Do You Really Know Where Your Clothes Come From?

Check the tag on the back of your shirt. More likely than not, it will say Made in China, or if you are the kind of consumer who cares about supporting local business, maybe you will see Made in America. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet, because those words may not carry that much weight.
Zady, an online retailer that targets conscious consumers, is launching a movement to establish a “Sourced In” tag for clothing brands sold in U.S.
“Transparency is the first step to taking responsibility,” Maxine Bedat, the cofounder of Zady, says in an email interview about her “We the People” petition to the White House. “What we can achieve if we band together is higher quality product, the lowest environmental impact, and clothing that we actually want to wear not just today but for years to come.”
Currently, companies can get away with claiming a product was made domestically even if only the final touches were done on U.S. soil. Zady and its partners — which include everyone from environmentalists and industry insiders to everyday people who support the revival of domestic manufacturing — believe the government must set a new standard. They are calling for new standards for clothing tags that would disclose which countries were involved in every step of the supply chain, from the farm to the factory.
Globalization blurs the lines of the already confusing Federal Trade Commission rules that govern what can be considered “Made in America.” The Zady petition plainly states that since the supply chain of supposedly American apparel happens in a range of countries not spelled out on our clothing tags, “the current mandate from the Federal Trade Commission to label products with ‘the country of origin’ simply will not do.”
In the 1960s, 95 percent of clothing worn in the U.S. was, in fact, made in America, but that number now stands at less than 5 percent. Bedat explains that those statistics, combined with eye-opening figures about industrial water pollution from the textile industry to chemicals in our clothing, make now the time to provide consumers with greater trust and confidence.
“As representatives of the U.S. consumer, the government needs to play its part and step in and regulate,” Bedat says, adding that the private sector (in particular, the fashion industry) must take responsibility for the consequences of their dirty supply chains. “Nonprofits can serve as watchdog groups shining light on the abuses in the industry. And finally all of us, as consumers can vote with our dollars for the values we believe in.”
Editors’ note: Maxine Bedat is a NationSwell Council member.

Here’s How to Restore American Fashion Manufacturing

In case you haven’t heard, American manufacturing is making a comeback, and the fashion industry is no exception. For more than 75 years, Ohio Knitting Mills was one of the largest knitwear manufacturers in the U.S., producing private-label garments for stores such as Sears and Saks Fifth Avenue, and designer labels like Van Heusen and Jack Winter. At its peak, this business, owned and operated by the Stone-Rand family, employed more than 1,000 workers — an economic beacon for Cleveland. But amid the rise of garment outsourcing in the U.S., the factory closed its doors at the turn of the century, ending a well-known mainstay in American fashion manufacturing. But Steven Tater, a designer who met the family in 2005, wasn’t about to add Ohio Knitting Mills to the history books, alongside many other factories that have been shuttered across the U.S. Armed with a trove of creative works bequeathed to him from the Stone-Rand family, Tater has revived Ohio Knitting Mills and its brand.
MORE: Making “Made in America” Cool Again
Over the past few years, Tater and his team have put together a small sewing factory in Cleveland, where they have used patterns from the Ohio Knitting Mills archive to create their own knitwear line. These garments are produced completely in their Ohio factory. From developing and dying yarns to designing styles and patterns; and from knitting the fabric to cutting, sewing and finishing the garments, the Ohio Knitting Mills is an all-in-one design and manufacturing company. Last year, the business created its first collection of men’s sweaters, and it already has retail accounts at stores in big cities across the U.S., as well as in Tokyo. Now Tater and his employees are looking toward the future. “One of the most important lessons we’ve learned on this journey is manufacturing makes communities,” Tater says. With that in mind, he’s turning to their community for help. “In order for us to become a fully operating knitwear factory, and to produce our new collection, we have to buy yarns and other raw materials to fill our orders, as well as add some special sewing machines and hire some folks to help us make our sweaters.”
MORE: Can a Pair of Blue Shoe Laces Kickstart American Manufacturing
Tater has created an Indiegogo campaign to raise $33,400 in order to help Ohio Knitting Mills cement its place in American fashion manufacturing once again. With these funds, the business will not only grow its own eponymous knitwear brand, but Tater hopes they can also help produce knit-based designs for other labels, which until now have almost exclusively produced knitwear overseas simply because the resources didn’t exist in the U.S.. “Today, there is a large need for domestic knitting production,” Tater writes on the Indiegogo campaign. “Supporting this campaign not only helps our company, it also can help other designers to create their knitwear products with us.” If that doesn’t have you convinced, check out the awesome rewards the brand is offering. A vintage houndstooth knitted beanie? Count us in.
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