Do you care where your stuff comes from? Do you try to buy things that are “Made in the USA”? Many Americans will answer affirmatively, but they often have different reasons for saying “yes.” Some will argue there is a higher quality in domestic goods, while others might disagree and simply point to the community benefit of spending their hard-earned money on helping American workers. Regardless of the answer, many Americans, across all generations, do try to buy things that are “Made in the USA.”[1]
But what does that even mean anymore – “Made in the USA”? Well, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “Made in the USA” on a label means “that all or virtually all the product has been made in America[, t]hat is, all significant parts, processing and labor that go into the product must be of U.S. origin.”[2] If that doesn’t scream “legalese,” we’re not sure what does. “Virtually all”? “All significant parts”? Who is policing the judgement call on those qualifiers? Primarily, the FTC and the USDA.[3] How frequent and aggressive is the enforcement? There is enforcement, but it will never supplant the importance and value of caveat emptor![4] You want to be sure you’re eating food grown here in America? Buy it at the local farmer’s market – from the farmer! Read the labels and investigate – do some research! (Anyone else thinking of the scene from Tommy Boy? Just take the butcher’s word for it!)
So, how much stuff is actually made in the USA? Often, things that sellers claim are “made” here in America, are assembled from foreign-made parts, or started here, shipped half-way around the world, packaged or otherwise processed, and shipped back. Logistical supply chain decisions change and overnight something once made entirely in America is now assembled from parts obtained from wherever it can be obtained cheapest and quickest. We here at Only America believe it is important to buy American and we encourage it in as many industries and avenues as possible, for at least all the aforementioned reasons – quality, supporting American workers and businesses, helping local farmers and ranchers, maintaining robust American supply chains, and others.
What about clothing? Here at Only America, that’s our thing – Only America™ Patriot Gear – clothing for American Patriots Made in the USA – from dirt-to-shirt. We believe you should absolutely buy American when it comes to clothing. And probably for some reasons about which you might not be aware. Do you know that the United States was the epicenter of the textile industry at one point? In 1908, Cone’s White Oak Cotton Mills, in Greensboro, NC, was the largest denim manufacturer in the world.[5] In 1970, Burlington Industries, also in Greensboro, became the largest textile manufacturer in the world.[6] By the early 2000’s, both Cone Mills Corporation and Burlington Industries had failed to keep up with cheap overseas manufacturing, gone bankrupt, been acquired by private equity firm WL Ross, and merged into the newly created International Textile Group with operations all over the world including China and southeast Asia.[7]
You might ask, so what? It’s cheaper to have stuff made in Vietnam, or Indonesia, or China – just a fact of life – get over it. Maybe “cheap” is enough to sway the purchasing decision of many consumers, especially these days. But how about we look at it another way …
- Do you care about the environment?
- Do you live in the United States of America?
- Do you wear cotton t-shirts?
If you answered “yes” to these three questions, then you should only purchase and wear cotton t-shirts that are “Made in the USA.”
What? Why? Aren’t there so many other factors to consider?
Sure. It’s certainly less expensive to manufacture a 100% cotton t-shirt in certain provinces of China using forced labor with virtually no environmental restrictions. And it’s much easier to churn out thousands of new designs every week in massive quantities when you source from 50 different countries and transport things all over the world in tanker ships that burn fuel and spew waste like Linda Blair spewed pea soup vomit in The Exorcist. And, well, if you truly need the latest Italian or French fashion, no one stateside is going to help you with that.
But it is about so much more when it comes to 100% cotton t-shirts like Only America™ Patriot Gear. Cotton is a crop that needs water, and lots of it.[8] Cotton, and the textile weaves produced from it to make the cloth that becomes t-shirts, need agricultural and industrial treatments to be grown, harvested and processed. Cotton produces a neutral off-white color fabric that gets dyed. The chemicals used along the way are numerous and require appropriate handling and disposal.[9] Do you know who the world’s largest suppliers of cotton are? India, China and the United States. Would it surprise you to learn that the United States is the most regulated and environmentally friendly producer of cotton? More than two-thirds of the cotton grown in the United States is done so without irrigation – just natural rainwater.[10] It is basically the opposite in China. Would it surprise you to learn that an entire province of a remote part of China produces almost all of its cotton using almost entirely irrigated water, with little or no dumping regulation and with what amounts to slave labor?[11],[12]
At one point, not so long ago in the 1960’s, about 95% of the average American’s clothing was made in the United States - by the dawn of the 21st century, the amount was about 2%.[13] You can discuss how and why we got to where we are ad nauseum (over the course of the 80’s and 90’s and 00’s, mega-corporations found that it was cheaper to farm, harvest, and manufacture in Central America and Southeast Asia both in terms of human capital and regulation)[14],[15], and you can take an entire college class just focused on the global textile trade and sourcing[16] and debate whether the globalization of the clothing industry has helped or hurt the United States.[17] And don’t even get us started on the plague of “fast fashion” … the amount of textile waste in terms of virtually “disposable” crap people buy and wear for a split-second is ridiculous.[18],[19] High quality, American-made clothing costs a bit more, but it is made to last and it is not piling up in landfills and wasting water, etc. for items that won’t last past this month’s temporary fashion trend …
At Only America, we’re not looking to debate where we source and make our products – we offer high quality, 100% cotton t-shirts that are made entirely in the USA – American cotton, American looming, American-cut, -sewn -dyed and -printed. We won’t sell it if it isn’t Made in the USA. In fact, we’ve turned down potential product offerings because their version of “Made in America” meant assembled here from Asian cotton.
If wearing clothes Made in the USA is important to you, buy clothes Made in the USA. If wearing cool PATRIOTIC clothes Made in the USA is important to you, buy Only America™ Patriot Gear!
[1] Koop, A., “Does ‘Made in America’ Still Matter to Consumers?” Visual Capitalist, July 19, 2023 https://www.visualcapitalist.com/made-in-america-vs-made-in-china/#:~:text=65%25%20of%20U.S.%20adult%20consumers,amounts%20for%20U.S.%2Dbased%20products. (Accessed July 29, 2024).
[2] Federal Trade Commission Website, Business Guidance page, https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/made-in-usa (Accessed July 29, 2024).
[3] Federal Trade Commission Website, Press Releases, July 1, 2021. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/07/ftc-issues-rule-deter-rampant-made-usa-fraud (Accessed July 29, 2024).
[4] MaguireWoods Consulting, Insights Webpage, “Made in USA? FTC and USDA Stand Ready to Check”, March 8, 2023. https://www.mcguirewoods.com/client-resources/alerts/2023/3/made-in-usa-ftc-and-usda-stand-ready-to-check/ (Accessed July 29, 2024).
[5] Textile Heritage Museum Website, Timeline page, https://textileheritagemuseum.org/textiles-ancient-times-to-modern-day/ (Accessed, July 30, 2024).
[6] Id.
[7] International Textile Group, August 2, 2004 Press Release, https://archive.ph/20130222204135/http://www.voyle.net/Nano%20Textiles/Textiles-2004-001.htm (Accessed July 30, 2024).
[8] See, e.g., Decathalon Sustainability, “Why Does It Take So Much Water To Make a Cloth?” Why does it take so much water to make a cloth? (decathlon.com) (Accessed July 31,2024).
[9] “Chemicals in Textiles and the Health Implications,” Allergy Standards, May 3, 2018, What chemicals are in Textiles and the Health Implications (allergystandards.com) (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[10] “Cotton and Responsible Water Use,” Cotton Today, Cotton & Water: Sustainable Practices for Responsible Use (cottoninc.com) (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[11] World Agriculture, “Evaluation of Cotton Production Under Limited Water Resources in the Arid Region of Xinjiang, China,” May 17, 2019, Evaluation of cotton production under limited water resources in the arid region of Xinjiang, China | World Agriculture (world-agriculture.net) (Accessed July 31, 2024.)
[12] Davis, E.C., et al., “Shift in Geography of China’s Cotton Production Reshapes Global Market,” USDA Economic Research Service, December 5, 2022, USDA ERS - Shift in Geography of China’s Cotton Production Reshapes Global Market (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[13] Mount, B., “American Textile History,” Faribault Mill, September 9, 2022, American Textile History – Faribault Mill (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[14] Vatz, S., “Why America Stopped Making Its Own Clothes,” KQED The Lowdown, May 24, 2013, Why America Stopped Making Its Own Clothes - The Lowdown (kqed.org) (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[15] Cooper, W.D., “The US Textile Industry Renaissance of 1960-1980,” Textile History, Vol. 42:1, pp. 121-136, May 2011.
[16] See, e.g., University of Delaware Course Catalog, FASH 455, “Global Apparel and Textile Trade and Sourcing,” https://catalog.udel.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=90&coid=575427 (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[17] Lu, S., Dr., Sheng Lu, Ph.D. Website, Professor, University of Delaware, https://shenglufashion.com/2023/09/17/fash455-debate-is-the-u-s-textile-manufacturing-sector-a-winner-or-loser-of-globalization-and-international-trade/ (Accessed July 31, 2024).
[18] Topics European Parliament, “The Impact of Textile Production and Waste on the Environment,” March 21, 2024, The impact of textile production and waste on the environment (infographics) | Topics | European Parliament (europa.eu) (Accesed July 31, 2024).
[19] Bick, R., et al., Environmental Health, Vol. 17:92 (2018), The global environmental injustice of fast fashion | Environmental Health | Full Text (biomedcentral.com) (Accessed July 31, 2024).