I wear a lot of clothes. I destroy them all pretty quickly. I get a lot of free t-shirts and hoodies but hey, it’s the pants. We could talk about how I distribute my possessions or whatever but it’s simply the metal shavings. I collect sharp or often burning objects in my pockets.
I wear Carharts but they have really cut back on the weight of the fabric (warning, sell shares) and the pockets may get overlooked when the typical buyer comes along. I found one maker of custom jeans. I called on a Saturday and with a Mexican accent she explained she could make anything I want if she could get the material. I though that was weird until I found we are running out of metal.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned I was teaching a welding class in New Paltz NY at Vicious cycles. Accomplished frame builders attended this class with the intention of making frames. These people, engineers, fabricators, frame builders all showed up and we had a blast but we had to talk about getting metal.
While aluminum may not be your ideal frame building material consider what contributions it has made. OK, ya, NEXT bikes exist, it can’t be denied but so do water-pipe Schwinns. If you want to win races and need a custom fit, aluminum is natural choice. So???
What about my pants?
Custom bikes are available, what about custom pants? The textile industry is perhaps worse than the bicycle industry. Exploitation creates a wasteland of unused resources and outdated machinery. Is there an under-used factory taking small orders?
It would be cool to support a quality industrial wear company. Keep me posted. Wade is trying to make tubes at Acel but that is a story for another day.
Hey Frank – try Pella, Carhartt’s low-profile cousin… made in Iowa for a hundred years…
http://well-spent.com/2012/12/19/seven-questions-pella/
Thanks, I bought a pair of jeans from Deluth trading to hold me over. They were $80.00, made in China and missing a lot of fabric. They don’t even have separate pockets, it’s a flap sewn to the inside. They are worse than Mexican Carhartts.
It’s a shame that profits from importing this crap are almost tax-free. Not like the wages of the people who used to make clothing. Something stinks.
Try, (Arborwear) or (Mt. khakis). less than 80 but still made 3rd world.
Thanks. I have some EU made options as well as one pure USA made brand. Ill report back soon.
The big problem is buying imports that promise a lot and deliver little. Also, America is quickly falling behind as new areas of Europe and Asia are open to rapid development. Many American banks aren’t even a part of the international monetary system.
OK, Bryan, your evil plan to disassemble our economy made me dig deeper:
US-made workwear pants/bibs (and a shit ton of other US-made apparel at great prices) for $30-65:
http://www.unionlabel.com/round-house-workwear1.html
and:
madeinusaforever.com/jeans.html
StanRay @ $28:
http://www.allseasonsuniforms.com/ea02a.htm
Tennessee-made Pointer brand for $85:
http://www.pointerbrand.com/index.php/jeans-men/work-pants.html
How about some Vermont-made pants? Johnson Woolen Mills from $170:
johnsonwoolenmills.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=29
Thanks for spreading the love! I am going to do a little shopping in the next couple of weeks and provide a full report. The Deluth trading pants I got were pretty bad compared to old Carhartts but are still in the running and currently tied for last place with the Mexican Carhartts. It’s a race with no leader so far.