commonsku (PPAI 552077), a business services provider for the branded merchandise industry, recently joined a dozen distributor customers and the team from SanMar (PPAI 110788, Platinum), the No. 1 supplier in the PPAI 100, on a trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

The group visited SanMar’s textile operations and its manufacturing partner Elcatex, following the journey of a T-shirt from raw materials to finished garment. The delegation toured facilities including UTEXA, Parkdale Spun Yarns, San Juan Textiles and the Genesis and Francis sewing plants.

  • Attendees observed the full “dirt to shirt” process – from raw cotton and plastic chips being spun into yarn, to fabric knitting, dyeing, cutting and sewing.


Beyond the factory floor, the group experienced the community investments that SanMar and Elcatex have made in Honduras. Attendees visited the Mhotivo school, where they toured classrooms and met students, as well as girls’ and boys’ orphanages. SanMar and Elcatex’s commitment extends to housing initiatives that provide single-family homes for employees and education programs designed to create long-term stability and opportunity in the local community.

It all started with a T-shirt, and it became something much bigger.”

Mark Graham

President, commonsku

“This trip brought our skummunity closer to the people and processes behind the products we sell every day,” says Mark Graham, president at commonsku. “Watching distributors walk a factory floor and then sit with children at a school funded by that same supply chain – that’s the kind of experience that changes the way you talk about this industry. It all started with a T-shirt, and it became something much bigger.”

Distributor participants included: