In mid -2026 A new SuperTex factory will begin to operate in Escuintla, A Colombian textile and clothing group. This company invested US $ 21 million in the country.
Currently, SuperTex has, in addition to the factories in Colombia, with two floors in El Salvador, in which he uses around 3,500 people.
Daniel Herrera, director of Operations of the SuperTex Group, said the winery in Synergy Industrial Park is already under construction. Herrera said that his entry to Guatemala is due to the strategy of Nearshoring and the growth opportunity that is glimpsed in Central America.
Why did your company grow in Guatemala?
We are looking to grow and have a new center of production origin, and, therefore, we were very interested in looking for opportunities in Central America. So, we not only think of Guatemala, but we also explore Nicaragua and Honduras.
After investigating the three countries, we define Guatemala, because, for the benefits that the country has, it is a country that, economically, is very stable. When we made the visits, we had the opportunity to be attended by different entities, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which helped us a lot to have meetings with the government and other organizations that gave us the peace of mind about the stability of the country.
What was the reason for choosing specifically Escuintla?
After visiting Guatemala, we started knowing different parks. So, obviously we went to Synergy – industrial that is in Escuintla – which is where we will be.
We define Synergy for the benefits they gave us. There is a giant growth and potential. They are in Escuintla, so we investigate the sector. It is a relatively large city, with approximately 800 thousand inhabitants. We saw that there was an interesting opportunity, because it is a city that is not so distant to the capital, and that helps us because, in the confection business, there is a lot of competition for the people, by the machine operators.
In the preparations not everything is machines, but the machines are operated by people and, obviously, a lot of people are needed to grow and supply the demand of our customers.
We also know that there are other municipalities near Escuintla, such as Palín, which are also interesting and that they can also be a very good source to get business operators.
Why not continue growing in El Salvador?
El Salvador is a country where we are already having some problems to grow and to have new operators, so we decided to leave El Salvador. Also, then, to compensate the geopolitical risk a bit.
It is a country that is growing, it is a country where there is already a lot of tourism, where there are already other important economic sectors. So, getting operators is no longer so easy.
What are the differences that Guatemala has with El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras that for which you decided on the country?
Nicaragua for his political problem, his political stability is not so easy. It is definitely not such an attractive country at this time, sadly, because it is a very beautiful country that we met with very capable people.
We also visited it, but we liked much more Guatemala, which offered us, the proximity to the government, the way they treated us, as the country sold us. We know operations in Guatemala that we know are very prosperous.
We believe it is a cultured country, a country that already has an important culture of confessions.
What will be the volume they will handle in Guatemala and what are the expectations they have for growth in the country?
In principle, we will start with a factory of approximately a thousand employees. These thousand people will be in a 10,000 square meter factory. We will concentrate production in sports garments with a lot of added value; It is as we call it. The idea is to have operations not only of sewing, but operations of other processes such as embroidery, print and Heat Transfer.
We have important customers who are very interested in working with us in Guatemala and continuing to grow with us. The idea is, depending on the result, in a couple of years to be able to fold the capacity, grow another 10 thousand meters and, obviously, to double the production capacity in about 2,000 employees, and produce approximately between 130 thousand and 150 thousand units or clothing per month.
What will be the brands interested in entering the country together with SuperTex?
We still have no brand, so I could not tell you with certainty what brand would be entering the country, because first you have to go through a certification process.
Then, first we build the winery, then the machinery is entered, and the brands have to go to the factory to certify the plant in all the security, health, emergency exits.
There are many requirements that we have from our clients that the factory must meet in order to be certified and so that they tell us that we can work for them.
What I can say is that we work for the great brands of the world: we work for Nike, we work for Adidas, we work for Under Armor and work for Patagonia. They are our four main clients.
We have confidence that the operation and project will be so attractive that they will want to work with us. But I cannot assure you who or when we are going to start working with them.
What will your logistics management be like?
The idea is that 100% of the product is for export, and will surely concentrate on the North American market.
Depending on the product, some of the garments may go to other countries or continents, such as Europe or Asia, but, mainly, I am almost certain that it will be towards the North American market.
How are they going to adjust to the commercial panorama that is recently taking place with the new rates imposed by the United States?
At this time, we have a 10% rate both in Guatemala and in El Salvador and in our Colombian operation. We believe that rate could continue.
However, we see that there are other countries in Asia, for example, that they will be affected in a higher portion, since they can have higher rates, which gives us an advantage. That advantage must be used to be able to supply the American market.
Not only because the rates are going to be lower compared to these Asian countries, but also for closeness. Being closer to the United States, customers do not have to take so much risk in inventories and can make decisions against the product or in the face of the product design in less time.
There is a great opportunity. I think that, so we have this rate, we are still competitive and remain attractive to these great brands.
Between Central America and South America, let’s say that we make a very small portion of the sportswear market, while Asia makes a large percentage.
If only these brands thought about moving a percentage or twice what we do today on this side of the world, it would not reach the supply to cover that demand between Central America and South America.
That’s where the opportunity is. With or without rates, we believe that being closer to the final consumer is super -ratractive for companies that are on this side of the world.
What will be the plan to train human capital that may be within your company?
We talked with the director of the Technical Institute for Training and Productivity (Intecap), who offered that they could help us prepare people, prepare not only operators, but also to middle managers such as supervisors, mechanics, engineers, but we still have no plan designed.
However, in our company, in all the different operating centers, both in Colombia and in El Salvador, we have schools within the company where we prepare operators of both the clothing area and the other processes, to generate those skills and generate that knowledge so that people can work with us.
Intecap can be an advantage, because we can complement ourselves in that initial training plan, because, obviously, we must generate that knowledge in the people who want to work with us.
But we already have designed a procedure internally where we know how to train these people so that they can become sewing machine operators or machinery operators such as print, embroidered, in the court part.
It would be great for us to work with them – the Intecap – and to be able to ally and achieve synergies, and be much more effective in the generation of operators.
And what is the training plan that they have internally?
We first do a kind of study for people to understand their skills and then go on to do very simple operations: first manuals, then in sewing machines with paper, and then they begin to do operations in fabric retales. They learn from the types of machine and, then, they already produce a final product, until they graduate. It is a school where we teach you the whole process so that they can already go to the industrial part and the production lines already defined within the production factory.
There are promotions. Then, we start with 30 people and, approximately two months, we are graduating groups that go to the factory and we grow the capacity.
At first, we start with a smaller factory and, as we train people, the factory grows and we generate more capacity to cover the demand we have in the company.
What is the average salary that has an operator who works with you?
That depends on the country. All countries have a minimum wage. But supertex is characterized by additional benefits to the minimum minimum salary.
There is an additional efficiency benefit. Depending on production efficiency, as monetary incentives are generated that people can acquire depending on their skill.
But, in addition to that, there are also food benefits, transport benefits, food benefits.
Obviously, this depends a lot on the country in which we are, because the minimum wage in Colombia is different from that of El Salvador. But, definitely, the important and most beautiful thing is that we always seek people to receive benefits and have a better income for them and their families.