2017. The company invested an estimated $20 million in the project. The Little Rock factory clothing mill supplies Adidas, which is the second-largest sporting goods company after Nike.
TY Garments parent company Tianyuan supplies 90% of the garments marketed by Adidas. TY also manufactures clothing for Reebok and Giorgi Armani.
TY plans to employ 400 Arkansans when the plant is at full capacity.