Since winning a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award last March, FutureStitch founder Taylor Shupe has been on a mission to expand both his business and his impact.
Last summer, he opened a second manufacturing facility in Oceanside, a 10,000-square-foot space housing production, a laboratory, offices and an innovation center.
Shupe told the Business Journal that he is transforming part of the new site into classrooms for a new nonprofit organization that he founded last year. In addition to the existing Second Stitch program where the manufacturer employs formerly incarcerated people, he started the Second Stitch Foundation to offer mentorship to older teenagers and young adults with justice-impacted family members or who have been incarcerated themselves. Shupe told the Business Journal he raised $50,000 for the organization at a launch event in December.
FutureStitch has 20 employees from the Second Stitch program. Including its headquarters and design center in San Clemente, there are 35 people total in the U.S. and 390 companywide.
Shupe is still looking for a site to build not only a new factory but also a farm, housing units and education facilities that would provide opportunities for both employees and participants of the Second Stitch program.
“I do believe it’s the future, and I believe it’s a way for us to lower the cost of manufacturing and bring product manufacturing back to the United States,” he said.
Retail Collaborations, New Company Idea
Product innovation has been a big part of FutureStitch’s business plan since its founding, and Shupe said the company’s most recent focus has been its partnership with New Balance, who was a customer last year.
FutureStitch is now a global partner and licensee for all premium socks at New Balance, overseeing a few distribution channels and all their design and development. It also holds an innovation contract with the shoemaker, with development in both its San Clemente design center and in the test labs the company started in January 2024 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The manufacturer also works with Toms, Crocs and Stance, Shupe’s previous concept.
A newer product that FutureStitch launched last October was its first sock-shoe hybrid product via a collaboration with Stance.
Dubbed the Stance Cush, the footwear grew out of the company’s research and development labs and was released in only select markets in Asia. While a U.S. launch may not be in the works, the project led to innovating more shoe styles such as slides and mules.
“Any new category launch depends on current Stance leadership,” Shupe said. He noted that his co-founders of the sock retailer, Jeff Kearl, John Wilson, Ryan Kingman and Aaron Hennings, are no longer with Stance.
This led Shupe to try and buy back Stance from the current owners recently but after his proposal was rejected, he decided to start planning a new retail venture.
The company, called Seconds, will use reclaimed and repurposed materials to manufacture apparel and accessories from felt using circular knit.
“It’s a beautiful product that we think could really work in fashion, especially for the 18- to 28-year-old demographic,” Shupe said. “I always want to be able to create a product that’s relevant.”
He is aiming to have samples ready by mid-2025.
