More Than Socks: How a Knit Manufacturer is Changing Lives with Second Chances

Roughly three out of four people remain unemployed a year after they are released from prison. Long-term, that unemployment rate remains at about 27 percent — exponentially higher than the rate for individuals who have never been incarcerated. People who were formerly incarcerated also face substantially higher rates of homelessness and economic and social inequality. Unsurprisingly, unemployment, homelessness and a lack of access to resources are among the factors linked to recidivism.

By and large, employers remain biased against hiring justice-impacted individuals. Sustainable knits manufacturer FutureStitch wants to change that. The company focuses on hiring formerly incarcerated individuals and reducing recidivism among employees for its U.S. factories, a practice known as second chance hiring. FutureStitch makes socks and other knits for brands like Lululemon, Crocs and New Balance. It also partners with the NBA and the MLB.

“We feel like the biggest proof point that we could create in business was around this social cause, which we think is a plague in America.” Taylor Shupe, CEO of FutureStitch, told TriplePundit.

Offering the training and support needed to thrive, not just survive

Shupe, who was involved with the criminal justice reform nonprofit the Innocence Project, was inspired to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and, in the process, create a program that would prove there is a better way forward than the revolving door of the criminal justice system. The resulting program is called SecondStitch. It offers justice-impacted individuals employment, training and development, while also connecting them with the support and community resources they need to successfully reintegrate.

It begins with foundational skills — such as personal finance and computer competency — and builds up to more specialized training, Shupe said. The goal is to create an entrepreneurial mindset and foster growth. Classes are offered in things like marketing, finance and other in-demand subjects, so employees can choose from a wide range of skills to benefit their future. 

That education and training empowers graduates to move up in the company. “My head of HR is justice impacted, and one of my controllers is justice impacted,” he said. “So it's not just production work. It's actually like, let's build the right skill sets.”

In other words, it’s not just about giving formerly incarcerated people the bare minimum in employment. It’s about providing a foundation for them to build their lives on. That’s an important distinction considering that being limited to low wage jobs is another contributing factor of recidivism.

“It’s equally as important to get them into position where they can make enough money to support themselves and their family, buy a house,” Shupe said. “Things that they thought that they wouldn't be able to do, ever.”

A working environment that fosters retention to reduce recidivism

“Most people that get out of the system are not online,” he said, which can make recruitment difficult. “Where we've found opportunities, [is] working with charities that help ex-incarcerated individuals or also homeless people.” 

In addition to being justice impacted, more than half of FutureStitch’s employees are previously unhoused, he said. Although not all of FutureStitch’s employees have been impacted by the legal system, 71 percent were, according to the company. The employees who were formerly incarcerated have a higher retention rate than the workers who were not, Shupe said. Whereas the overall retention rate at the knit manufacturer is 80 percent, justice-impacted employees stick around over 90 percent of the time. Both numbers are impressive considering turnover in manufacturing hovers around 40 percent.

By providing stable employment with sustainable wages, as well as a strong support system and access to resources, the company is able to achieve its primary goal: preventing people from going back to prison.

“The objective for us is to prove as low of a recidivism rate as possible, and right now, we're still at 0 percent over two years in,” Shupe said, comparing the numbers to California’s overall average rate of 50 percent. “It just goes to show, if you have the right wage, if you have the right community, the right support, if you create a culture that's about self-improvement and optimism, then you can make huge impacts in the labor market. So we're trying to evolve this further.”

A model for other employers

Part of evolving further is sharing the SecondStitch model with other employers. Shupe likened doing so to a nonprofit franchise model. Most of FutureStitch’s website is sparse, but a lot more money and effort was poured into the dedicated SecondStitch pages, he said. That’s because, in addition to providing employees with resources, it gives the framework for other employers to learn from and eventually emulate.

So what’s stopping employers from jumping on the bandwagon right away? “I think it's just a risk tolerance thing,” Shupe said. “There's this general sensitivity that I think sort of pushes the executive or the founder to pause … They're nervous that employing an individual like this — who may have a history of selling drugs, or a history of prostitution, or whatever — is going to create a legal liability for them. And it couldn't be further from the truth.”

In fact, the only risky situations FutureStitch has experienced came from employees who had never been incarcerated, Shupe said. He’s hopeful that by showing just how much the company benefits from increased retention and production, other employers will see the value of offering former offenders a second chance with the necessary programming.

“When you give out trust, when you give out empathy and love for somebody else, it reciprocates. And that's what we've learned here. Most of the people that we've hired from the system were never really given trust,” Shupe said. “It's interesting what happens when you give somebody trust first, instead of giving them cynicism … You get so much more passion and you get so much more loyalty.”

Homepage image courtesy of FutureStitch.