OCEANSIDE — Global knitwear producer FutureStitch is expanding its Oceanside manufacturing facility and seeking more community partnerships to help recruit and hire justice-impacted individuals seeking a second chance at life.
Headquartered in nearby San Clemente, FutureStitch is a knitwear producer partnered with well-known brands like Stance, Toms, Crocs and Everlane to create unique, durable socks. The company, which owns a large facility near Shanghai, China, launched its first U.S.-based manufacturing plant in Oceanside in 2021.
In May, the company located at 622 Airport Road announced it was acquiring the building next door, allowing the plant to enter the knitting phase of its production.
“For now, the majority of our revenue comes from printed, finished socks, but the additional space expands our capabilities and allows us to get into knitting,” said Taylor Shupe, FutureStitch founder and co-founder of Stance, an underwear company produced through FutureStitch.
When Shupe created FutureStitch, he wanted to use the company to change how formerly incarcerated individuals are treated.
The United States incarceration rate is among the highest in the world. Although the country is home to only 4% of the world’s population, it is also home to 16% of all incarcerated people. California has the country’s second-highest prison population, following Texas.
Returning to regular life after prison is challenging for many formerly incarcerated individuals. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report, nearly a third of formerly incarcerated people could not find jobs for years after release.
FutureStitch created Boss Stitch, a program that hires formerly incarcerated employees to work in the Oceanside plant. After a year of operation, more than 50% of the staff are formerly incarcerated.
“The idea is to stop the cycle,” Shupe said.
Shupe’s company takes it a step further by offering various recreational classes in between work, like its herbal medicine course and garden in collaboration with Moonvalley Nurseries, self-defense classes with Gracie Barra, motivational sessions with formal gold medal weightlifter and mental toughness coach Laura Eiman, meditation and yoga classes, and a book club.
The company also hopes to hire therapists focused on child development for its employees who are still learning to repair their home life and relationships with their children.
Sarah Porter, who heads human resources, also leads many of the yoga, meditation and herbal medicine classes at FutureStitch. Over the past year, Porter has closely bonded with the employees and has watched them grow.
“These are amazing, resilient people,” she said.
Nathan Carpenter said FutureStitch was the right choice for him. First hired as a production operator in February, he quickly learned the plant’s ins and outs and was promoted to production supervisor in May.
For several years before FutureStitch, Carpenter was in and out of prison and addiction. After losing their home and custody of their children, his partner Angela entered treatment, and he followed shortly after.
“It took me another month to see how grim my reality was,” he said. “I wanted to be a family man.”
Eventually, Carpenter and his partner graduated from treatment. The two were allowed to reunite and regain custody of most of their children in Solutions for Change, a 700-day vocational program based in Vista that prepares families recovering from addiction and homelessness for success through career pathways, leadership training, family management skills, financial literacy, personal development and accountability.
Carpenter discovered FutureStitch while waiting for background checks for other jobs to go through. Although the background checks eventually cleared, he opted to stick with FutureStitch.
“When I came here, there was no judgment, it was all welcoming and love,” he said. “I chose right.”
Nicole Padilla is another employee who found her way to FutureStitch through Solutions for Change.
Though Padilla is still relatively new to the company, having only joined in May, she feels right at home.
“I was tired of employers looking at me like I’m less when I’m not,” she said. “Then I heard about this great place where people can get a second chance.”
Born and raised in Germany, Padilla’s addiction began when she was only 13. She used it for several years before eventually moving to the United States. There, while clean, she married and had two children. Finally, her marriage fell apart, and not knowing how to cope appropriately, she relapsed in 2018 and eventually became homeless.
“I lost my touch with reality,” she said.
She became pregnant again but still couldn’t stop using. She sought help through programs where she lived in El Centro then, but the programs considered her a liability due to her pregnancy and denied her. Eventually, she entered a program in San Diego, where she had her third child only five days after entry. Though her son was taken away at first, she fought to get him back while in rehab.
Like Carpenter, Padilla entered Solutions for Change following rehab. Both still live in the program’s housing.
“It’s good to be back in life,” she said.
FutureStitch is interested in partnering with more local organizations to continue building the Boss Stitch and other similar programs hiring justice-impacted individuals in Oceanside.