Drawn to Underdog Stories: A Guest Post by Steven Kurutz

If you’ve been on nearly any form of social media, you may have noticed that “fast-fashion” has become somewhat of a buzzword — but, what does it really mean? New York Times reporter Steven Kurutz breaks this idea down and goes behind the scenes of American manufacturing to uncover where it went — and where it may be headed. Steven has penned an exclusive essay on the inspiration for his new book and the questions that led him on the journey to writing American Flannel.

As a Styles reporter for The New York Times, I cover the fashion industry, but only glancingly. I rarely attend runway shows, and I’ve never spent a day trailing Ralph Lauren or Anna Wintour for a profile. My interest is in how style and culture take shape outside of places like New York and Los Angeles, in little-known, everyday corners of the country.  

That instinct led me to profile Gina Locklear, who founded the organic sock brand Zkano, based in Fort Payne, Alabama. Once known as “the sock capital of the world,” I describe Fort Payne as a Silicon Valley for socks — a place filled with innovation, entrepreneurial ambition and a common culture among the townsfolk. I was impressed by Fort Payne when I visited, and by Gina, who grew up there and returned home to save her family’s sock mill after it fell on hard times due to offshoring.  

A few years later, I met Bayard Winthrop, the CEO of the label American Giant, which makes its clothes entirely in the U.S. Bayard was determined to make an American-made flannel shirt. What says American style better than flannel? Yet it hadn’t been done here since the 1990s.  

I was struck by the way Bayard’s quest raised larger questions about the past and future of America. About how much of the country’s manufacturing sector had been shipped offshore over the last forty years, and how much could be saved or brought back.  

I spent a year following Bayard as he sought to revive the supply chain, touring everywhere from a dyehouse in a century-old mill to a finishing plant where the crucial stage of “napping” flannel fabric took place. 

I returned to Fort Payne to watch Gina build her sock brand and face a make-or-break moment when Covid hit and then her indispensable production manager announced that he was retiring.  

I also visited a shoe factory in Maine and watched the workers there practice the nearly-lost craft of hand sewing moccasins. These and other characters form the backbone of “American Flannel.”   

As a writer and a reader, I’m also drawn to underdog stories — and U.S. apparel manufacturers definitely qualify!  

America gave the world blue jeans. We perfected durable workwear. The sneaker was invented here. So was the lumberjack flannel shirt. Yet over the last forty years, the domestic apparel industry virtually disappeared. Basically, it went offshore.  

I was intrigued by the rare people who do still make clothing in America. They’re survivors. I wanted to find out, Who had survived? How they did it? And who was bold enough to try to make clothing in America today.  

And something else:  

I wanted to tell a positive, hopeful story about U.S. manufacturers and makers. Many of the companies I write about in “American Flannel” are small businesses that treat their employees fairly, are rooted in their local communities and are committed to making quality products sustainably. I believe it’s important to spotlight these people and vital for the country to retain our expertise in making necessary things.