Alexis DiazBook a Textile Contract Opportunity Review
Alexis Diaz

For American textile manufacturers

Compete for the $2.2 billion in textiles the U.S. government buys from small business.

From registration and compliance to opportunity targeting and proposal support, I help manufacturers build a practical path to government contracts.

Book a Textile Contract Opportunity Review

We find your strongest government market fit, the likely next steps, and the gaps holding you back.

U.S. Air Force veteran · Five years inside the Defense Logistics Agency, Clothing & Textiles

Coming soon

“I spent five years helping the government find great American mills. Now I help great American mills find the government.”

One big account can decide your whole year.

Lose it, for a reason you may never see, and it is not a rough week. It is a rough year. Meanwhile the shops that figured this out keep winning the work. The difference was never quality. It was who got seen.

Your best customer can leave you tomorrow. The U.S. government cannot.

So who is this buyer

The U.S. government buys $2.2 billion in clothing and textiles from small business every year.

50%+

of DLA textile dollars go to small business, more than to the giants

10+

new textile and apparel opportunities posted every business day

Sources: DLA Clothing and Textiles industry briefing (B. Sismour, DLA). Daily estimate: open textile and apparel notices on SAM.gov, September 2026.

The work is not scarce. Attention to it is.

This customer is required, by law, to buy American.

The Berry Amendment.

Military textiles must be made here. Foreign competition is locked out, and it buys what you already make.

It is the one customer that cannot leave you for overseas.

Why I can speak to this

My whole career has been around the people who make things.

Alexis Diaz deployed, in uniform, at the wheel of a Humvee.
  • Ten years in U.S. Air Force supply chain.
  • Then hired directly into the DoD at DLA Troop Support, Clothing & Textiles, five years inside the government office that buys these products.
  • On the four-person Warstopper team, keeping America’s textile mills ready.
  • Now I work for the mills, and I host The Manufacturer’s Magic Wand.
Alexis Diaz with two DLA Troop Support colleagues at the office.

The part most people never hear: the government is worried about losing shops like yours.

I helped run the Warstopper Program, the one that invests to keep American mills alive. I was part of moving real money to real mills. They see an aging, shrinking supplier base, and they do not want to wake up unable to clothe the military.

This is not you asking a favor. The government needs you.

A marketing playbook for the American mill

Five moves to start the relationship.

  1. 1Get your paperwork in order.
  2. 2Be findable online.
  3. 3Let AI watch for your opportunities.
  4. 4Show up fast, then follow up.
  5. 5Start with one.

All human led. All startable this month.

What working with me looks like.

Get ready.

Registration, certifications, and a capability statement that gets you taken seriously.

Find the work.

A shortlist of real contracts that fit exactly what you make, delivered the moment they post.

Win it.

Bid and proposal support, plus the contracting officer relationships.

The result: a customer that cannot leave you, and steady federal revenue for the products you already sell.

AI does the watching. Every solicitation the government publishes, read overnight, with a draft ready by morning. I make every call on what is worth your time. That is the talk I gave at STA, and your information stays protected.

The path.

A free call. Then your numbers. Then the work.

Before anything, free

Thirty minutes on the phone. Tell me what you make and where you source it. Then I go and pull what the federal government actually bought in your product categories over the last three years. The real numbers. Who bought it, what they paid, and who holds that work right now.

I send you that and we go through it together on a call. It costs nothing.

If there is not enough there for you, I will tell you plainly. I have done it before and those are the ones people thank me for.

What the engagement covers

Every week I read what the government puts out and I tell you which solicitations you can win, which to skip, and why. Then I work the responses with you. The passes matter as much as the picks, because what actually costs you money is spending a fortnight on a bid you were never going to get.

Registration, codes, certifications and your capability statement are all included. They are not what you are paying for. Anyone can file forms. The judgement is the product.

At the end of month three you have twelve weeks of screened opportunities with written reasoning on every one, a record of what you bid and what you passed on, and a clear read on whether this channel is worth continuing based on your own results rather than my opinion.

What you probably do not have yet is an award. Those take six to eighteen months from a standing start, and anyone promising faster is selling you something.

I do not work with companies sourcing from China, Russia, or North Korea. It is the first question I ask.

Book a Textile Contract Opportunity Review

We find your strongest government market fit, the likely next steps, and the gaps holding you back.

The kind of work the government buys.

  • Uniforms
  • Fabric
  • Towels
  • Medical textiles
  • Protective apparel
  • Bags and gear

Your factory may already have what government buyers need. Without a clear contracting strategy, the right registrations, and a compelling capability statement, those opportunities are difficult to pursue.

“Diaz drew on 10 years in the U.S. Air Force and five years with the Defense Logistics Agency to explain something she saw firsthand: the same manufacturers kept winning government business because they made themselves visible and built relationships with buyers.”
Southern Textile Association, on the 21st Summer Marketing Forum
Alexis Diaz speaking at the Southern Textile Association Summer Marketing Forum, Gaston College

Summer Marketing Forum, Textile Technology Center at Gaston College, Belmont NC, August 19 2026.

A Pennsylvania metal fabricator won the first federal bid they had ever filed. $53,000, U.S. Coast Guard, inside 90 days of starting.

A Virginia strap and webbing manufacturer bid for four months and won nothing. Then three awards landed inside four months, two of them standing contracts the government can keep ordering against.

One client won four federal contracts in under six months of working together, the most recent worth $350,000.

“She’s made a genuinely complicated process feel manageable. We’re an 80-year-old narrow-fabrics and softgoods manufacturer stepping deeper into DoD and federal bidding, and Alex has helped us win three contracts within the first few months working together. She’s honest about timelines and realistic about what’s worth pursuing. She’ll steer me away from a bid that isn’t a fit just as quickly as she’ll chase one that is.”
Matt WoolmanIM Manufacturing / StrapMaker.comPublished LinkedIn recommendation
“I’ve spent most of my career focused on developing technology, not promoting it. Alex has helped bridge that gap. She’s taken the time to understand FeltLOOM and helped communicate what we’re doing in a way that others can follow. What I appreciate most is that she understands this is a long-cycle product and approaches the work thoughtfully rather than pushing quick marketing tactics.”
Lanette FreitagInventor, FeltLOOMPublished LinkedIn recommendation
Matt Woolman
Matt Woolman
Lanette Freitag
Lanette Freitag

RFQ › WIRE

A weekly briefing on what the government and industry are buying, plus the news, policy, and AI shaping American manufacturing.

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If you make things in America, let’s talk.

“I spent five years helping the government find great American mills. Now I help great American mills find the government.”

Book a Textile Contract Opportunity Review

We find your strongest government market fit, the likely next steps, and the gaps holding you back.

Former DLA industrial specialistWorks federal opportunities daily through SAM.govRelationships with procurement officersPublisher of RFQ WireWorkshops coming
Alexis Diaz

Alexis Diaz, Founder, Lead Megaphone

alex@leadmegaphone.com · LinkedIn: Alexis Diaz · The Manufacturer’s Magic Wand · rfqwire.com