Built from the Ground Up
Great gear starts with great materials. Here at Massif, a key factor in our ability to manufacture the highest quality gear for the most punishing environments is the control we have over what materials we use through our vertically integrated supply chain. We maintain that control through an extremely close relationship with our parent company Antex Knitting Mills that allows us to develop and manufacture most of the fabrics that become Massif gear in their Los Angeles, CA based facility.
Building completely vertically integrated products here in the United States is central to what sets Massif apart. Maintaining such close ties with our supplier allows us to be a part of every step in the process from developing new materials, to quality control in production, and ultimately cutting and sewing at Massif. It allows us to provide feedback and make changes at stage in the production cycle, and makes it easy to ensure that we remain in compliance with Berry Amendment regulations; a non-negotiable requirement in creating products for use by the U.S. military. While manufacturing here is a core part of our business, running a successful mill and dye house in the United States is not a simple task.
Made Here
When the Tenenblatt family founded Antex Knitting Mills in 1973, more than 95 percent of garments that were sold in the US were made here too. Today, that number is somewhere around only 4 percent. In the midst of dramatic changes in the global manufacturing market, Antex Knitting Mills was able to not only survive, but to thrive and grow due to sound operating practices and a willingness to take risks on small businesses.

The Tenenblatt family built Antex Knitting Mills from the ground up shortly after immigrating to Los Angeles from Romania. Bill Tenenblatt and his parents spent every free moment working to save enough money so they could purchase eight used knitting machines, and from those humble beginnings they have grown Antex to become the largest mill and dye-house in Los Angeles. Part of their initial success was geographic. In those early days, Bill Tenenblatt remembers that “Los Angeles had a lot of vitality… We were lucky because we started in the right place. California at that time was a big manufacturing center. It had plenty of open land, [commercial] buildings, good transportation and a [very strong] labor force.” On top of the solid infrastructure, Los Angeles was also a fashion and garment hub. “California was the right place because textiles and garments are connected to fashion, and fashion is connected to the movie industry, so there were a lot of good designers… doing their own styles and…if you were lucky and [they] caught on, there was room to grow.”

Shared History, Parallel Growth
Over Antex Knitting Mills’s first 27 years, they continued to grow even as manufacturing in the U.S. began to slow down. Their success was certainly due to being able to consistently deliver the highest quality products to their customers, but Bill also credits his father’s natural ability to spot growth potential in customers pitching even very small orders. “We would make sure that the person coming in the door has potential… It could be a guy who [only] wants to buy 500 yards… My dad had a lot of street smarts, he’d look at the person and listen to him for a while and make a quick judgment if [they] had potential or not. He would kind of nod his head either yes or no to me… and I’d know whether we’d work with the person or not,” Bill said. “Even if it was a sample that was five yards and… [we] had to disrupt the whole line, we’d do it. Many times some of these guys would hit. They’d have some skill and they would… grow. It was amazing. This business is a lot of hard work, but part of it is being nimble and finding opportunities.”

One of those opportunities for growth came when Chris Wasgatt, Massif’s previous Executive Vice President walked into Antex’s offices with a plan to revolutionize FR (flame resistant) materials for SAR (Search and Rescue) and military gear. Chris’ high energy and engaging demeanor caught the Tenenblatts’ eye and led them to take a chance on him and Massif. Despite the FR materials Chris asked Antex to develop being incredibly labor intensive, and his first order quantities being miniscule compared to the orders they were used to filling, the gamble they took on Massif paid off; especially as US textile manufacturing continued to take a precipitous fall through the early aughts. In fact, Antex Knitting Mills has been able to stay remarkably strong over the last 20 years while US textile manufacturing has shrunk tremendously and the relationship with Massif remains an important part of that resilience. “The question always comes up: how are we still in business manufacturing anything in Los Angeles? Let alone textiles,” says Daniel Tenenblatt, President of Massif and Vice President of Antex Knitting Mills. “There are a couple of factors. One is that we have a fantastic R&D team, which is… how we… come up with a lot of the Massif fabrics, a lot of the FR fabrics, and a lot of the unique chemistries we are using for… different applications.” While Massif relies on Antex to produce our proprietary FR treatments and material blends, Antex can count on Massif to push the boundaries of technical combat apparel and tactical gear development that calls for ever more specialized material needs.

An Impactful Relationship
Antex Knitting Mills’s ability to create state of the art FR fabrics for Massif all in-house and right here in the U.S. helps us maintain high quality control and strict Berry Compliance and that sets us apart from our competitors. The Tanenblatt family’s willingness to take a chance on small but important projects, and the hard work of Antex Knitting mills to help us develop our specialized materials has built a truly valuable relationship between our brands. We look forward to many more years of shared growth while we design ever better gear for professionals who trust their lives to dependable kit and clothing every day.