Shopping ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ isn’t really so patriotic…or is it?

When you look at clothing labels while out shopping, you likely see more Made in Sri Lanka, Made in India, Made in China, and Made in Guatemala than Made in the U.S.A. labels. It seems just about every country in the world produces clothing except America. How can this be? Americans like to buy clothing more than any other nation in the world, so wouldn’t it be suiting that we like to make it, as well?

Unfortunately, American factories have been closing down at a steady rate, with 90% of our garment factories’ production being outsourced since 1955. Skilled and unskilled labor jobs are disappearing at startling rates. And since the 2008 market crash, American fashion companies have been downsizing the staff even in their corporate offices.

“If we’re going to be competitive with the global market, we need to focus on innovation and coming up with new ways of developing and producing product while maintaining and passing down the traditional skills of sewing within this country,” says Erica Wolf, of Save the Garment Center.

While most American fashion companies still hold their design and operations offices here, much of our customer dollars go to the countries that make the clothes; paying their taxes, developing their nations, building their economies. We expect our politicians to solve America’s rising deficit, meanwhile when we go out shopping, we spend our money supporting just about every country but our own. There seems to be a disconnect here. Aren’t there still values and standards that we as Americans believe are worth saving? If you can’t find what you want with a “Made in the USA” label in it, is it wrong to buy it if it is made elsewhere?

There are those who would forgo such non-American purchases; they tend to be the patriotic individuals who post American pride all over everything they own. They proudly sport American-manufactured clothes and equate shopping with the survival and promotion of their values; keeping jobs in America, putting food on the table for their families, looking out for their neighbors, pride, and better-quality clothing.

For over a century, progressive Americans have worked to protect U.S. workers’ rights. Our nation set up some of the first and most effective labor unions, some of the strictest labor rights protection laws and environmental protection standards enacted in the world. These standards have improved over time, and help to prevent more tragedies from happening like the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. Americans fought for their rights, the government responded with appropriate laws, and all the while we never would have suspected our continual raising of the bar would over time lower the amount of jobs available to American workers.

Today, we have some of the most stringent factory standards on the planet. While the job of sewing operator is still no walk in the park, at least American technicians don’t have to work long hours without breaks or overtime pay. Modern day U.S. workers now at the end of the day get to go home to see their families, something that is unfathomable to the workers in the labor camps of China.

David Riley of americansworking.com has a theory that large companies have figured out how to operate business as usual regardless of the U.S. protection laws we enact: If they can’t do it here, they will do it somewhere else.

“We have outsourced all of our pollution and human suffering. America has made so many laws protecting the environment, the people, and our company trademarks here, that we can’t do business competitively in our own market. We are making American workers and our factories compete with those in countries who have none of the laws or standards that we must uphold,” says Riley. “We would never allow a factory in China to operate here. But we allow them to sell in our market, so in a sense we are allowing them to operate here anyway. We would never be able to compete.”

But amidst our fiercely competitive and, at times, cannibalistic business culture, our values continue to play a powerful role in the world of good. In 2006, American businesses and individuals were reported to have given more than 4.5 times what all of Europe, Australia, and Japan combined in private donations to charities and philanthropic causes that gave aid to developing nations. Granted, our donations are tax-deductible, but if we can afford to help others, why can’t we spring to support our own – at least with our shopping habits?

The majority of American fashion businesses default to China for production, claiming the cost of labor here is generally much more expensive than what American consumers are willing to pay for.

But according to Erica Wolf, of Save the Garment Center, this is not entirely true.

“With prices shifting, and China becoming more expensive it would benefit a big retailer to have their production department, at the very least, examine the prices at domestic factories. On certain garments the pricing is now comparable if not less domestically. And of course this additional business to local factories would help support American jobs,” she says.

Instead, businesses have learned to take advantage of the world market by outsourcing production to countries with cheap, exploitable labor to cut costs while keeping the prices of their goods low. The truth of the matter is that if a brand can’t dictate to us what we want through advertising, then they are forced to listen to what the consumers demand, and if we look for, request, and buy clothes that are Made in America, more companies will make clothes here.

However, for the average American consumer, fashion is frivolous, and has little to do with values or morals. It is less about the quality or where it is made and much more about the brand name on the label.

Riley says, “So much money goes into and comes from the marketing of high fashion brands; the image of high fashion is where they invest. The money spent there has to come out of something else, and I think that something is the cost of labor and product quality. They’re replacing the dollars for production and spending it on branding and marketing instead.”

With most American consumers so heavily influenced by the intoxicating spell of fashion advertising, most of our consumer drive comes from what we see in the media, rather than from the desire to choose items that represent our traditions or values.

Of course, there is one little company that challenged the standard formula and decided to go completely against the grain. In its 22 years of business, American Apparel has been surprisingly successful at building an American-produced fashion business using a vertical integration model that allows them to do nearly everything from design, to advertising, to production all, more or less, under one roof. Here is a brand that has taken great strides to give “American made” a new image.

If you can get past their ads, the company is all-American; proudly promoting their sweatshop-free, Union Made, U.S.A. produced, vertically integrated business, their charitable donations to natural disaster victims, and their political support of civil rights.

American Apparel isn’t the only contender willing to take on the global market while maintaining American production. There seems to be a new revival on the “Made in the U.S.A.”  fashion front. As Wolf notes, “There are designers doing production in the United States. For example, Nanette Lepore does 80% of her production in America.”

And quite recently, the American menswear company Brooks Brothers has made great efforts to bring it back home, complete with a luxe denim collaboration with American classic, Levi Strauss, and a heavily publicized marketing campaign to help equate “Made in America” with the luxury and quality that their brand stands for.

The Olsen Twins’ incredibly successful line, The Row, is yet another high fashion line that is primarily produced in the country. These brands have the marketing muscle and savvy and the will to bring the fashion-minded consumers once again back to getting behind American-made clothes, providing high end fashion that Americans can be proud of.

Image: Chevroletpedia, nycgo.com, America in the World, China Digital Times, Chicagomag.com, fashiongearlive.com

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Fair Trade USA, the only third-party fair trade-certifier in the U.S, has launched a clothing certification that guarantees consumers that the clothing they purchase was not made in a sweatshop.

Heather Franzese, Senior Category Manager for Apparels and Linens at Fair Trade USA has led the development of international fair trade garment certification standards, meeting with cotton farmers and garment factory owners all over the world. I was told by the company that “On any given day, she might Skype with or visit in person workers and factories in India, Peru, Liberia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua. She can speak about Fair Trade garments from the perspective of a worker, a factory owner, a cotton farmer and a U.S garment business owner.”

Pretty impressive.

Both the farms where the cotton is grown and the factories where the clothing is sewn are inspected and certified to ensure that there are both better working conditions and higher incomes for both farmers and traditionally underpaid garment workers.

Hopefully, Fair Trade USA will eventually work with the U.S where many farmers and garment factory workers stateside could use the help as well.

I caught up with Franzese to find out more about the launch of the certification for garments and textiles currently being set up in underdeveloped countries. Here’s what she had to say:

When did you launch the new certification?

Fair Trade Certified clothing is brand new in the U.S. The pilot standards for Fair Trade factories were published in March 2010 after several years in development. During a public comment period last year, we heard from 55 organizations in 15 countries and incorporated that input into the certification standards and process.

What brands have joined on as part of the certification?

A dozen pioneering companies have committed to launch Fair Trade Certified apparel and house wares. Organic pioneers like Maggie’s Organics and Indigenous Designs, as well as brand new eco-fashion brands like Liberty & Justice, which produces tees at a factory in Liberia that focuses on women’s empowerment.

Are there any Fair Trade farms you’re working with in the U.S?

Not at this time. Fair Trade was started in order to level the playing field for poor farming communities in the developing world, to extend the same social and safety protections that we enjoy here in the U.S but don’t exist in developing countries, and to help empower farming communities through vibrant, global trade. That said, we know there are also inequities here in the U.S and that farmers and workers could benefit from Fair Trade certification.

Today, Fair Trade cotton is grown by 37 certified cotton farmer groups in 10 countries: India, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Egypt, Peru, Brazil, Nicaragua and Kyrgyzstan. A little goes a long way in these countries. In Mali, for example, 95 percent of children of Fair Trade farmers go to school because farming communities receive more money. This is more than double the national average for school attendance in the fourth poorest country on earth.

Do you think Fair Trade certifications empower us as consumers?

Yes. We believe that certification helps consumers make every purchase matter. Fair Trade Certified apparel gives you a way to vote with your dollars for an alternative to sweatshops. For 15 years, we’ve been hearing about companies sourcing from sweatshops but the only information on the tag inside your shirt is the country where it’s made. That doesn’t tell you anything about the working conditions. Now, for the first time, you can walk into a clothing store and translate your concern about sweatshops into real dollars and cents for the farmers and workers that make your clothes, just by choosing apparel with the Fair Trade Certified label.

How are you able to monitor the farms and manufacturing facilities?

Fair Trade USA works with a network of local partners to conduct training and inspections at cotton farms and sewing facilities in countries like India, Peru, Costa Rica and Liberia. We also train workers on their rights and how to contact us if they feel that Fair Trade standards are not being met. This empowers workers to become monitors of their own workplace.

Can you explain how your “Fair-Trade Premiums” and “Worker-Controlled Funds” work?

Fair Trade premiums are funds that are specifically earmarked for social and community investment. For each item of Fair Trade Certified clothing you buy, the company selling it pays a percentage of the cost directly into a fund that is controlled by workers in the factory where the clothing was sewn. Workers collectively decide how they want to spend the money.

In my travels over the last year to factories in India, Peru and Liberia, workers have told me they want computer and literacy classes, scholarships for their children to go to high school and college, child care, health clinics and small business loans. In essence, the same kinds of things we want for our communities.

Cotton farmers also earn a Fair Trade premium. I visited cotton farmers in India in January that had used Fair Trade earnings to buy a mill to process lentils and sell them locally to earn more for their families.

When we talk about the idea of sustainability, how does Fair Trade fit in and how important is it?

In Fair Trade, we see sustainability as both an environmental as well as a socio-economic issue. Fair Trade has strict environmental standards that prohibit GMOs and limit or prohibit the use of pesticides on the Pesticide Action Network’s Dirty Dozen list. These can be harmful to the environment and to farmers’ health. Nearly half of Fair Trade Certified products imported into the U.S. in 2009 were also certified organic, and even more producers are using earnings from Fair Trade to fund their transition to organic production. Farmers also establish local environmental plans to manage waste, water and energy, and reduce soil erosion.

And then there is socio-economic stability. Fair Trade provides the foundation for vibrant trade through access to credit, international markets and training so that communities become empowered.

It’s a development effort to build trade and independence, not simply give aid that can result in dependence.

Image: upyernoz

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