AGORA Edge integrates sensors and other electronics into soft goods used around the world
AGORA Edge (AGORA) has gained a global reputation for solving problems and delivering creative, solution-oriented soft goods products quickly and affordably. Founder Subash Dave shares a more detailed account of the business and its history: “The story began in 1985, born from both disruption and opportunity. At that time, US soft goods companies were losing customers to lower-cost countries. So, I founded AGORA with a simple vision: to build a business that would last – one rooted in partnership, quality, and forward-thinking. As an engineer with nine years of experience in soft goods manufacturing, I acquired machinery and a few customer accounts from a company that had shuttered due to the changing times. Our equipment was aging and required daily maintenance, but we made it work. Alongside a talented designer and just one other employee, we worked seven days a week, finishing inherited orders and seeking new ones. We made it through the first year and entered the second with a healthy backlog of orders.
“From the start, I believed in relationships. I personally called every customer to thank them. That outreach was strategy. I did not want to be a transactional supplier. I wanted to become a supplier-partner, deeply invested in our customers’ success. We operated with lean discipline, avoided waste, and were careful with cash. Fortunately, we never faced cash flow issues and steadily repaid our SBA (Small Business Administration) and bank loans. 
“In 1990, we leased a larger building, eventually purchasing and expanding into the entire space. By the late 1990s, we added a warehouse and cafeteria, bringing our footprint to over 50,000 square feet. During this time, we worked with a few large customers in the medical and consumer electronics industries. We lost three of our major accounts that shifted their production to the Far East. We weren’t willing to lose our medical customer, so we started offering an overseas manufacturing option to our customers. In 1998, we partnered with a Taiwanese firm. We built momentum by manufacturing in China and delivering products to Far East customers. Our international business grew at a steady clip.”
In 2023, AGORA completed its Philippines facility and started moving operations from China. Transferring product lines required full requalification of facilities and products, a process that took almost two years to complete. Meanwhile, back in St. Petersburg, Florida, the company expanded steadily. “In 2021, we started planning the construction of a new 50,000-square-foot medical manufacturing facility,” adds Subash. “A year after the completion of construction, we are now in the process of qualifying customer products for domestic manufacturing in this new space, with several customers already fully transitioned to this new facility. We now have 350 employees and a 130,000-square-foot footprint, providing generous room for growth.
“Our customers predominantly are in the medical, fire and industrial safety, mobile computing, and automatic data collection industries. We are a supplier to 3M, Abbott, Philips, Honeywell, Zebra, FedEx, and other industry leaders. Our product portfolio includes wearables, holsters, equipment cases, custom instrument holders, sales demonstration kits for medical sales teams, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), machine headgears for sleep apnea patients, as well as harnesses, belts, and straps for firefighters and first responders.
“From our inception, we have worked closely with customers across demanding industries. While supporting their evolving needs, we advanced and grew with our customers. Being embedded in their product development cycles, we learned firsthand about the standards and specifications unique to each field. We saw how biocompatibility requirements in the medical world could inspire new ideas for wearable computing. This learning process helped transform our thought process.
“Our solutions portfolio expanded to include rapid prototyping, compliance (regulatory and environmental), and industrial design while improving our core solutions of design, manufacturing, and material sourcing. Today, our tool room has evolved into a full machine shop where we fabricate proprietary custom tools, jigs, fixtures, and more, that we utilize in our manufacturing. We also build custom machinery that supports our unique needs, as well as automate machines purchased off the shelf. We now incorporate conductive materials, sensor integration, and embedded electronics into our soft goods and molded components, thereby creating a unified, cohesive product that could communicate, respond, and interact. At AGORA, we don’t just follow trends – we anticipate them. And as the line between textiles and technology continues to blur, we’re ready to lead our customers into the future of soft goods.”
Continuous learning is an essential behavior for a company pushing the frontiers of an industry. Subash expands: “I believe in education. Knowledge is what helps us grow personally and professionally. Towards this end, I help our employees to better their lives by providing training and growth opportunities and assist with their children’s education. This also reflects our broader commitment to being a good corporate citizen by working with our customers and suppliers to minimize our impact on the environment by putting out ecologically friendly products. We also prioritize being a positive influence in the communities in which we work and live and incorporate renewable energy sources and energy-saving equipment into our daily operations.”
Subash then outlines the company’s priorities going forward: “We are focusing on streamlining, simplifying, and automating internal processes. We are energizing our account teams to develop deeper relationships with customers. We are motivating our design team to create amazing designs for our customers and our product lines. Our product design needs to be driven by market innovations and trends. We are also evaluating the positive impacts that AI can bring to the table.”