Bella+Canvas started out as a company dedicated to making T-shirts in the United States—a business model that hasn’t changed much even as other manufacturers have headed overseas.
The knitwear maker was founded in 1992 by high school (and still) best friends Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge. The pair, who grew up in Los Gatos, a suburb of San Francisco, launched the company as a private label.
“We were very interested in fashion and design, and at that time there were really no greater companies than Gap, Levi’s or Esprit. They were all in San Francisco. There was no greater inspiration for us,” Harris said.
Today, Bella+Canvas has more than 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 800 employees in Commerce,
Calif., an industrial area southeast of downtown Los Angeles.
In 2008, Bella+Canvas—using state subsidies—got rid of its lightbulbs and converted to a solar-powered manufacturing facility that includes bi-weekly yoga classes and workout facilities. Last year, Harris and DeGeorge added electric-car chargers.
“It’s who we are as a culture,” Harris said. “I eat organic, and so does my business partner. We adapted our company to our lifestyle.”
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