BWA S.A., BWA’s manufacturing facility in Diriamba, Nicaragua employs over 1800 people and produces more than 300,000 high quality garments each month, including woven sport shirts, performance knit polos, t shirts, baselayer, fleece tops and bottoms, loungewear and sleepwear. We also manufacture uniforms for the premium end of the security and law enforcement industries.
Our facility features three sewing factories and a finished goods warehouse, all contained within one free zone. BWA utilizes the Leadtec shop floor system to provide real-time productivity and operator earnings data, creating a strong incentive based manufacturing environment. BWA maintains a fully-staffed, stand-alone product development department using state-of-the-art Gerber pattern-making technology to create garment prototypes and photo and development samples. We also have a strong, local base of suppliers who provide custom embroidery, appliqués, screen printing and other embellishments.
BWA utilizes LEAN manufacturing techniques and performs regular Kaizen events throughout the year to consistently improve quality and increase productivity and other efficiencies. We maintain inline and final auditing systems and our clients regularly cite us as one of their highest quality vendors.
BWA moved its operations to El Salvador in 2006 and then to Nicaragua in 2017 to take advantage of the duty-free opportunities presented by DR-CAFTA. 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 Nicaragua 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 export lead time represents one of the quickest and most flexible in the apparel industry today.