Ten years ago, the 39-year-old West Point graduate launched his apparel company, Nine Line, out of his garage. Named after the military code word for getting wounded soldiers off the battlefield, the company now runs the booming business out of a 60,000-square-foot facility here in Georgia.They produce a complete range of punchy patriotic apparel while employing more than 200 people, mostly veterans and their spouses, in suburban Savannah.
For him, it had to be ethically sourced — in short, not from any supplier who was part of the slave labor trade in the Xinjiang region of China. This is nonnegotiable for Merritt and his brand. To ensure he maintains these standards, he goes above and beyond what most retailers do, and he conducts isotopic testing — basically a DNA test on fabric to detect the unique fingerprint of the country of origin.
“I've never been one to back down. So it was, I believe, a very poor strategic move on the count of Next Level Apparel, which is the entity that was tested through the boxes that we received into our facility from our distributor S&S Activewear. The carton label stated the importer of record was YS Garments, and after a simple Google search, I discovered YS Garments is doing business as Next Level Apparel.
The Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China is where a lot of the cotton used worldwide originates. The Chinese Communist Party has populated this region with forced labor and “reeducation” camps meant to nullify this historic minority. Merritt remains skeptical: “After months of discussions, I’ve been able to return all of my products that I purchased from them. They have assured me it was quarantined and will not be put back into circulation, but there are lingering questions that need to be answered."