Made in USA

I went into the city today to buy a new laptop. I decided to stop by the Gap while I waited for Jim to get off work. The Gap was closed for renovations, so I rerouted to browse Century 21. I do my best thinking while meandering, and it struck me to check the tags on the clothing I was interested in buying. This isn't my first foray into clothing's Country of Origin. In fact, I have had a professional interest in the subject having worked in fashion for 6 years.

The two high end designer lines that I worked for were manufactured in the US and in Italy. I visited the factories in New York with relative frequency and was able to see how things were made and put together. The last job that I held (I'm still trying to understand legalities in "naming names" on the Internet, but if you are curious, I'm sure Google will turn up my resume), everything was manufactured in China, without exception. This is not a fact that is hidden by any means, just not promoted. For some reason, when I tell otherwise tuned-in-to-the-world people this fact, they are shocked. "Cheap clothes come from China, not name-brand designer clothing." Au contraire, my friends, all levels of clothing come from China.

Now certainly, China isn't some backwoods secret that isn't technologically advanced or that doesn't produce some quality products. In fact, labor prices in China are continuing to go up as workers are getting treated more fairly and humanely because of their sheer numbers. And to remain competitive with the WalMart contractors, many factories have begun specializing in fancy techniques and investing in specialized training of their workers. But then, that just pushes the need for manufacturers to look into more impoverished and less developed countries in the world. And these countries and regions certainly exist.

So back to Century 21: I could only locate one rack populated by Made in USA garments. After shuffling through once-expensive blouse after once-expensive skirt (after all, it was a great bargain), I figured I should visit the denim section in order to source some jeans since that is what I was seeking at the Gap. I actually had an internal dialogue with myself that maybe I should just go to Gap since their pants fit me so well, and go on my MiUSA Crusade another day, after I'd spent the $70 on jeans. But, no, I can't rail against the system and then go out and put my money towards it. Lucky for me, there is still a lot of denim Made in USA. I didn't find any pairs that fit me correctly in Century 21, but it made me plan to someday soon go out on a mission for a new pair of jeans.

So, now, here I am posting on the Internet that I am going to try to purchase only items Made in USA. I can't be positive that everything I might need to purchase will have an option that is made in this country, but I'll sure figure out what still is.

Luckily, I purchased my new MacBook moments before this idea struck me since it's Assembled in China.