derek guy Profile picture
Dec 3, 2024 17 tweets 9 min read Read on X
My argument is simple: people who say they want to see a return of American manufacturing don't actually vote with their dollar. Let me show you. 🧵
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. Image
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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! Image
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)

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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. Image
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Trump's $100k watch is made by the Swiss company BCP Tourbillons. The gold "Never Surrender? sneakers? Made in Vietnam.
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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. Image
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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. Image
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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.” Image
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 Image
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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. Image
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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 Image
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. Image
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More from @dieworkwear

Mar 27
I don't think this is exactly right. My guess is that a lot of AI art will be similar to what has happened in the clothing industry: technology speeds up production, benefitting consumers. Only enthusiasts will care if something is made by hand or not. Will give examples. 🧵
I should note this thread doesn't get into ethical issues about copying another person's work. I'm only talking about how I think it will impact the market.

As I've mentioned before, tailoring is about creating shape. For a jacket, a lot of this is done through pad stitching. Image
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Pad stitching is when you pick up multiple layers of material, stitching them together in such a way that you transform 2D cloth into 3D forms. This is done to the jacket's collar, chest, and lapels. You see it demonstrated here.

YT bernadettebanner
Read 14 tweets
Mar 26
Spring has started and soon you'll see a bunch of posts like this, extolling the virtues of linen. Once people learn about linen through short, simple blurbs, they think it possess magical properties. But the truth is more complicated.

Let me tell you about linen. 🧵 Image
Clothing production is often opaque, especially for consumers. If you're lucky, a brand might tell you that they use Irish or Italian linen, such these J. Crew shirts that hit shelves every summer, carrying the Baird McNutt label (also, "McNutt" is objectively funny). Image
Both Irish and Italian mills today source most of their raw materials from outside their own countries, typically from France or the Netherlands. Even the prestigious “Irish Linen” label only requires that the fabric be woven in Ireland, not flax to be grown there. Image
Read 17 tweets
Mar 24
Do you know why luxury brands put logos all over their clothes? I'll tell you. 🧵
The most obvs reason is that luxury and streetwear have been merging for the last 20 years. Cristóbal Balenciaga was known for these incredible dresses (pic 1). But in more recent history, creative director Demna Gvasalia, who just left the company, borrows from streetwear. Image
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I actually like streetwear, although I'm not crazy about the top-down, corporate-led version of it in recent years (more about that for another time). A lot of streetwear is heavily logo driven. Look up the history of Dapper Dan, who made these incredible couture creations. Image
Read 14 tweets
Mar 22
People who have followed me for a while may already know the answer to this. But I will explain again why steam is ruinous for tailoring, and how you can pack a suit. 🧵 Image
To understand why steam is ruinous for tailoring, you have to first understand that suits and sport coats are not like other things in your wardrobe. They are built from many layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, and then shaped through pad stitching and ironwork. Image
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This is what makes tailoring so special: it's the unique ability to transform 2D cloth into 3D forms. You can read this thread about the difference between low- and high-end tailoring. Hopefully, you will walk away with an appreciation for *shape*

Read 19 tweets
Mar 12
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. 🧵 Image
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. Image
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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). Image
Read 21 tweets
Mar 10
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. Image
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. Image
Read 23 tweets

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