> Says who?

Uh, labor costs? I guess we could work to lower those, though. Like, a lot lower.

Meanwhile if the $2 wholesale-in-China shirt costs $30 on the shelf due to tariffs and the identical-quality US-made one costs $40 because that's just what it costs, the latter won't even be made, zero factories will start up to manufacture them. You'd have to raise prices a lot for it to make sense to even try, clothes are (relatively—still far less than once-upon-a-time, which is why the poor can afford to wear clothes that aren't third-hand and much-mended) labor-intensive despite lots of automation because machines remain terrible at manipulating cloth, despite decades of effort at solving that problem.

It's really expensive to make clothes in the US, and skimping on quality doesn't save all that much, percentage-wise. Being that they're also a necessity, we'd truly have to drive quality of life way down for a large chunk of the population to get that industry making low-end clothes.

▲ ericmay 18 hours ago | parent [-]

American made t-shirts today don't even cost $30.

▲ kalleboo 15 hours ago | parent [-]

What does "American made" mean? Is the raw fabric also made in America or is it just cut and sewn together in America?

	▲	ericmay 13 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Here is an example: https://www.allamericanclothing.com/collections/shirts/produ... According to the website it’s compliant with the Berry Amendment, made in California, $15. From what I understand Berry Amendment “compliance” means all raw material and manufacturing is exclusively US sourced and US manufactured. A quick comparison I saw was this: `A “Made in USA” jacket could have fabric from China but still be assembled in the U.S. A Berry Compliant jacket must have U.S.-made fabric, thread, zippers, and even labels!` There’s a lot of different variations of these products in general and this is just one example.