Knights Apparel which owned the four-year-old factory, also provided benefits, medical care and allowed workers to unionise. Most garment factories paid employees a minimum wage, which in some places was not sufficient to meet the basic needs of workers and the needs of their families. Knights Apparel founder and CEO Joe Bozich, the driving force behind Alta Gracia, came to this decision for business and personal motivation. Knights Apparel was the number one apparel supplier with collegiate logos and Bozich saw the opportunity presented by the growing number of university students dissatisfied with the working conditions of the people who made the branded clothing of their schools. Personally, Bozich said he wanted to provide "hope and a way out of poverty for generations to come."
However, Alta Gracia's production costs were 20-30 percent higher than in other Knights factories, and Alta Gracia was losing more than half a million dollars a year. Knights was able to keep Alta Grace open only by subsidising funds from its profitable business units. Knights was a private company, but Bozich remained accountable to his board of directors and the company's large, multi-million dollar institutional investors. Over time, Bozich had convinced many of them to back High Grace, but he needed to retire the factory soon to prove it was a viable business model. If Alta Gracia succeeded, Knights would have to decide if it should be expanded. Other companies had tried and had not offered a living wage and had become profitable.