“100% American Made Small Batch Originals.” Sounds pretty simple, right?
- Gather a handful of just-short-of-crazy friends and diehards.
- Decode and master the crafting of men’s vintage-inspired workwear and essentials – in micro-batches – wholly in the USA again.
- One garment at a time, do our part to rebuild America’s 50-year decimated small business clothing ecosystem.
- And deliver our friends, family and other kindred believers exceptional and artisan all-USA-made happiness.
Our report to you, 8+ years into the mission? We continue to make progress.
It ain’t for the faint of heart. It’s humbling. A mindscrew. Fun. At times terrifying. And sometimes the David and Goliath-ness of it all causes us to take pause – before we remember it’s not all about us, and soldier on.
What caused the demise of the USA apparel industry in the last 50 years? It began slowly, and then moved quickly. The move to ultra-automation, the unfortunate consumer downslide into fast-cheap-fashion, and a combination of government policies (free trade agreements, import quotas, weak intellectual property protection), caused a whipsaw that felled domestic garment production.
Today, a few companies, some behemoths, and a few, like us Small Batch People, are working to rebuild this infrastructure. And while for the Biggies this means building their own juggernaut manufacturing floors that can churn out many thousands of a single style week by week, for Devium our laser focus remains on building partnerships with small businesses across the USA who have American Made in their DNA –many of them multigenerational, first generation immigrant founded, and family owned. And on the customer side we serve a small niche of individuals who want the American Made clothes they wear to be limited run originals, and are willing to pay a little extra for that.
We’re grateful to our longtime customers for being on this long journey with us, our brand new customers who’ve turned a theoretical into a reality by making their first Made in USA purchase– even our newsletter subscribers who aren’t customers yet, and don’t know quite yet what to make of us, and want to believe. (“Are these guys for real?”)
Want more details? Here are the top three questions people ask us about our focus on 100% Made in the USA.
And stay tuned as we further explore the nuts and bolts (and trials and tribulations) of our 100% American Made vision week by week.