Industry Policy | Barriers, part 2

Next in this three-part post on Barriers is the more obvious, though still naively unexpected: the barriers put in place by the manufacturer.

About a year or so ago, I attended a Wesleyan University Alumni event with a friend (she's an alum, not me) and was introduced to the host -- Brooklyn Industries founder Lexy Funk. Hoping to use this connection, I asked my friend to contact the alumni association and try to get in touch with Lexy for me. In the meantime, I sent emails to the general info address and crossed my fingers. I was thrilled when I got an email back from Lexy, commending my project and offering to put me in touch with someone who could help me out with meeting some folks who manufacture tee-shirts right here in Brooklyn. Awesome. After a few back and forths with the woman she set me up with in consumer relations, she told me she would look into it and get back to me with the information I requested. I waited a week and wrote again. Nothing.

Then today I got a very brief email informing me that it is their policy "not to disclose their vendors", but that a particular shoulder bag (with a link to the website) was manufactured locally. And that was it. I've let the email sit out of frustration, but I intend to write back and ask if I can at least meet with her, and let her explain to me why this policy is in place. I have no desire to go in looking for bad working conditions or inspect the machinery, which is probably why this obstacle is in place, but I do want to see where the product comes from and who spends their days making it before I buy it.

Progress | Further ahead, further apart

I've had some really wonderful exchanges with folks at Seventh Generation, Tom's of Maine, and Brooklyn Industries this weekend/this morning. It seems the project strikes a very human chord and people are willing to help me make connections. It will be great to make these associations.

It's truly been eye-opening, though, to see how the world is no longer organized in a way which this is easy -- and certainly not expected. Long gone is the possibility of going to the market and meeting the craftsmen who's labor created the goods (the city's few Farmer's Markets are the rare exception). It's now a matter of a company rep deciding whether my requests are "Press" related, or "Customer Service", and of course, even "local" goods are manufactured all over the continent. Most of my successes so far are coming from connections through friends or the neighborhoods I spend time in.