Industry Book Review
American Flannel: How a Band of Entrepreneurs Are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home
Author: Steven Kurutz / Reviewer: Dave Gardner
There is a ton of textiles/apparel manufacturing history here that I (Dave Gardner) have been keenly aware of and associated with since graduating from the North Carolina State University School of Textiles in 1968.
The story of our industry moving from New England, to the mid-Atlantic states, the south, offshore, and overseas is sad and some of the generations of folks who made a living in the mills are still around and profiled in this book. In it, New York Times reporter Steven Kurutz takes a thoughtful look at and paints an entertaining portrait of American clothing manufacturing, its rise, fall, and some degree of rebirth.
A few companies still exist that are making fabric, yarn, and clothing… and I wish them good luck. I enjoyed and related to this book…it struck so close to home.
"American Flannel" by Steven Kurutz is a thoroughly researched portrayal of the efforts to revive American-made clothing manufacturing. He looks at long-standing companies like Woolrich (founded in 1830) as well as newer companies that emerged around The Great Recession of 2009 when many consumers were fed up with low-quality imported goods and turned their attention to American heritage and heritage-inspired brands for a handful of years.
Kurutz chronicles Bayard Winthrop’s (of American Giant founded in 2012) and Gina Locklear’s (of Zkano Organic Socks founded in 2009) struggles to survive against countless odds through the pandemic until today and several other Made-in-America clothing companies. It is a story of the overall state of the American textile industry.
Kurutz is successful in taking a deeper dive into the cultural and economic significance of American industry and humanizing its struggles. He also doesn’t sugarcoat or even address the broader feasibility of a large-scale resurgence in American manufacturing.
It's a deep dive into the short-sighted—in my opinion—corporate and government actions that virtually ended the existence of clothing made in America and devastated many communities. Eye-opening and inspiring, American Flannel is the story of how a band of visionaries and makers are building a new supply chain on the skeleton of the old and wedding old-fashioned craftsmanship to cutting-edge technology and design to revive an essential American dream.
This book highlights several companies that are working to rebuild the American supply chain and produce quality and fair-priced clothing. These companies are doing what few try to do. They are working hard to keep their companies and their jobs based in America.
It shows how difficult it is in our current times to make things in America. We need more companies to do what these companies are doing.
For decades, apparel manufacturing was a pillar of U.S. industry. But beginning in the 1980s, Americans went from wearing 80 percent domestic-made apparel to less than 3 percent now. Even the very symbol of American freedom and style—blue jeans—got outsourced. With offshoring, the nation lost not only millions of jobs but also crucial expertise and artistry.
Dismayed by shoddy imported “fast fashion”—and unable to stop dreaming of re-creating a favorite shirt from his youth—Bayard Winthrop set out to build a new company, American Giant, that would swim against this trend.
Steven Kurutz, in turn, began to follow Winthrop’s journey. He discovered other trailblazers as well, from a pair of father-son shoemakers and a men’s style blogger who almost single-handedly drove a campaign to make “Made in the USA” cool.
This was an excellent book highlighting how our country has off-shored so much knowledge, creativity, and capability for profit. When COVID hit, it highlighted our inability to supply our own country with critical supplies.
Author Steven Kurutz has been a features reporter for The New York Times for more than a decade. His magazine article “Fruitland,” about the music of Donnie and Joe Emerson, was adapted for the feature film Dreamin’ Wild. He is also the author of “Like a Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of a Tribute Band.” Born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, he currently lives in New England with his family.
Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Dr. Trevor LittleThe Needle’s Eye Contributing Writer, Apparel technology management expert, and Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University Dr. Trevor Little, has seen success come from the model American Giant is using.
“American Giant is really smart because they’re looking at the whole cost and then being able to make smaller quantities and deliver it quickly to the consumer," said Little.Still, Little said the marketplace is very competitive because most of our apparel is made overseas.
“Amazon has now got its own line of products to compete with brands that are already on Amazon," said Little. "And so the competition, the business competition side is dynamic, is always changing, whatever that customer wants.”
Bayard Winthrop, American GiantA San Francisco apparel manufacturer has tried his luck manufacturing overseas and in the USA. Today, American Giant has succeeded by making sure every inch of its casual line of clothing is made in America. And that means it's also made in the Carolinas.
Winthrop has headed several business ventures whose products were made mostly overseas in China. Now he’s back and forth between North and South Carolina to make sure all of his American Giant line of clothing—from the cotton to the yarn to the dyeing and sewing—are made in the USA. This has allowed Winthrop to have a more “hands-on” approach to his apparel business, where he can pay attention to the smallest detail.
Starting on day one, Winthrop set out to make clothing of exceptional quality for people who want something different than the status quo. His first item, the Classic Full Zip (CFZ), was called “The Greatest Hoodie Ever Made” and his customers have been wearing the CFZ proudly for over 10 years.
Gina Locklear, “Sock Queen of Alabama”Gina is originally from the small town of Fort Payne, Alabama, which is formerly known as “The Sock Capital of the World”. Until the late ’90s, a very large percentage of socks were manufactured in the quaint town. Unfortunately, outsourcing has greatly taken away from Fort Payne’s textile tradition.
More than twenty-five years ago her dad Terry started his own sock manufacturing company, and Emi-G Knitting (named after her and her sister).
In 2008, Gina returned to her passion for domestic manufacturing and desire to continue her family's sock-making tradition and launched her first organic cotton sock line Zkano, followed by a second brand Little River Sock Mill in 2013.
Gina is passionate about American manufacturing, delivering products that are both high quality and comfortable with the benefits of sustainability.