American Giant started in 2011 with a quixotic mission: to make high-quality clothing in the US even though, by its own estimate, 98% of clothing production by US brands had been sent overseas at that time.
By many measures, it has fulfilled that mission. Its flagship product, a hoodie, was declared “the greatest hoodie ever made” by Slate in 2012, and it now has a broad product line, including shirts, jeans, dresses, and outerwear.
However, manufacturing clothing from American-grown cotton at US facilities is, needless to say, more expensive than doing so offshore, and today that original hoodie—100% cotton, heavyweight, and with a metal zipper and grommets—retails for $138. Its cotton T-shirts retail for between $40 and $60.
American Giant founder and CEO Bayard Winthrop makes no apologies for the brand’s prices, but he does acknowledge they’re not in everyone’s budget.
“I’m realistic about how that [pricing] limits the number of people that can participate in high-quality, American-made stuff,” Winthrop told Retail Brew. “That’s a bummer. If you’ve been, like me, on this mission for 12 years, you feel like, ‘Shit, we can’t even sell it to the men and women who are making our product.’ That just doesn’t feel good.”
But now, in what at first blush may seem like the winner of Retail’s Strangest Bedfellows contest, American Giant, known for steep prices, is partnering with Walmart, whose motto is “Every Day Low Prices.”
Keep reading here.—AAN
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