South Korean apparel manufacturer Hansae Co. and its fabric affiliate Color & Touch (CNT) are building a fully integrated textile production facility in Guatemala, consolidating yarn spinning, knitting and dyeing in a single location to shorten lead times and improve traceability for U.S. buyers.

Young Kim, vice president of Color & Touch, presented the plan Tuesday at Sourcing Journal's annual Sourcing Summit, framing it as the company's strategy for "next horizons in Central America." The facility is designed to deliver fast, traceable and eco-friendly fabric and apparel production for the U.S. market.

The commercial backdrop is substantial. Hansae, with more than 40 years in global garment sourcing, reported $1.4 billion in sales last year. The holding group expects $2.4 billion in revenue in 2025 across apparel manufacturing, retail, publishing and new mobility businesses in Korea. Color & Touch, the group's textile division, operates major production sites in Vietnam and Asia and projects $250 million in sales in 2026, with a stated goal of $500 million by 2030.

Kim said shifting supply chain requirements from major American, European and Japanese retailers have made Central America the company's primary growth focus for the next decade.

Logistics arithmetic

The lead-time case is central to the move. Shipping from Asian hubs such as Vietnam takes 19 to 24 days to the U.S. West Coast and up to 42 days to the East Coast. From Guatemalan ports, transit drops to 9 to 10 days to the West Coast and 12 to 23 days to the East Coast.

"The market demands more speed, flexibility, and tighter inventory management," Kim said. "By sourcing from Guatemala instead of Asia, we reduce transportation times to the U.S. by two to three weeks. Central America offers a major strategic advantage for serving the American market."

For sourcing managers weighing inventory risk against unit cost, a two-to-three week reduction in transit translates directly into lower in-transit inventory and faster replenishment cycles on core programs.

One site, one audit trail

Rather than spreading spinning, knitting and dyeing across multiple countries, the Guatemalan plant brings the entire process together. Kim said this gives retail partners clearer oversight and easier quality management.

"Guatemala allows us to connect the entire process—starting from yarn to the finished product—all in one location," Kim said. "By building a vertically integrated system here, we can provide greater traceability and transparency for our customers while serving as a new hub for the textile and apparel industry in the Western Hemisphere."

The raw material strategy leans on U.S. cotton. "Our goal is not simply to build a facility near the United States," Kim explained. "We want to manufacture high-quality cotton and synthetic fabrics right here in the Western Hemisphere by combining premium U.S. cotton with advanced machinery and technology."

Sustainability claims

The company projects measurable efficiency gains from consolidation. Eliminating intermediate transportation between process steps is expected to cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of 30,000 transport trips.

"Consolidating our spinning, knitting and dyeing operations into a single compound eliminates intermediate transportation, cutting carbon emissions significantly," Kim said. "Combined with eco-friendly machinery, we expect to achieve up to a 60 percent savings in utility efficiency compared to legacy facilities in Asia."

These figures are company projections rather than independently verified results, and buyers evaluating the site against their own scope 3 targets will want documented baseline data once the plant is operational. No opening date, capacity figures or investment amount were disclosed at the summit.

Kim summarized the strategy in five principles: faster lead times, full traceability, higher quality, vertical integration and greater sustainability. The stated ambition is to offer Western Hemisphere brands a flexible, sustainable alternative to traditional cross-Pacific sourcing.

If the Guatemalan facility delivers on its transit-time and traceability commitments, Hansae and Color & Touch position themselves to capture retailer demand for shorter, more accountable supply chains in the U.S. market over the coming decade.