Kash Patel runs an "America First" clothing line with t-shirts that say "Protect our People" and "American Pride." But the t-shirts are printed on Next Level blanks ... which are made in Central America and Haiti.
Turning Point USA makes things easy by simply labeling things for us. In the corner of their product page, they say these are made on Next Level blanks. Thanks!
In one segment, Jesse Watters laments how we've shipped our manufacturing jobs overseas. But in another segment, he promotes Otta Brothers ties. I went out and bought one of the ties. Where was it made?
China. (It's also pure polyester)
Isabella DeLuca started a clothing line called "Common Sense Club," through which she sells an "America First" trucker cap. On the product page, she removed the county of origin.
But the rest of the text is copied. Turns out, the hat is from China or Myanmar.
Trump's $100k watch is made by the Swiss company BCP Tourbillons. The gold "Never Surrender? sneakers? Made in Vietnam.
Jack Posobiec says he's willing to pay more for US-made goods, but also promotes MyPillow's apparel and bedsheets. Where are those made? Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India.
Why won't these people buy US-made goods? The answer is simple: US labor costs more.
As the US has switched from an industrial to high-end services economy, manufacturing things here costs a lot of money. US wages have to be a certain amount to pay for rent, food, etc.
When Bikers for Trump sought a manufacturer for their t-shirts, they went to Haiti. Why? Because they know their consumers won't pay over a certain price.
"If I get a t-shirt made in the USA, it's going to cost about $8 more," said the organization's founder.
In 2022, Lions Not Sheep was fined $211,335 for ripping out "made in China" labels and replacing them with "made in USA."
Their site included phrases like: “Are your products USA Made?” “100% AMERICAN MADE,” and “BEST DAMN AMERICAN MADE GEAR ON THE PLANET.”
In a video he posted online, which is what spurred the FTC's investigation, the company's owner admitted the t-shirts are from China and he just rips out the label. He was very blunt about why he did this: consumers are cheap. They don't want to pay more for stuff.
You can find US-made equivalents for everything above. Velva Sheen and 3sixteen t-shirts are fully made in the US. American Watch Company makes watches stateside. New Balance has a MiUSA line. Red Cotton has US-made bedsheets. Chipp Neckwear makes neckties in NYC.
But people don't buy the stuff because it's expensive. And prices will only go up with protectionist policies. That's because the things we use to make these goods are often imported. Chipp imports its grenadine, raw silk, and ancient madder silks bc we don't make that in the US
By increasing the cost of doing business, you make US companies less competitive abroad (as they also have to compete on the global market).
You can buy US-made goods nows. They are available and the prices are as low as they'll ever be. The question is, why don't you?
More importantly, why don't people who own companies partner with US factories? And influencers promote brands that use US factories? Tell customers that, yes, stuff costs more, but that's the nature of US manufacturing.
I asked a friend in the clothing industry how much it would cost to make a graphic t-shirt from start to finish in the US. Meaning, the material is made in the US, t-shirt is assembled in the US, and printing is done in the US.
He said $15 for a small brand; $6 on a large scale
Kash Patel sells $35 t-shirts that say "American Pride" and "Love It or Leave It."
Can he manage to take a smaller profit for his country? Or raise the price $8 to support US manufacturing?
Talk is cheap. Would like ppl to prove their values with their spending.
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Meghan McCain's husband blocked me, so I can't retweet (also my mom got really excited once when I told her that Meghan McCain's husband tweeted about me). But this sort of attitude is why some people will never be stylish. Let's talk about Bernie Sanders's style. 🧵
When most people think of Bernie Sanders, they think of images like this: a grumpy looking man with uncombed silver hair wearing a suit that looks like it might be a size too large. He looks like a fledgling that has somehow climbed into dark worsted suit.
To them, it's absurd to suggest Bernie is stylish because they only think of style as the language of respectability: put together, middle class, successful, and so forth. As Ben put it, Bernie looks "homeless" (he does not, but the term is reveals Ben's myopia and ignorance).
I'm not a historian, but I don't think the United States is based on European values. I think it's about American values. I will give my view on this video through the lens of ... [drum roll] ... menswear. 🧵
In 1893, a newly minted John Hopkins graduate named Frederick Jackson Turner presented "The Frontier in American History" to an audience at the Chicago World's Fair. He argued against the Germ Theory, an idea that political habits are innate racial characteristics.
Germ theorists believed that Americans formed their democratic institutions because they descended from Anglo Saxons, who came from ancient Teutons. Thus, the origins of US democracy can be genetically traced back to a Germanic forest, like Continental seeds blowing in the wind.
Technically true, but this comment skates by a more complicated issue: how much does it cost to make something in the United States?
Let's run through a clothing example. 🧵
Thomas buys t-shirts from Grunt Style, a veteran-owned company that sources blanks from abroad (also, thank you for your service 🫡). These t-shirts cost $30 for a one-color print (front + two sleeves).
The t-shirt is from Honduras.
How much would it cost to make this same t-shirt in the US? As it happens, I recently did a podcast with Jacob, founder of American Trench, a company that produces real MiUSA clothes. We ran through this exact exercise, so I can breakdown the cost for you.
Want to support Canadian companies? Here are some Canadian businesses that sell high quality menswear. Some also carry womenswear. 🧵
First, some caveats. What does it mean to "buy Canadian?" Does it mean buying things made in Canada? Or just from Canadian stores, which may carry imported goods? Something made in Canada will be more expensive, so price is a consideration. You decide what level is right for you.
Second, protectionism is bad bc it can hurt consumers. This is one of the probs with Trump's tariffs: consumers can end up paying *more* for *lower quality* goods. Just bc something is domestic doesn't mean it's quality.
As such, I'll focus on what I think are good companies.
Not true. However, to understand the difference between Scottish and Italian cashmere, you have to know a little about how sweaters are made.
If you wanted a high-end cashmere sweater in the 1950s, you probably would have bought something made in Scotland. Dotted along the Scottish border were towns specializing in different parts of the textile and clothing trade—spinning, weaving, and, of course, knitting.
The town of Hawick specialized in the third: knitting. In the 1950s, there were about eighteen knitting mills here, each making cashmere sweaters of comparable quality. They bought the same yarns, used the same machines, and mostly paid the same wage, thanks to unions.
It's hard to write an eBay guide because any serious coverage requires talking about the history of menswear. Which, of course, I can't adequately do on Twitter, let alone in a single thread. But I will give you some tips on how to shop for quality menswear on eBay. 🧵
As always, I *strongly* believe that you have to first develop a sense of taste. You can't just say "I want to dress nice." Nice like what? Classic tailoring? 1950s workwear? 1980s punk? 1990s streetwear? Avant-garde? Everything starts with knowing the look you want to create.
Since this thread is about how to shop on eBay, it's beyond the scope to talk about how to develop a sense of taste. But before you go into this process, you need to have a sense of aesthetics, which requires cultural knowledge. Read this post: