WHY MAKE HIGH QUALITY CLOTHES IN AMERICA

 

From 2008-2010 I was working for Chicago’s best moving company.  I found myself buying cheap foreign-made workslacks.  The fabric was less than comfortable, the fit was OK, but the cost-per-wear was just horrible.  They would bust out at the crotch and inseam and snag easily.  I also didn’t feel too good about where/how these pants were made.  If they only cost me about $22 at the shop, how could the people who made them have possibly been paid fairly? Technology has progressed but making clothing is still labor intensive.

There was also a realization that while it’s impossible to outsource lifting couches up and down stairs, it is all too easy to outsource the job of making pants for the people who lift couches up and down stairs.  And that’s what happened.  From the 70s to now, our apparel infrastructure has eroded.

But there’s a new logic emerging that says, “OK, we should make things locally, or at least domestically.  We should pay people fairly to make them.  These things will probably cost more to the consumer.  But if we strive to make a product that will last then the product would actually be a good buy.  A value buy.  One end result will be a world that is more respectful and thoughtful about material culture.”

 

COST-PER-WEAR | THE VALUE BUY

If it costs twice as much, but lasts 3x as long, did it really cost twice as much?  We are in the process of disengaging from price and reengaging value.  Value in the monetary sense and value in the human sense too.  This may be one of the few clothing companies that will urge you to buy less clothes.

 

FREE FROM EXTERIOR LOGOS

Because after you’ve bought it, why should you advertise it?  If you love a garment that much, you will tell your friends.  Integrity of persons is diminished by worn branding.  For companies to burn resources on branding their products is wasteful and problematic.

 

VOTING WITH A DOLLAR BILL FOR REGIONAL APPAREL INFRASTRUCTURE

2012 is the year to vote for American fabric mills, clothes factories, cutting houses and independent designers.  They need your vote, the vote that lives in your wallet.

 

SUPPORTING MADE IN USA APOLITICALLY

Politics is broke.  It’s up to consumers to make the change.  Left, right, in-between and neither have pluripotent reasons to buy high-quality American-made goods.  It may be a neighbor who thanks you.