Founded by Ben Wachter in 1952, BWA, Inc. pioneered the market for premium cotton flannel, quickly becoming the first company to manufacture apparel exclusively for Private Brands. Our unique relationships with the flannel mills of Portugal dates back to 1955, when Mr. Wachter placed the first fabric order for the US market. Since then, BWA has maintained a constant presence in Portugal, working closely with the leading flannel mills to continually develop new products and improved finishes.

Today, BWA is a third generation family business that has evolved far beyond flannel. We are now a fully integrated apparel manufacturer with strong mill partnerships in Europe, China, South Korea, and Taiwan. These relationships allow us to offer our clients the world’s finest fabrics at competitive costs. We also offer exclusive textile development and garment design services to better meet the unique needs of each of our clients’ brands. Our value-added merchandising services include seasonal trend and color forecasting. BWA is known as one of the industry’s foremost innovators in Private Brand development and our heritage in luxury woven European fabrics and attention to quality can be seen in every product we manufacture.

In February of 2006. BWA moved its operations to El Salvador in 2004 to take advantage of the duty-free opportunities presented by DR-CAFTA. BWA expanded its operations to Nicaragua in 2017. BWA is now the premier Central American manufacturer of woven shirts, knit tops and sleepwear for private branded apparel in the United States.

Any woven or knit fabric that is produced either in the United States or a DR-CAFTA country can be used to make apparel for duty-free import into the U.S. BWA also leverages the extensive array of fabrics on the DR-CAFTA Short Supply list for duty-free import into the U.S. To date,
BWA has successfully petitioned over 25 of the 100+ woven fabrics classified as Short Supply, and the vast majority of BWA’s exports from Central America enter the United States duty free. Garments are shipped Free on Board (FOB) from Nicaragua or Landed-Duty Price (LDP) from our public warehouse in Miami, Fl.

With only four days transit time for BWA’s finished goods to reach Miami by boat, BWA’s lead time represents one of the quickest and most flexible in the apparel industry today.