Springfield Chamber Rolls Out New ‘Roundtables’ Program at Richardson Sports
On Thursday, April 20, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce rolled out its new ChambeRoundtable series at Richardson Sports in Springfield. Members were treated to a tour of the Richardson facility, which is a family-owned and operated designer, distributor, and manufacturer of performance and lifestyle headwear.
ChambeRoundtable is one of several programmatic shifts by the Springfield Chamber in 2023 to foster interactive discussions on legislation and policy, community and economic development, and workforce and talent. Quarterly, these Roundtables will be coupled with an on-location business tour – ChambeRoundtable +Tour – exploring some of the many unique industry leaders throughout the Springfield area.
Last Thursday’s program at Richardson Sports was a quarterly ChambeRoundtable +Tour, and the afternoon began at 4:00pm in the “hat room,” just inside the front entrance at Richardson facility at 500 International Way. After a short period of introductions and networking, attendees were split into two groups and taken by facility representatives through the modern office space and impressive factory floor, where Richardson fulfills sports headwear orders for a global market.
A dialogue about workforce issues was initiated, which blossomed into a robust discussion that covered the state of the local economy since the pandemic, workplace culture matters, and attracting young job seekers to the trades.
As a leader in the custom cap market, creating a full line personalized hats for youth and college baseball teams, retail brands, corporate business, breweries, and everything in between, Richardson’s facility is an enormous and bustling place, and even at a low-production time of day, literally buzzed with activity as the groups made their way through the building. Visitors got a great look at some of their automated processes, the human touch of the quality control area, and even the graphic design challenges of turning customer artwork into smart, durable, stitched fabrics.
Immediately following the tour, the groups were reconvened in the hat room for a 10-minute video about Richardson’s history, as well as a short talk about operations from owner Kelly Richardson. At this point, Debi Creager, VP/CFO at Chambers Construction, initiated the Roundtable dialogue about workforce issues, which blossomed into a robust discussion that covered the state of the local economy since the pandemic, workplace culture matters, and attracting young job seekers.
The Chamber would like to thank Kelly Richardson and everyone at Richardson Sports for opening up their facility to us; Debi Creager from Chambers Construction for masterfully facilitating the roundtable discussion; and everyone who attended this exciting and inspiring inaugural event. Special thanks to Colton and Jacob, two WorkReady Student Advisory Committee members representing Springfield High School and Thurston High School, for providing a student perspective in this conversation.
