Royal Apparel expands in Hauppauge with new manufacturing site

Royal Apparel’s $7.6 million purchase of a Hauppauge industrial building next to its existing Cabot Court headquarters is more than a property deal. It is a bet that Suffolk County can still support manufacturing, even as land, labor and logistics costs keep pushing many companies elsewhere.

The company bought 10 Commerce Drive on Jan. 12, adding a 33,540-square-foot building on 2.45 acres to its Long Island base. The new site sits beside Royal Apparel’s 38,000-square-foot facility at 91 Cabot Court, giving the company two buildings in Hauppauge and a deeper foothold in one of Suffolk’s most important industrial corridors.

That matters because Royal Apparel is not using the space as a warehouse alone. The company says the expansion increases capacity across a fully vertically integrated U.S. manufacturing operation that handles design, fabric sourcing, knitting, dyeing, cutting, sewing, finishing and quality control. In an apparel market where speed and domestic control can determine whether an order stays profitable, that kind of setup can support steadier local production work and the trucking, handling and maintenance jobs that come with it.

Royal Apparel says it keeps millions of garments ready for immediate shipment, and its customer list stretches well beyond local retail. The company says it serves Fortune 500 corporations, major unions, national political campaigns, music tour merchandise companies, veteran and patriotic communities, lifestyle and retail brands, screen printers and promotional product distributors. That broad base helps explain why keeping production in Hauppauge carries more weight than a routine real-estate expansion. It is a signal that Suffolk still offers enough industrial infrastructure and workforce depth for a business built around fast turnaround.

Founded in the early 1990s in Manhattan’s Garment District, Royal Apparel later shifted its headquarters to Long Island and now says its headquarters remain in Hauppauge. The company also says it operates additional manufacturing facilities in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, along with a distribution center in San Bernardino, California. Founder Morey Mayeri said the new facility would help the company invest in American jobs and innovation while expanding capacity.

For Suffolk County, the move points to a narrower but significant kind of industrial future. Royal Apparel is not leaving for a cheaper market; it is adding space in place. In a county where industrial parcels are closely watched and manufacturing has been eroded over decades, that decision suggests Hauppauge still has a role as a working base for companies that want to keep making things on Long Island.