Like some other Philadelphia factory owners, he’s looking for workers, as his garment company, Ricochet, based in Philadelphia’s old industrial Nicetown section, expands after winning the largest share of a $40 million Air Force firefighter equipment contract.
Now staffed by 80 workers, Ricochet employs residents of nearby neighborhoods and immigrants from around the globe. There’s a manager from Colombia and a design leader from India who studied at Philadelphia University, the city’s former textile college, now part of Thomas Jefferson University. Other employees are from Afghanistan, Egypt, the Caribbean, Central and South America, China, and Vietnam.