Nicaragua: sportswear manufacturer to invest $5m in production
Augusta Manufacturing, a US-owned company based in Nicaragua which produces sportswear for high-value brands, recently became a supplier for adidas and as a result is investing $5 million, creating 500 jobs by the end of 2011 and expecting to grow to 1,000 employees in 2012.
The company, established in Nicaragua’s free zone sector since November 2011, complied with adidas’s requirements and is manufacturing basketball shorts for the brand.
Nike apparel is also being produced in Nicaragua by New Holland Apparel, a US company operating under the country’s free zone sector. New Holland Apparel also supplies sportswear for Under Armour and Reebok.
According to Javier Chamorro Rubiales, executive director of Nicaraguan Investment Promotion Agency (PRONicaragua), one of the main benefits of adidas and Nike choosing Nicaragua is the increase in the country’s exports. But he said that “the most important benefit is the thousands of employment opportunities created for the population when one of these leading brands chooses Nicaragua to outsource their products”.
