Beloved Apparel Company Announces $5 Million Expansion of Northport Facility

A beloved Tuscaloosa screenprinting company will add on to its production facility in Northport, build new office space and create 34 new jobs in a $5 million expansion announced Thursday afternoon.

The news was made public after JNJ Production, LLC, more commonly known as JNJ Apparel, asked the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority for a standard tax abatement to incentivize the expansion during a board meeting Thursday afternoon.

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JNJ has deep Tuscaloosa roots and was started in 2004 by two brothers who wanted a faster turnaround time for their fraternity event T-shirts.

The business grew steadily and in 2016, co-owners Nick and Michael Wright decided to build a 20,000-square foot production plant for JNJ off Union Chapel Road in Northport, allowing them to stop outsourcing the lion's share of production of their shirts.

Over time, they have broadened their scope to include merch for 12 universities and colleges, multiple fraternities and sororities and, eventually, limited runs supporting dozens of local restaurants and businesses in Tuscaloosa and beyond during and after the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, CFO Garrett Allen and Michael Wright said they regularly print 12,000 shirts each week, and that number is expected to rise significantly after the expansion is completed.

The expansion announced Thursday will add another 10,000 square feet and a new screen printer to the plant and also build new office space nearby. Since the plant was first built, JNJ has done its corporate business on 22nd Street in Downtown Tuscaloosa and run production in Northport.

The move announced Thursday will put all their operations in Northport, but Allen and Wright told the Thread that they have a plan in the works to maintain some presence in downtown Tuscaloosa that has yet to be finalized and announced.

JNJ is scheduled to begin its $5.1 million expansion in early April with an expected completion date set for February 2023.

The project and resultant expansion are expected to generate more than $2.3 million in new tax revenue in the next 20 years and the incentive package approved by the TCEDA abates around $360,000 in taxes over the same period.