Made in Downtown Los Angeles

This project is taking all sorts of exciting turns. The most recent took me to Los Angeles to meet with the guys at GOOD Magazine. GOOD has been a tremendous supporter since the very beginning, posting about the experiment back in April, and then writing a short piece in the September issue. While this blog will continue to chronicle my experiences traveling and meeting the individuals who make anything that I purchase, they’ve asked me to begin writing for their site as well, profiling the people I meet. More on that in the coming weeks!

As if coming to LA and putting faces and people behind a magazine that I subscribe to was not enough, I also took the opportunity to go to the American Apparel factory right in the downtown industrial area. Admittedly, I don’t tend to shop at their stores much, but a few things made this a relevant and necessary stop. Number one, I needed to allow myself the opportunity to get some new clothes – particularly shorts and jeans. To the best of my knowledge, American Apparel is one of the very few ‘basics’ manufacturers left in this country, and since LA is more accessible at this time than China, it made logistical sense. At the same time, most independent teeshirt designers doing work for local bands or organizations, are printing on AA’s cotton shirts. I have several, and plan to do more work like this myself soon.



I had heard about AA’s sweatshop-free manufacturing, of course, but I also had a heard a rumor that a lot of their goods were now made somewhere else (Mexico? China?) so I was not sure what to expect. I was pretty surprised to learn that every product is made right there in their seven story converted railroad factory. Despite controversy surrounding their advertising, their working conditions and treatment of their employees is pretty fantastic. Everyone from senior management to product developers, right down to the sewers and distribution workers are right there in the same building, encouraging interaction in the elevators and cafeterias. They’ve come to understand that putting a human face on production within their own company greatly benefits everyone. It’s hard to run a sweatshop if the owners ride the elevator every morning with the immigrant workers.

I got a two hour tour and personal treatment from Shawn, a young web-strategest-slash-all-around-assistant who is incredibly passionate about the company, their work for Legalize LA, vertically-integrated manufacturing, and the concept that they are a business first-and-foremost, not a charity, but treating people well and supporting local initiatives just makes sense.

Unexpected Encouragement

Despite the quiet here for the past few weeks, quite a bit has been happening offline. I've been writing more (see the Editorial section for recent articles) and making contact with some fantastic people involved in social design and community projects. But on top of the usual challenges brought on by this project (a few more cutoff shorts, lots of trips to the Food Coop) and arranging for future visits (I'll be in Los Angeles next week and will get the chance to drop in the American Apparel factory), it's the interests this has stirred up in myself and in others has been really exciting.

It's really been encouraging when people from all over write that my project is thought-provoking or something that they would love to do. The idea behind this is to show that it's possible to make informed consumer decisions, so the more folks thinking about it, the better. But I'm also finding it surprisingly moving when my friends and family call to tell me that they've been inspired to make a connection, or take a considered approach that they wouldn't have otherwise. Just this weekend, a friend from Boston who I don't see enough, called to tell me that he's been following my progress and thinking of ways to help in the clothing arena, but then he told me that he's decided to take something on for his forthcoming 30th year as well – some personal challenge or social cause. Imagine if everyone took a year to re-examine a part of their lives more closely!

Then yesterday was my dad's birthday, and he and my mom took the afternoon off to celebrate. She called me to share the exhilaration they felt when they spontaneously pulled off a side road near their home in south eastern Massachusetts at a pumpkin patch. They chatted with the white-haired farmer who couldn't have been more pleased to show them around, pluck ears of corn straight from the stalk for them, pick vegetables and tell them all about his garden. They could only understand about 75% of his rich Italian accent, but he was loving telling these strangers about his passion and his story, and they were going to enjoy dinner knowing the hands that planted and cared for everything on their plates.

I truly believe that craving the knowledge of who and where everything comes from is infectious, it's really exciting to see it spreading.