ColumnEver since the art of American blue jeans sprang up in San Francisco during the gold rush of 1849, blue jeans have stood as a solid symbol of American contemporary style, freedom, and quality. This week’s On Trend features 8 of the absolute best made in America blue jeans companies. Each brand has its own special characteristic, but they all embody domestic manufacturing and quality that lasts. 

1. Tellason, San Francisco, California — Menswear

Designed and produced in the birthplace of American blue jeans, San Francisco, Tellason jeans are American made to the core — 99.9 percent of all denim used is from the White Oak Cone Denim mill in Greensboro, NC, pocketing is sourced from Tennessee, threading  from North Carolina, and leather goods from Oregon, using all Northwest sourced vegetable tanned leather. “We’ve become friends with our suppliers and feel it is the right thing to do to support them and their businesses as we build our products,” says Tellason co-founders, Tony Patella and Pete Searson.

2. Baldwin Denim, Leawood, Kansas — Womenswear and Menswear

Founded on modern design, quality textiles, and American manufacturing, Baldwin is a hip lifestyle brand producing the best quality jeans for men and women. “Baldwin’s growth has been fueled by its approachability, functional design, attention to detail, and inclusiveness,” says Baldwin. Their deliberate execution throughout all steps of the making process is as foundational to their brand’s signature today as when the label was founded in 2009.

3. Rising Sun, Pasadena, California — Menswear

Take a trip inside the Rising Sun headquarters in Pasadena, CA, and it’s as if you’ve stepped back in time: Rising Sun prides themselves in using period antique sewing machines for manufacturing all their goods. The entire pant is stitched with the same machine — a single needle stitch that dates back 80 years! Using all American made fabrics, founder Mike Hodis, former creative director of Lucky Brand, was recently named The Hardest Working Jeans Maker in America

.

4. The Stronghold, Los Angeles, California — Menswear

First established in 1895, Stronghold was the first brand ever to manufacture denim in Los Angeles. In 2004, Michael Paradise and Michael Cassell reopened the label after it had been shut down for nearly fifty years. The duo kept the authentic backbone, but added on a modern contemporary feel.

5. Left Field, Queens, New York — Womenswear and Menswear

Cut and sewn in the Garment Center, Left Field is a company with a hard edge for denim that lasts. “Although the brand has been through many phases over the years, making quality, American clothing that our grandfathers would be proud of has always been my number one concern,” says Christian McCann, founder of Left Field.

6. Raleigh Denim, Raleigh, North Carolina — Womenswear and Menswear

Perhaps one of the hottest made in America jeans right now, Raleigh Denim uses “old school methods and modern fit.” Husband and wife team, Sarah and Victor Lytvinenko, design, develop, source, and create their jeans by hand using a small and dedicated staff in their Raleigh workshop. Recently accepted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Raleigh Denim + Workshop symbolizes the craft of American jeans production.

photography by Sully Sullivan

7. Ruell and Ray, Blacksburg, Virginia — Menswear

Using high-quality deadstock denim from around the world, Ruell and Ray manufacture’s jeans that are “one of a kind… forever.” All threads, buttons, and work labor are sourced from within America, and founder Ashley James inspects and stamps each pair of jeans herself before they reach the consumer.

8. Imogene + Willie, Nashville, Tennessee — Womenswear and Menswear

Imogene + Willie started making jeans in an old gas station, which still stands as their headquarters today. Rising demand for their goods have pushed some production out of their tiny space, but they support a dying denim industry in America’s south by keeping production within the region. Imogene + Willie’s specialty lies in the cut and immaculate fit of the jeans.

 featured image flag from ilmungo and jeans from Rakuten, images from the brands

Related on Ecosalon

Sustainable Denim Round Up: 17 Brands We Love

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Lustables: Raleigh Denim Jeans

Behind The Label: Levi’s Strauss E-Valuate Program

The post 8 Best Made In America Jeans Brands: On Trend appeared first on EcoSalon.

With 20,000 square feet of space and all the equipment emerging fashion designers need to produce their lines, Manufacture New York will help bring fashion production back to the U.S.

It is probably safe to say that most designers would prefer to produce their pieces close to where they live and work. While the need to keep costs and prices down are often given as a reason why some choose to manufacture overseas, access may be the real issue. The small, dedicated team behind Manufacture New York are trying to change that.

Envisioned as a fashion incubator and factory hybrid, Manufacture New York aims to provide independent designers with the resources and skills they need in order to streamline their production process and transform local manufacturing into the most affordable, innovative option available.

The new facilities, located in Brooklyn’s Industry City offers more than 20,000 square feet of space and will include a fully-equipped sampling room, manufacturing facilities, classroom space, private studios for rent and a state-of-the art computer lab complete with the industry’s latest software for design and production. Some of these spaces will be open to the public, and there will also be a dedicated area for experimentation with environmentally-friendly fabric washes, dyeing, finishes and special textile applications.

To fund this new venture, Manufacture New York is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The funds raised will go towards three necessary components of the organization: location, equipment and, most importantly, new jobs.

“In the last two decades, the United States has lost 80 percent of its apparel manufacturing jobs, and the decline of the Garment District in NYC is a visible sign of these crippling losses,” says Manufacture New York Founder and CEO Bob Bland. “There isn’t enough support available for emerging designers in the fashion industry currently. We need to join together as a community, engage the public and use our collective voice to resurrect apparel manufacturing for a new generation. Demand for affordable, consistent local production is high, and yet we continue to lose jobs to overseas factories that are facing worker unrest and a desire for higher wages themselves.”

Bland is leveraging a decade of practical experience as a designer, for her own label BrooklynRoyalty, as well as brands like Marc by Marc Jacobs, Triple Five Soul, Rugby by Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Banana Republic. She is joined by a dynamic team of organizers, including Tara St. James, designer of Study NY and 2011 Ecco Domani winner, as well as a growing community of more than 60 apparel and accessory designers.

Help make this a reality by lending your support to the campaign, which runs through March 31st. Awesome perks include eco-conscious, locally-made goods, tickets to the VIP wrap party, goodie bags, a custom-tailored dress or suit, a two-month membership to Manufacture New York, and tickets to a NYFW runway show.

All images courtesy of Manufacture New York

The post Manufacture New York: Making It Cheaper & Easier For Designers To Produce Locally appeared first on EcoSalon.

Beauty and brilliance meet in Allison Parris’ Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

When you meet Allison Parris and her Spring/Summer 2013 collection, you can’t help but smile. Words like charming, pretty, party and fun fill the air. Parris, in her eighth year of showing her own, eponymous line, seems at ease with it all. In her words, the collection is simply “light and happy.” But, below the fancy frill lies more than just the cheerful and feminine. It is femininity at its best—powerful, free and evocative.

“Right now, when you have so many strong, ambitious, stylish and successful women to look up to, that’s who girls should admire,” Parris tells EcoSalon. “Not Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan,” she adds. That’s why nearly each dress in the collection is inspired by (and named after) one of her closest friends who fit the bill of brilliant and beautiful.

With this upcoming season, Parris has stayed true to her roots, keeping her raw silk organza and recycled PET tutu-style dresses, while introducing other glitzy, body-hugging styles like the Arden dress (above) and the Greta (below), both lined with recycled PET from the U.S. The finished garments are also made in the U.S.—close to Parris’ home in the New York Garment District. “I need a little contrast in my life,” says Parris about her new sequin numbers.

Designer, Allison Parris, models her new look, The Arden dress.

Other pieces are fresh takes on the full-bodied skirt style. The Julia (below), made from embroidered cotton, effortlessly takes the woman who wears her from day to evening—a place Parris calls “our sweet spot.” And if anyone knows about hitting the sweet spot head on, it’s Parris.

More looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post NYFW: Celebrating Beauty and Brilliance with Allison Parris appeared first on EcoSalon.

With Spring/Summer 2013, Samantha Pleet merges old with new to encapsulate the modern women.

In our rapid-paced, progressive world, there’s beauty to be had in traversing backwards in time and place. With Samantha Pleet’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection all made in New York City, the designer took us there with her “Sands of Time” presentation.

For Pleet, inspiration came from Babylon and Mesopotamia, an era she fell in love with while pouring over books.

“Instead of fashion books, I read about history,” Pleet tells us.

It’s this passion for exploration of other eras that you can see in Pleet’s personal favorite, the Ishtar silk and viscose dress (below), fashioned with a print extracted from Biblical mythology.  Other pieces like the Scout dress (below), from washed silk, are true to Pleet’s Brooklyn-aesthetic while still telling a bygone story.

Designer Samantha Pleet (left) models her favorite piece, the Ishta dress.

While the clothing is strong on its own, Pleet’s debut into the world of shoes adds an aesthetic street charm to her already hip “it girl” vibe. In partnership with Wolverine, a Michigan based, American boot company, Pleet created a colorful collection of vintage-inspired ankle boots and sandals (below).

One of Pleet’s greatest gifts comes through ever more clearly in this upcoming season—merging the old with the new, the vintage with the modern, for a look that’s at once relevant while remaining timeless. She gives her wearer a taste of something really raw and reminiscent of the beginning—the “roots of civilization,” as Pleet calls it.

While simple in silhouette and fabrics—employing handwashed silks and entirely handwoven khadi cotton (from Prakriti Aur Purush)—there’s nothing overly nostalgic about it. In fact, when we dig deeper to discover what really brought this collection to life, she laughs and declares, “Indiana Jones.” One part explorer, one part heroine, it just may be that Pleet really has captured the essence of the modern women.

More looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post NYFW: Samantha Pleet Takes on an Urban Indiana Jones appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnConscious life, hear me roar.

It could have been when I listened to Nick Hahn, former CEO and co-founder of Cotton, Inc., a keynote speaker at a recent sustainable fashion event at FIT. It might have been when he told the audience that Monsanto may have made his company better and that the use of organic cotton wasn’t all that favorable. After all, regular cotton uses less water and with the impending water crisis well…we all have to pick our battles.

I had to determine which statement was more absurd. I looked around at the women I was surrounded by which included Ecouterre Managing Editor, Jasmin Malik Chua, EcoSalon writers Jessica Marati and Jennifer Barckley, Greta Eagan of GretaGuide, Rona Berg, Editor-in-Chief of Organic Spa magazine, representatives from Eileen Fisher, sustainability professors from FIT, Parsons and Pratt, not to mention a bevy of sustainable designers and fabric suppliers and I cringed.

Who could he be trying to sell his idea too and did he really think this platform was the proper place? We muttered under our breaths “What about the pesticides?,” “What about contaminating the water?,” and most popular, “What a bunch of horseshit.”

Still, people were listening and he might have planted his own genetically modified seed into the brains of some of the audience there. Later in the day, watching him sleepily nodding off in a corner, head on his chest, I had to ask myself again, who are these people running the show?

The next day I literally ran from a breakfast with the Eileen Fisher sustainability team – where we’d just talked about how eco fashion is very political – to meet Erica Wolf of Save the Garment Center who is also designer Nanette Lepore’s assistant.

“I am so slammed,” she said over the phone as I picked up my pace nearing Midtown. “Have you heard what’s going on?”

“Nope. What have I missed?”

By the time I pushed the elevator button to bring me up to Nanette Lepore’s 5th floor studio, I had already passed ABC News outside on the street. Sweat covered and trying to fix myself in the elevator, I was greeted by a Fox News camera man and reporter who were just leaving the studio.

“Sit down there,” Erica whispered pointing to a corner chair and covering the phone.

Here is where I learned of the Olympic uniforms being made in China. As a major supporter of Save the Garment Center, Lepore was on tap to tell the world just how possible it would have been to make that entire uniform in the U.S. After all, it’s the American team so why wouldn’t Ralph Lauren have thought of maybe just this once, taking his American inspirational brand and made it, well, truly American not faux American?

Still, there’s an issue that looms large and it’s this: why now. Why do so many Americans care about U.S. made clothing now? Because it’s the Olympics? Because it’s election year? What about all the other weeks of the year when U.S. consumers are shopping China-cheap buys at Walmart, Forever21 and H&M stores nationwide? Do YOU ever flip the label to see where your clothes are from? Let’s not get all righteous now unless we want to keep walking the talk.

With the Olympics starting in just 10 days, the entire Olympic committee, the athletes, and the entire United States of America now need to get their minds off of why weren’t those tacky Lauren-logo-emblazoned uniforms made here (really? That polo logo passed the committee?) and start backing all the athletes looking for a shot at their personal best. Those men and women waiting for their chance at a glory they have been waiting for since they were little kids swimming in public pools and racing their friends up and down the street.

“I’m so upset. I think the Olympic Committee should be ashamed of themselves,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told Fox News reporters when asked about an ABC News report on the origin of the Ralph Lauren-designed uniforms.

“I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them,” Reid added.

Between the Lines is a weekly column navigating the sometimes-sharp, sometimes-blurred lines of conscious life and culture between city and country, between inner worlds and outer.

The post Between the Lines: It’s Election Year, Do You Know Where Your Clothes Are From? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Today, we celebrate the 4th of July and the USA by highlighting some of the great design that is also made here on our home turf.

This week is all about celebrating the United States of America (and BBQs, of course), and we do that by highlighting some of the great design that is done here on our home turf. Manufacturing in the U.S. creates jobs and cuts carbon emissions from shipping, so be a patriot and support your local designers. Here are a few of our stars and stripes-themed favorites.

Amour Vert Paquerette Navy/White Stripes Tube Top
We never thought we’d wear tube tops again, but suddenly they feel kind of right, especially on a hot summer day, paired with a high-waisted skirt. This striped one, by Amour Vert is made in the USA from soft bamboo.
$34, Amour Vert

Amour Vert Audrey White Buttoned Skirt
This sailor-inspired mini skirt goes perfectly with a striped tube top (see above). The fun button-detailing in the front give it that slight nautical feel, while the side pockets and clean silhouette keep it classy. Made in the USA, from organic cotton.
$99, Amour Vert

Hovey Lee Stella Stars Necklace
If there are stripes, there must be stars. This dramatic statement necklace features large metal star charms hanging from a large brass chain, all made with reclaimed metal. The charms are hollow to make it easy to wear. You can make it work double-duty by wrapping it around your wrist as a bracelet. Hovey Lee jewelry is designed and made in Los Angeles, always from natural, reclaimed and fair trade materials.
$158, Hovey Lee

PACT Bikini Handpainted Stars Bikini
OK, so these star-spangled organic undies are not actually made in the USA, but in a fair trade factory in Turkey. PACT’s new stars and stripes-themed collection was, however, inspired by a hunky Texas farmer named Mason Arnold, with proceeds benefiting the Sustainable Food Center, which provides families in low-income communities with access to healthy local food. That just seems kind of patriotic to us.
$20, PACT

American Apparel Unisex Swim Trunk
American Apparel has been the mainstream poster child of bringing local manufacturing to downtown LA, which we think is pretty cool. We just wish they would commit to organic fabrics too. These mid-length unisex swim shorts have vented legs, a drawstring waist and come in a variety of different colors.
$34, American Apparel

Giant Dwarf Astral Crown
Celebrate independence day by channeling lady liberty with this headpiece made from German glass glitter (which is pure silver and real glass shards). There’s no way you can avoid having fun wearing this. Astral Crowns are an original Giant Dwarf design – each piece is carefully crafted and assembled by hand, with lots of love and sparkles.
$48, Olivine

Edith A. Miller Cotton Boatneck Striped 3/4 Tee
This classic boatneck tee is as timeless as it is all-American – a perfect summer wardrobe staple. The versatile knits by Edith A. Miller are all made in a 100-year-old mill in Reading, Pennsylvania, which originally specialized in making men’s undershirts. In late 2010, former investment banker Nancy Gibson and designer Jennifer Murray convinced the mill to start making women’s shirts, which have ever since been a favorite of stylish women everywhere.
$70, Bird

The post Made in the USA: Stars & Stripes appeared first on EcoSalon.

This week, we celebrate the USA by highlighting some of the great design that is also made here on our home turf.

This week is all about celebrating the United States of America, and we do that by highlighting some of the great design that is done here on our home turf. Manufacturing in the U.S. creates jobs and cuts carbon emissions from shipping, so be a patriot and support your local designers. Here are a few of our favorites, on the neutral color scale.

Modaspia Gia Knit
We all need a cozy knit to keep us warm through the summer. This one is made to order on a vintage knitting machine in Modaspia’s studio – a charming 19th Century masonic temple in Placerville, CA – from bunny soft Peruvian baby alpaca. The rolled neck and hem and crocheted seams give is a bit of a bohemian touch – perfect for summer.
$210, Modaspia

Kirsten Muenster Small Box Chain Bracelet
This bracelet is made from oxidized brass or bronze and made in California. Kirsten Muenster starts with a raw spool of wire, which is hand spun into a coil that is then hand cut into individual links. These are then woven into chain, one by one. It’s an old school technique, but this piece is decidedly modern and will give any look that slight edge that we like.
$280, Kirsten Muenster Jewelry

Form & Fauna Havana Open-toe Pump
Form & Fauna creates beautiful eco footwear made from sustainable materials that are vegan, chic, and green. The Havana open-toe pump is made in the U.S., from hemp, second generation alder wood, water-based glue, open cell rubber lining for comfort, and a rubber outsole. The slight curve in the heel is a great unexpected detail that sets these apart from the crowd.
$289.90, Ethical Ocean

Stewart + Brown Xcellent Tank Maxi
This easy-breezy piece is inspired by casual chic California lifestyle around Ventura, California, where the company is based. A maxi dress is a great piece to have in your summer wardrobe and this one is made (in the U.S., of course) from 100% organic pima cotton. It has a raw edge hemline and criss-cross detailing in the front.
$148, Stewart + Brown

CurleeBikini Twist Halter One Piece Swimsuit
A good swimsuit is a must-have for summer and can also double as a top. This slight retro-inspired one-piece has a flattering fit with adjustable peek-a-boo side seams. CurleeBikini suits are made to order in the company’s studio – located in suburban Las Vegas – and you can choose the combinations of fabrics and trimmings to suit your style.
From $270, CurleeBikini

The post Made in the USA: Neutrals appeared first on EcoSalon.

SeriesInundated with marketing messages, Americans adjust their spending belt.

In part 1 and 2 of this series, we looked at the tricks of the trade and the psychology behind the advertising end of marketing. In this article we look at what sales and marketing tactics are covering up: The quality corner-cutting that’s happening as we’re simultaneously being driven into a consuming frenzy.

I love a bargain. This weekend I thought I officially became the queen of treasure hunting when I found a mint condition Christian Dior cashmere coat at the thrift store. When I checked out the label, I found a tiny label stating “Made in America.” Made in America? Christian Dior’s couturier is based in Paris, this little detail gave me reason to pause, and question the authenticity of my find. It could not be coming from the actual Dior couture house with that country of origin label. The question begged to be asked: who designed this coat?

On another day, I headed straight for the sales rack at J Crew, finding three t-shirts for just over the price of one. And on another occasion, when I was strapped for cash and running short of underwear, I’ll admit that I made myself go to T.J. Maxx in search of some fresh pairs among the $6.99 Calvin Klein styles mixed in with the no-name brands for $2.99. I’m totally guilty of buying some of both. But at the moment of that purchase, I was just thankful to find underwear that fit the budget and even some that seemed to save me a few pennies.

Unfortunately, all of the underwear bought that day fell apart faster than any underwear I’ve ever owned. The shoddy underthings went straight into a bag for Goodwill and I had to head to the store once again not long after my purchase. Let’s just say, I had gotten exactly what I paid for.

The Fine Print That Bargain Hunters Miss

There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you find an unbelievable bargain in fashion. Unfortunately, 99% of the time the “unbelievable bargain” is just that. Discounted sales and fashion “bargains” are actually marketing tactics that encourage us to buy more stuff, much of which we don’t necessarily need. The sales tactic: overvalue the nicely displayed full price products in the front of the store so that customers get excited about the discounted stuff on the overcrowded, back sales racks. This encourages us to visit the store more often to look for sales to avoid missing the deal. However, usually when you buy items on sale, you’re in fact paying the price closer to the items actual make-value (just above how much it cost to make it).

Recent reports show that this tactic is now beginning to backfire on the the retailers, especially those who would like to maintain their product quality and regain profit growth to pre-recession profits. Even JC Penny, who in past years held as many as 590 annual promotional, sales and coupon events, has decided it’s time to change their sales tactic.

Not All Designer Labels Are Created Equal

Sales racks aside, what about finding “designer labels for less” in department stores and at discount retailers like T.J. Maxx? What of my “made in America” Christian Dior coat which originally would have been sold in an American department store like Nordstrom’s rather than at the House of Dior? We all equate designer labels with higher quality and value, but in the world of fashion not all designer labels are created equal.

Many successful designer brands have multiple tiers of product qualities that their brands sell to reach a broader market: high end lines for the investment shopper, middle market lines for the value shopper, and low end licensee lines for the bargain shopper. Quality is more closely monitored at the top of the market where the customer is paying a premium and recognizes and expects high quality goods. Quality slides through the middle market where the customer wants better design but is not as aware of the difference in the quality of the make, and the only thing that remains “designer” in the cheaply made bargain basement find is the designer-logo-label stitched in the back.

Vogue, January 1949. Which would you be more likely to purchase: An lower quality no-name umbrella for $15 or a Dior jacquard logo umbrella for $25? The two are probably made at the same place.

That low end product is more or less designed by the factory that works with a brand’s licensing partners. Their only objective is to make easy to produce, lower cost garments for high volume mass production. The designer brands who are named in the labels of these items, in turn, get a nice cut of the sales profit for allowing the use of their logo and brand name. The use of their logo or label in turn push the sales into a frenzy that might not have been possible on an equivalent average or sub-par product.

The Path That Leads To a Global Market Profit Is Licensing

So, how does a Dior Coat come to be made in the USA? It all comes down to licensing agreements (that work kind of like fast food franchises) and the label in my coat tells the tale of how this works.
Back in 1947, Christian Dior and his business partner, Jaques Rouet, were some of the first in the fashion business to pioneer license agreements with international factory partner companies. Before then, being a clothing designer/producer meant you either owned a local factory or a couture house and basically did all of the design and production – albeit tightly monitored – under one roof.

For Dior, who owned his own couture house, fashion was his legacy and he intended to see that legacy, as well as his fortunes, grow. By 1947, he had already set up licensing agreements with production partners to manage lines of furs, socks, perfume, ties and clothes in regional production areas around the globe, thus being able to extend his brand and multiply his sales by selling product in local markets all over the globe near his license producers’ locations. Most likely, Dior would have sent a sketch and a swatch of fabric for the factory to follow and the factory would fill in all the blanks of the details on how to make it.

With a status label like Dior, his licensee partners could sell much more product than they might otherwise, because the couture house’s name was well known among the fashionable society and was considered highly desirable. Meanwhile, Dior could turn his focus toward marketing and advertising his house as a high-end, luxury market brand. This new business model allowed him to continue presenting his exuberantly priced couture collections without the pressure of needing to make a profit on haute couture because the licensed products that he barely touched were making enormous profits behind the scenes.

By August 31, 1964, The New York Times reported on a trend which had designers putting their labels into items that they didn’t actually design. What Dior’s business savvy had started almost two decades earlier had evolved and turned into a full scale, industry-wide, fashion free for all. It started with designers lending out a few sketches to a manufacturer with their branded label attached as a stamp of approval, they then collected their fee and let the manufacturers take over from there. But as the New York Times reported, designers had their names on products they didn’t even recognize, let alone would ever admit to designing. One appalled Parisian designer even bemoaned that he had found his name on cotton gloves that were on sale in New York, cotton gloves apparently being something he would never have made.

Some designer brands were more careful than others to avoid the “white glove” scenario by adjusting their licensing contracts so that all products had to be be approved by someone in their company before they headed to the stores. But overall, the fashion industry fully embraced this new business strategy that left the product details up to the factory and licensing partner and let the designer brand reap the profits without having to do all the work. Many successful brands operate through license agreements today.

Couture house, Pierre Cardin, took it particularly far. With over 900 license agreements, Cardin had manufacturers producing everything from paper clips to automobile interiors with his logo stamped on them. His brand eventually flooded the market, so much so, that it lost its appeal to the “designer” customer and was downgraded to Sears status, where it is still sold today. Clearly Cardin didn’t mind. By that point he had become so wealthy building his brand through advertisements and selling his name, that he had no problem leaving the labors, and the quality control of couture behind him.

The fashion industry had finally figured out how to transform from providing a service – making clothes for people to wear – into a highly profitable business. Brands were able to achieve this by focusing on marketing the concept of their brand as a high end status symbol while selling stuff en masse to the middle and low markets through their license agents. The job of the designer now became to present lifestyle products and advertisement imagery through marketing to keep customers believing that even their lower priced lines were worth the higher price tag attached to the brand name.

What we’re left with after all of this are stores like Macy’s who sell “designer” labeled clothes that the designers barely touched, Calvin Klein underwear that has very little to do with Calvin, and stores like T.J. Maxx, Loehmann’s, and Marshall’s full of “designer brands for less” claiming that they’re selling the “real thing” and leftovers from the high end market. Far from the truth, the leftovers were all made specifically for those low end retailers and can be sold for up to twice as much.

Secret License Agents

So who are these secret agents producing the license product for Calvin Klein, Anna Sui, DKNY, Betsy Johnson, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and friends? The same guys who are in charge of designing and producing all the no-designer-name stuff it sits next to at the stores where you find designer goods for less. Basically you’re just as well buying no-name underwear for $2.99 as paying double the price to have Calvin Klein’s logo. Some stores, like T.J. Maxx, even have a licensee design office of their own, designing products in the name of their licensee partners, like Calvin Klein, and for their own no-name label brands at the same time so they can handle the details on some of the products in their stores themselves.

An industry friend of mine (who will remain nameless) works in quality control at one of the licensing partners that produce goods for J.C.Penny, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, Loehmann’s, and T.J.Maxx. She used to manage quality control for brands at factories all over the world. But her new job posed a much more troubling issue than workers not knowing how to hand stitch buttons properly.

“This is the easiest job I’ve ever had. Quality control? What quality control? We get one sample to fit, make color, print, fabric and trim comments on and to approve. Then it goes straight into production. We produce the goods so fast that by the time they hand me a sample to check and approve the quality, the item is already on the factory floor being cut and sewn for the bulk order. My comments can’t even be put into effect,” she says.

“I remember being called into my boss’ office once when there was ‘a problem.’ A jacket had come in with the lining literally shredding on the hanger. This was nothing new. But the real problem was that the item was going to a retailer that required testing (some of the bigger retailers, like JC Penny require every item to have a sample sent in for quality control testing) and this would never pass.”

Was the company going to take a hit and have to absorb the cost of the bum goods? I asked. “Nope. Do you know what they decided to do?” she asked me. “They had me take the sample to a tailor to have the bad lining taken out and replaced with a nicer quality lining. Then they sent that one sample in for testing. Of course it passed, but they just shipped the rest of the product as is, shredded lining and all. I’ve never worked with such unethical people in my 30 years of working in fashion.”

I asked another friend of mine who has worked as a freelance designer in and out of one licensee company that had license agreements with Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein, as well as producing several no-name lines that would sell at the same retailers that their licensee product would.

“We had to produce designs so fast, we didn’t have time to think about the finishings. Just fabric, sketch, maybe a button. Send it to the factory and leave the details to them to figure out,” she told me. “It was so easy, but the quality was terrible.”

But don’t they get customer complaints about the quality? I asked.

“Why would the stores ever complain? We’re giving them product that’s dirt cheap!” Apparently the customers who frequent these stores just take it for granted that their clothing is disposable. One or two wears out of them is all that is expected. This is also a part of the marketing strategy. It’s rare for anyone to make returns on product at the low end of the market, because it’s just not worth it. None of the product has any value to begin with.

According to Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed: the Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, “In 1930, the average American woman owned an average of nine outfits. Today, we each buy more than 60 pieces of new clothing on average per year.” But according to economists, the average American household only spends 3.1% of their income on clothing, which is approximately 22% less than what Americans spent on clothing in the 1970s – this makes sense with 3 for 1 specials and bargain blowouts but when considering how logical it is for the planet, we might want to dive a little deeper.

Editor’s note: Industry insider Louise Lagosi is not the author’s real name and is used to protect her anonymity.

Image: Diego 3336, The Consumerist, Ell Brown

The post Fashion Marketing 101: What Discount Sales Cover Up appeared first on EcoSalon.

Our insider spills fashion industry secrets in Part 2 of a special series on American fashion manufacturing.

A Tommy Hilfiger advertisement proclaims, “Fresh American Style… discover style that truly fits the way you live.” The irony behind this statement is laughable. Here’s an “All American Brand” hardly designed by Americans, made far from American shores, that isn’t even primarily owned by Americans. Does American Eagle produce anything in America? Heck no. Think Abercrombie & Fitch is authentic? Forget it. Tommy Hilfiger sold his company to the Dutch and has been sitting pretty on his yacht ever since.

But the advertisement isn’t the only thing about that brand that is misleading. In 2000, Tommy Hilfiger, whose brand signified the great America dream, was caught manufacturing clothes in sweatshop conditions in the United States territory of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. As a U.S. Commonwealth, clothes made there could be labeled “Made in the USA,” but federal labor laws including the minimum wage did not apply. Perhaps Tommy Hilfiger didn’t know what his production partners in Saipan were up to, but you better believe they pulled their production out of there as soon as the news hit the stands. Shortly after the story broke, the garment factories in Saipan were officially closed.

Are the companies entirely to blame? The pressure to keep profits high and the cost on the sales rack low is an issue driven by both investments of blind shareholders and consumers who want a good deal for name brand clothing. Where the product is actually produced is rarely even discussed with the shareholders, who tend to be more concerned about the return on their investment. For the consumers it’s clearly labeled, by law, in every garment we own: Made in Indonisa, Made in Guatemala, Made in Taiwan. The possibility that the companies that we are investing in could be harming others or destroying our economy doesn’t register for most.

For one company, this was not the case. It was the shareholders of Hugo Boss who helped keep their American factory in Cleveland, Ohio from closing. Hugo Boss has been producing its suits there for the past 23 years, in a garment factory that has been operating continuously since 1932. Recently, however, even this bright example has been tarnished. Last year, the company moved to shut down the factory. The Hugo Boss Corporation blamed consumer and shareholder demands for the decision to close. The company had issued notices to the workers that stated:

“Looking at the company’s goals, which were driven by our customer preferences and our shareholder responsibilities, it is our conclusion and decision that it is time to close the Cleveland plant…”

Image via blog.cleveland.com

The workers despaired, but turned to their union to rally against the threat of losing their jobs. It wasn’t until the union realized that a group of shareholders which had invested $150 million into the fund that owned Hugo Boss was an organization called the Ohio Public Retirement System (OPRS). When they were notified by the Union, they threatened to pull their funds out. Not surprisingly, Hugo Boss changed its tune and in the end the company agreed to keep the factory open – provided the workers take a pay cut from $13 per hour to $10 per hour. (Had these been workers in China working for one of the factories that Walmart sources with, no negotiations would be possible, and they might be paid as little as $.44 an hour, and $.65 hour for overtime hours, if they get paid at all.)

While the Hugo Boss shareholders’ interest appears to have been largely coincidental in favoring the plight of the factory and its workers, there still are some American companies so committed to keeping American manufacturers in business that they are willing to pay the extra cost of doing business here.

Images via Feral Childe Spring/Summer 11

Feral Childe is one such business. Says Alice Wu, one half of the design duo that makes up Feral Childe, “We definitely pay a higher price for Made in the USA. Saving in shipping does not compensate. We know there are manufacturers overseas that can do it at a fraction of the price, but it’s a conscious decision we make: paying fair wages, working with people we know, and doing it locally whenever possible. We’ve built a manufacturing community.”

Wu and her business partner, Moriah Carlson, are well aware of the global options, but choose to keep the operation in America regardless.

“It seems crazy not to look in your own backyard first to do business if you can. We have all the resources available to us right here – why would we do business in China when we can do it here with people we know?” she says. “Every step of the way there are people making the clothing – people we know, people we care about. You could say that everything we do is not only ‘Made in New York,’ but also ‘Made with Love.’ Everything is connected to our whole community of people and hopefully others will become aware of that.”

While she and Carlson have decided to do business in an unorthodox manner compared to the New York fashion industry, she does say that they run into problems from time to time with their homegrown model.

“We build our working relationships with manufacturers and the people we work with count on us to continue working with them to stay in business. They count on us to grow our business and therefore give them larger orders with each season,” Wu says. “They believe in us and that’s why the ones who are willing to work with small companies do it. We are all in it together, but we’re left in the lurch when mills and factories disappear overnight.”

This is something she and her partner have experienced on several occasions.

“One of the mills we’ve worked with for four years now recently went under (it was in Montreal), and a Texas mill that we were just getting to know folded before we had a chance to even work with them,” says Wu. “Our New Jersey-based textile printer closed up shop this past October after three seasons of working with them, just as things were starting to go smoothly and we had to scramble for a new printer and learn a new way of doing things.”

These issues arise as a direct result of many American fashion businesses deciding to move production overseas. If a mill or factory loses too many orders to manufacturers overseas, they can’t keep afloat, leaving no choice but to close shop. This in turn creates problems of scale for true American brands like Feral Childe. If they want to help keep their mills, factories, and themselves in business, they have to walk a fine line between large and small orders.

“The stakes grow higher as we grow which makes it difficult to finance and find consistent resources. Many fabric mills and textile printers don’t want to partner with the little guys, like us,” says Wu. “They want you to order minimums of at least a thousand yards at a time. We have great sewing contractors, but sometimes they get overwhelmed if we have more orders than usual. Manufacturing in the USA isn’t hard if you are just starting out or if you are a huge company, but it is difficult if you are in-between and growing.”

Image via MadeinMidtown.com

When asked what she thinks would improve the situation, she emphasizes consumer awareness and local pride.

“I’d put fashion manufacturing on the map. I think that the garment centers in different cities need a visual representation. They should be put on some kind of map so people know these are major manufactures within their cities,” she says. “New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago – all the major cities in the States have manufacturing facilities and the locals as well as the tourists should know about them, and understand the economic and social value of that. So instead of looking at old factory buildings and thinking ‘industrial wasteland’ or ‘real estate land grab,’ they should think of the rich history of a once-thriving industry. And they should be conscious of the industry which is still thriving”

Wu takes a moment to reflect. “I just wish people had a greater appreciation for where their clothes come from. People now are so removed from it. I’ve met people who are surprised when I tell them we make everything in the USA. They say ‘Where?'”

Fortunately, Made in Midtown has already started a map of this sort, with interactive images of buildings in the garment district to show what is manufactured in the Garment District buildings.

Editor’s note: Louise Lagosi is not the author’s real name. Catch up on Part 1 in this series here.

The post Made in the U.S.A., Part 2: What Goes on Behind the Business of American Fashion appeared first on EcoSalon.