Jumping for joy now that spring’s here. Why? The best style is spring style. White shoes, light-washed jeans and striped sweaters.
This photo is American style both old and new. The loose sweater and messy cuff have been the trend for American women. The vintage wayfarers echo James Dean and California living circa 1960.
I can’t wait to start spring in style.
Taylor Stitch
Taylor Stitch is a San Francisco, CA, based company that was founded by Michael Maher, Barrett Purdum, and Mike Armenta. The three co-owners initially created Taylor Stitch to address their need for ready to wear shirts that echoed the fit of those that were custom made. As Maher recounts in an interview with Gear Patrol’s Matthew Claudel, “It really started in college, when I could never find shirts that fit. And I would see my friends coming back from Hong Kong with these great looking shirts, completely unlike the stuffy ones that you see here in America. They would be using bold patterns and colors, applying that to interesting designs. We decided to bring that concept to the U.S. and started to look into the idea of custom tailoring.”
In their pursuit of the classic, timeless men’s button up, the designers at Taylor Stitch took a (they admit) geeky approach to pattern creation. As Maher describes, “Our fit is a cross section of nearly a thousand custom shirt measurements that we had taken over the course of a few years in preparation for our first collection of shirts. We made an extensive database of measurements of guys that had chest sizes from 36-44 and grouped them together. We then took the average stomach, hip, sleeve, neck and shoulder measurements associated with each chest size and created a grading system based on that.”
The result is ready to wear shirts that fit so well they seem custom made. Maher describes the Taylor Stitch guy saying, “But seriously, he is every guy. That’s all we are. We are just regular guys that happen to like well-made things and felt we couldn’t find that anymore at a reasonable price. We didn’t set out to be a fashion company and we didn’t set out to be a conservative shirt maker. We set out to make every guy feel comfortable in a well-fitting shirt and not have to worry about fashion and looking good. Our shirts are simple, long-lasting classics.”
Taylor Stitch offers made-in-America (their factory is in San Francisco) ready to wear men’s button up shirts that in a variety of patterns and colors. Check them out at www.tailorstitch.com.
Co-founded in 1995 by Sheron Lebon, Three Dots initially focused on creating the perfect t-shirt. They started with three styles, three sizes and twelve colors of shirts, and immediately garnered a terrific reception within the fashion community. Three Dots now makes a large variety of fashion essentials, but still concentrates on their original principles: “great fabrics, inspired design, fastidious construction and the perfect fit.”
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Sheron Lebon, however. Prior to creating Three Dots (her first run was funded entirely on loans from friends and the meager remainder of her savings), Sheron and her husband ran a company that provided custom embroidery for a variety of businesses. As Sheron recalls in a 2007 interview with Ladies Who Launch, “My first foray into launching a business ended disastrously. My husband and I had an embroidery apparel business specializing in knits and clothing with logos. Our clients included such notables as the Ritz-Carlton. It was a difficult endeavor and we eventually sold the company. The individual we sold the company to took the business to bankruptcy and was unable to make the payments to us. Consequently, we were broke – we had nothing. We wrapped Christmas gifts with newspaper!”
Today, Three Dots is based in Los Angeles, California with a factory in Garden Grove, CA. Sheron believes that it is important for her to be able to supervise every aspect of construction, and having a manufacturing facility close to home enables her to do so. Three Dots is proud of its entirely American-made clothing.
See photos of the Three Dots factory:http://www.threedots.com/clothing/factory.asp#factory/image25.jpg
Founded in 2006 by two veterans of the fashion industry, Bailey44’s mission is to make fashion both sensible and fun. As noted on their website, “The goal was to have a line that was cool and understated, sexy but not overt, modern, relevant, well made, and most importantly, that really fit. The result was Bailey44.”
At Bailey44, the designer (Shelli Segal) tries on every piece in every collection, checking that the clothing performs as intended. Rather than just creating “cookie-cutter fashion,” Bailey44 prides itself on taking the time to individually vet each item of clothing. Additionally, all of Bailey44’s lines are entirely made in America – a fact that the company proudly advertises because it allows their designer to actively participate in every phase of the construction.
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Bailey44 is located in Los Angeles, California and proudly produces only American-made fashion. Check them out at www.bailey44.com
LnA was founded in 2007 by Lauren Alexander and April Leight. This Los Angeles company creates high end fashion basics with an edge. When Leight met Alexander both women were wearing Hanes men’s t-shirts, and commiserated over the fact that they could never find a decent women’s wear t-shirt. Together they solved this problem, producing a line of comfortable clothing that features great fabric and fit. Unsurprisingly, LnA has garnered an impressive celebrity following – Jennifer Aniston, Lindsay Lohan, and Kate Moss to name but a few. Even celebrities who boast their own fashion lines (like Gwen Stefani of L.A.M.B.) turn to LnA for essential apparel.
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LnA is located in Los Angeles, California. They are dedicated to producing superior quality American-made apparel. Check them out at www.lnaclothing.com.
![Fashion mavens Michelle Wenke and Megan George met at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. After graduation, George went on to found her eponymous line, “George,” which she later sold to Fred Segal. Wenke became a successful stylist, first working for famed stylist Jessica Paster, and then striking out on her own to style movies, music videos, editorial shoots, and television shows. Although George and Wenke never discussed collaborating while in school, in 2007 they found themselves working together. As George describes in a 2009 interview with Killabeehz, “One day we just started talking and thought about doing a line together. We started in her house, on her [Wenke’s] kitchen table, cutting samples and drawing sketches.” After the line was finished, the two friends loaded up their car and went to stores around Los Angeles trying to get orders. Finally, one showroom accepted their line and started selling Monrow on the east and west coasts.
The Monrow brand is dedicated to producing luxurious essentials for everyday life, made in America. For more information, check out Monrow at www.monrowattire.com](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ls5wxbrSal1r28wjro1_1280.jpg)
Fashion mavens Michelle Wenke and Megan George met at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. After graduation, George went on to found her eponymous line, “George,” which she later sold to Fred Segal. Wenke became a successful stylist, first working for famed stylist Jessica Paster, and then striking out on her own to style movies, music videos, editorial shoots, and television shows. Although George and Wenke never discussed collaborating while in school, in 2007 they found themselves working together. As George describes in a 2009 interview with Killabeehz, “One day we just started talking and thought about doing a line together. We started in her house, on her [Wenke’s] kitchen table, cutting samples and drawing sketches.” After the line was finished, the two friends loaded up their car and went to stores around Los Angeles trying to get orders. Finally, one showroom accepted their line and started selling Monrow on the east and west coasts.
The Monrow brand is dedicated to producing luxurious essentials for everyday life, made in America. For more information, check out Monrow at www.monrowattire.com
Check out this video of the making of Habitual’s ‘glory’ pocket. The Maltese cross (on the back pocket) symbolizes loyalty and bravery. What great iconography for an American made clothing company to have.
Habitual designs and manufactures all of its clothing in Los Angeles, California.
We met with Sol Angeles and love their sense of American made style.
Sol Angeles is a new American clothing company that designs and manufactures in Los Angeles, California. Launched in April 2011.
When we set out in search of American made style we found Alexia’s blog right away. http://hauteamericana.com is well written, well researched, and infectiously enthusiastic about all things fashionable made in the United States. We wanted to know more:
Why a blog on American made fashion?
I decided to start a blog on influential American-made fashion because I wanted to continue the dialogue on what is and isn’t still made in the U.S. A lot of Americans are very interested in buying American-made, but they are either unaware of what is still made here or don’t know of a specific site or outlet dedicated solely to domestic fashion. Haute Americana exists to fill that void. With my site I hope to provide a destination for fashion-conscious and fashion forward Americans looking to buy American-made.
What do you think about the trend for brands to play directly to ‘authentic’ American heritage themes (Gap 1969, Ralph Lauren Denim and Supply) but actually manufacture their clothing abroad?
I think it is deceiving when brands portray an all American image, covering their products with USA emblems, when they are actually made in Bangladesh or China. Customers think they are buying into one thing, but are receiving something else entirely. When you search Ralph Lauren’s site for Made in USA products, you find a few pairs of handmade leather shoes and a couple of colognes. Ralph Lauren got his start making ties in NYC’s garment district, and now there is hardly anything the brand still manufactures in the U.S. That being said, I’m not trying to pick on Ralph Lauren. I think a lot of the problem with American manufacturing stems from our free trade deals and the lack of importance that has been placed on American manufacturing in the past few decades. A lot of the critical textile manufacturing operations have relocated overseas and the U.S. simply has let some of its resources disintegrate. Thankfully Americans are now placing a greater importance on American-made, as they realize the impact buying American has on the economy.
Where do you see American made fashion headed?
Given the recession, I think people are becoming more aware of where their money is going and are more concerned with buying quality products that also help employ Americans. A lot of people are taking their carbon footprint into account as well, with the hope of living a greener lifestyle. Domestically made products reduce carbon emissions from transportation, reduce the risk of toxic goods lining our store shelves from third world countries and reduce the tide of imports currently flooding the U.S, which are huge selling points. The fact that it is becoming less appealing to offshore products is also helping the ‘Made in America’ movement. The cheap labor and fuel costs that once drove designers to outsource are becoming less of an incentive. As fuel costs sharply rise, the time it takes for shipments to travel increases since shipping fleets slow down their vessels to offset fuel costs, making offshoring less economical.
Today I think ‘Made in America’ products are comprised mostly of small-batch, high craftsmanship quality goods. People who buy domestic goods are buying into an ideal, when you buy American you can go to the website and see exactly who is producing your products and how they go about doing it. It is a much more personal experience, one that you feel you are a part of. You do not get that experience buying mass-produced items in China. Given all the perks of buying American-made, I do not see this trend going out of style. I think America has a long way to go with the buy America movement, but we are definitely gaining momentum.
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Alexia Cameron graduated from The Ohio State University in 2008 with a degree in Public Affairs Journalism. She now runs HauteAmericana.com in her spare time, and serves as the editor of an economic website.
