During the last two decades of the twentieth century, China built a manufacturing juggernaut that propelled the offshoring phenomenon and led to the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs. To compete with the onslaught of cheap imported products, many US companies began cutting corners. They sacrificed quality, which drove even more people to buy foreign-made goods. Michael McKeldon Woody, formerly an executive at a domestic pen manufacturer, learned the hard way that these competitors were relentless, and eventually acquiesced to the inevitability of offshoring. But in 2006 he stumbled upon a US textile business, Trans-Tex LLC, which gave him the opportunity to pursue a rematch with his old nemesis, China.

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, China built a manufacturing juggernaut that propelled the offshoring phenomenon and led to the loss of millions of US manufacturing jobs. To compete with the onslaught of cheap imported products, many US companies began cutting corners. They sacrificed quality, which drove even more people to buy foreign-made goods. Michael McKeldon Woody, formerly an executive at a domestic pen manufacturer, learned the hard way that these competitors were relentless, and eventually acquiesced to the inevitability of offshoring. But in 2006 he stumbled upon a US textile business, Trans-Tex LLC, which gave him the opportunity to pursue a rematch with his old nemesis, China.