Found denim bibs Made In USA, and they are expanding here in the USA

[Joesunionreview]

Full story at http://anti-union.blogspot.com/2008/10/found-denim-bibs-made-in-usa.html">Joe's Union Review

Everyone else has moved operations overseas. "It's created a niche for us ... a lot of people still want products make in the United States.” - Jim Antosh, owner Round House Workwear

I agree. This is the only denim work bib that I have found still made in the USA, and according to the article below, it is the only one left.

Carhartt only has a few items still union made in the USA, http://www.unionlabel.com/carhartt-clothing-usa-made.html">10 to be exact, they don't make any denim work bib's for all of my pipefitter, steamfitter, carpenter and iron worker friends.

Round House Brand Workwear



For over 105 years, Round House Workware has been making high quality denim work bib's.

They are actually opening a new factory right here in the United States, got this info from the http://railroadworkersunited.org/">Railroad Workers United site which had a link to this article from http://newsok.com/denim-plant-finds-fit-in-wewoka/article/3305413">NewsOK, published on 10/01/08:

Denim plant finds fit in Wewoka (Oklahoma-Joe)
Shawnee company finds new site outside hometown
By Debbie Blossom

When business owner Jim Antosh wanted to expand his manufacturing company and hire additional staff, he found few takers in Shawnee, where Round House Manufacturing has been stitching up sturdy denim workwear and jeans for more than a century.

With a tight labor pool and no workers with the skills to operate commercial sewing machines, Antosh went searching in nearby communities for a site and employees to sew together some of the company's denim that is precut at the Shawnee plant.

Forty miles away in Wewoka, Antosh said he found suitable space and a partnership of city, state, education and economic development officials willing to help turn his expansion into a reality.

"It's a little unique,” he said of planning an addition in another town. "But the city of Wewoka was so helpful, and so eager, and they had the space.”

Still made in the U.S.

Round House is the sole overalls producer left in the United States, and about the only jeans maker in the country, Antosh said. Everyone else has moved operations overseas. "It's created a niche for us ... a lot of people still want products make in the United States.”

Demand remains brisk for the Round House brand, which includes work overalls for painters, engineers, carpenters and laborers that come in different colors. There are overalls for kids, caps and aprons. And the brand is worn by Disney World railroad conductors and has been seen on celebrities such as Jessica Simpson and Donald Trump.

Yet despite the company's successful longevity, "It's not easy to start from scratch,” he said.

What he found in Wewoka was a joint venture between city officials and Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma Inc., a Durant-based economic development organization.

City officials had invested $90,000 to renovate a vacant, 100,000-square-foot former apparel plant and divided the space to accommodate several businesses.

The Oklahoma Commerce Department and REI were advised on the building's availability, said Mark Mosley, Wewoka's city manager.

At least $55,000 went into windows, new flooring and walls, electrical work and air conditioning for Round House, he said.

People looking to work closer to home, and fewer employers needing workers also helped entice Round House to expand away from Shawnee, Mosley said.

Antosh said further encouragement came from the state's career tech program, which helped reimburse some of the cost of training new employees.

You can find Round House items for sale by using their http://www.round-house.com/locator.html">Store Locator, or online at:

• http://www.cavenders.com/BrandProducts.asp?brand=322&sblid=brand322">Cavender's Boot City
  
• http://www.evansoutfitters.com/roundhouse.aspx?CategoryID=128">Evan's Outfitter's
  
• http://www.langstons.com/round-house-lot980.html">Langston's

Made In America Video featuring RoundHouse

• http://www.round-house.com/movies/made_in_america_1.html">"Made in America" Part 1
  
• http://www.round-house.com/movies/made_in_america_2.html">"Made in America" Part 2
  
• http://www.round-house.com/movies/made_in_america_3.html">"Made in America" Part 3

I just got off the phone with owner Jim Antosh, it was a very pleasant conversation, we spoke of the history of Round House and the history of Shawnee, Oklahoma. It was a huge railroad town with what was known as a "round house", a station where steam locomotive's, which were optimized for forward mobility, to be turned around. Jim spoke of the fact that the textile association that he belonged to was amazed that he was expanding operations here in the states, they said he was the first that they know of in a decade. I also mentioned my need for "button snapped" denim shirts, he assured me that if all goes well they may consider them in the future, but insisted that anything they make must take time in the creation, so that they can proudly put their logo on the product, with the assurance that it is tough enough in stregnth and quality to bear the Round House name.

I offered Jim any assistance in getting the word out about their products and he thanked me and told me to get in touch any time I have any questions.

I also spoke to someone at TYCA, another American company who makes denim and leather goods, I had called once before and asked if they could make some denim quick snap 10oz. welder shirts for my fellow construction workers, they are still waiting for a prototype to finish being designed. Tyca also embosses denim and leather and all of their product's are union made, by IAM Machinist's in the USA.

Support American families, buy American made!

http://www.round-house.com">

Big thanks to http://railroadworkersunited.org/">Railroad Workers United for posting this up on their site

[Zookeeper]

1. Cool. Thanks for the link! n/t

[madrchsod]

2. i can run a commercial sewing machine...

to bad they are so far away.....! we can make quality clothes at the same price as the rest of the world

[Joesunionreview]

3. Yes we can,

The domestically made work bibs are almost identical in price of foreign made Dickies and lower than the foreign made Carhartt's.

If you look at the Carhartt's that are in the link above in the story, they are a fraction above the cost of the foreign versions.

Keep in mind that the Mexican worker has a minimum wage of about $2.00 an hour, Vietnam is around $58 a month.

Then there is the environmental effect of shipping, burning more fossil fuels each direction, as a lot of denim is harvested here, then sent out of the country to be fabricated then brought back, hence the "Fabricados en mexico con USA partes", or "Made in Pakistan with US components"

It is environmental and economic terrorism in the name of Capitalism

[madrchsod]

4. that`s why i buy carhart if i need new clothes

key brand clothes are made in american prisons.....

[Joesunionreview]

5. 99.9% of Carhartt's are made in foreign lands

They do not even sell the USA made clothing on their own website, the only way to get USA made Carhartt's are through retailer's and there are very few of them, mostly online.

EDIT: the 99.9% is a guess

Here's an image I did way back, about a year ago



Please remember that they still make the 10 items from the link in the story above union-made in the USA, but as I said they don't even sell the union-made items on their own site. They even called one of their items American Style Jeans, until they read my last story about them.

Below are the only items that Carhartt makes in the USA, which are not sold directly by Carhartt on their own website.

11 items to be exact, that's it. Over 100 years of tradition of the American work gear, and now they are selling shit that's made in foreign lands where they exploit workers and charge us almost the same price.

http://www.unionlabel.com/carhartt-clothing-usa-made.html

EDIT#2: Sorry didn't mean to seem like I'm getting on your case, I was just so torn up about what Carhartt did, I didn't realize it until after I bought winter hats for my friends at work for Christmas one year, not cheap either, around $20 bucks a piece, only to find out they were made in China, then the shirts went south of the border, etc.

That was the moment I decided I needed to start writing about it

[AndyTiedye]

6. If Carhartt Has Moved Production Offshore, It Must Have Been Recently

My Carhartt painters' overalls were union-made in the USA.
I bought them about 2 years ago I think.

[Joesunionreview]

7. Yes, they have been closing textile mills since 2004

Slowly at first, then more rapidly in the last 2 years, like I said, they still have a few items made here, the item code starts with a "U", take a look at the link 2 posts above.

I can also assure you that the quality of the flannel winter shirt has gone down also, about 2 years ago when I was at my local army/navy store I asked why the 3x-5x flannels were so much thicker material wise, the clerk said I should check the label, the larger sizes were USA hold overs from the year before.

Very sneaky, like my other staple of work wear in my profession, the Red Wing boot, which is slowly scaling back on the USA made boot, in favor of all new styles being made in China, for a few dollars less, and a much lower quality.

I still buy Red Wing's, but I make sure I check the label, as far as I know the Carhartt's made in the USA are only found in Dave's apparel (USA made Red Wings are also sold there)

Heres some more links

Companies like Carhartt are a huge reason why we are in the mess we are in now, getting rid of tangible industry in favor of speculative professionalism, we have no product to barter with. We also lost the jobs that went along with it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/388135/carhartt_of_galesburg_illinois_cutting.html
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/sacramento-ky/TNQ9VV8KFPS6EM9OM

[AndyTiedye]

8. This is What I Did With Some of the Last of the American-Made Carharts

[Joesunionreview]

9. Whao, thats awesome

Nice job brother

[DainBramaged]

10. I wear my UNION made jeans to work almost every day.

And proud of it.