American Flannel: How a Band of Entrepreneurs Are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home

New York Times journalist Kurutz (Like a Rolling Stone) details in this encouraging report the efforts of entrepreneurs working to bring clothing manufacturing back to the U.S. The percentage of domestically produced clothes in Americans’ wardrobes has fallen from 70% in 1980 to 2% today, Kurutz notes. Profiles of individuals attempting to reverse this trend include Bayard Winthrop, who launched the company American Giant in 2012 after becoming disillusioned with the shoddy workmanship he saw in products outsourced to China, and Gina Locklear, who earned the nickname “Sock Queen of Alabama” by transforming her family’s north Alabama knitting operation into the organic sock brand Zkano. Exploring the factors that hollowed out American textile manufacturing, Kurutz details how free trade policies, beginning with NAFTA in 1993, eliminated or reduced tariffs on foreign products, igniting a race within the apparel industry to move factories to countries with the cheapest labor. The profiles humanize the machinations of the clothing market, finding in the entrepreneurs’ plights an all-American tale of resilience and self-sufficiency in the face of steep odds. Readers will be inspired to look for the Made in America label. Agent: P.J. Mark, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)