Where were your clothes made? - YouLookFab Forum

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Where were your clothes made?

Mac

Veteran

I'm curious and would love to hear from lots of you on this subject. If you get the chance, would you please list your country (where you currently live), and then where the clothes and even accessories you're wearing today were fabricated.

Every time I get changed and bother to look at the label, I'm amazed by how far most of my clothing has travelled in order to be sold to me; it's like a mini-United Nations on my body! I'm curious if this is a Canadian phenomenon or if it's common with other in North American/ 1st world/ Western/ northern hemisphere or maybe around the whole world for people who can buy clothes from stores (rather than make it themselves or have it made for them).

I'd start, but as I type, I'm in bed not wearing much besides my own Canadian skin : )

47 replies

Latest reply was from Mac

rute

Veteran

I always prefer clothes made in Portugal:
- To help the economy;
- the fabrics and the cut have great quality;
- but the price is higher...

I have of, course many spanish pieces from zara (the cut and the fabric is not so good but they are trendy and cheaper!).

anne

Veteran

I am in Australia and almost everything I buy is made in China, Very occasionally I'll see something else - eg the kids school clothes are made in Fiji.
My older clothes - 10 years and more - are much more likely to have been made in Australia.

Queen Mum

Veteran

the running pants and shirt I'm currently wearing come to me from ...... Indonesia!

Sparky

Veteran

I'm in the US and most everything here says Made in China. My twin boys just learned to read so they go around reading the labels on their clothes, their toys . . . everything! They know some of their China-made toys have been recalled b/c of lead paint or other issues, so they keep saying "uh oh" every time they see that durned Made in China label. And I'd say most of my family's clothing is produced in China.

. . . Looking at my clothes right now, my Danskin yoga pants are from China but my American Apparel tee says "Made in Downtown LA." I just came back from exercising, by the way. Oh, my socks are Maggie's Organic and are Fair Trade Certified and produced in Central America. The sock website gives detailed info on where all aspects of the sock production takes place ~ I just looked it up.

Frances

I'm taking a vacation day today so am still in pajamas, leisurely sipping my coffee. Mac, I usually don't like to look at where my clothes were manufactured because it gets me to pondering all those troubling issues about sweatshop laborers, and my pajamas are no exception! Old Navy PJ bottoms were made in Indonesia, long-sleeve H&M tee was made in Bangladesh, and the 20-year old college sweatshirt I just threw on to ward off the morning chill was made in Taiwan.

Sparky, I'm glad there are increasingly more choices around organic and Fair Trade Certified clothing.

SkiDiva

I'm always fascinated by where my clothes were made. I'm in the States, and of course there's a lot of made in China labels in my closet, but there's a bit of variety, too. The Simply Vera pjs I have on right now were made in Cambodia.

I think the most interesting "made in" label I've seen on anything in my closet was on an equestrian-styled jacket I bought back in college. It's the only thing I've ever seen that was made in Belarus.

Louise

Veteran

Skirt is made in Sri Lanka and Tshirt doesn't say is that bad? x

Lynne

Veteran

most of what I notice in Denmark is Bangladesh, Indonesia, or Turkey...

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I very rarely ever see Made in the USA labels anymore (sad). Occasionally, I see assembled in the USA- which can just mean that everything is put together overseas, and they sew the labels on here. It's tricky the way that they can get away with that. The couple of things that I just checked are Sri Lanka and China.

chellebrate

I never pay attention to this. Right now I'm wearing a Fresh Produce summer dress to hang out around the house and chase my 2 boys + 1 friend around. It's made in the United States.

RoseandJoan

Veteran

I do not know because I never fully trust the labels on my clothing. In the UK only a zipper has to be sewn into an items to be fully labelled 'made in the UK' so who knows where my purchases originate.

florida

Veteran

Funny you should mention this--I was just looking at the label on my MK Michael Kors skirt, and was surprised to see that it was "Made in China." I don't know why it surprised me, but it did!

elpgal

Veteran

Shirt - India, Pants - China, Sandals - Germany. I don't know if I have ever seen a 'Made in USA' label, hmm..I must keep an eye out.

Maya

Veteran

I think it was Juicy that used to have the "Made in the glamorous USA" labels. American Apparel is too.

I'm too lazy to go upstairs and check what I wore today and can't be bothered removing my clothes just to look at the label. At any rate, it depresses me to think about it.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I'm wearing a Diesel dress made in India.

Mac

Veteran

I live in Canada and I can't remember the last time I saw a "made in Canada" label, which makes me sad. I've made a great effort lately (as have many of my friends) to eat/ buy more local food and I'd like to at very least be more aware of where my clothes are made.
Today: Ralph Lauren cotton sweater: made in China
Target camisole/ tank top: made in Nicaragua
Wacaol bra: made in the Dominican Republic
Modern Movement undies: made in China
Style & Co Jeans: made in Jordan

Lisa

Veteran

Lucky jeans made in USA and BR top made in India.

Mac

Veteran

Do you guys try to buy more locally-grown food than you used to?

Lisa

Veteran

I luck out that a chain supermarket by me will get stock from local farms and post which produce is from which farm in the state. Otherwise I'd probably hunt down a farmers market. And nothing beats driving along a highway in NJ and seeing a roadside stand for NJ corn. That is the BEST! I always buy a whole bunch and freeze some.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

JCrew cardigan China
Target long sleeve tshirt Guatamela
JBrand jegging, California (surprised the heck of out me).
Boots Italy.

Anna

Mac

Veteran

Lisa - I have an aunt who lives in New Jersey and I was amazed to discover how many beautiful farms there are in your state; I always pictured NJ as more of an urban centre.

I have definitely started trying to buy more produce from Canada and the US. Ideally, I buy from my province - Ontario - but in some seasons there isn't as wide a variety as I'd like at my grocery store. I do this because it's better for the environment, I want to support our local farmers (even if "local" means California, it's still more local than some of the produce I see that's been flown in from China or South America), and it's healthier to eat things that were picked/ harvested more recently.

Like Rute, I'd prefer to buy clothes made locally for many of the same reasons as buying local food, but there aren't as many options as I'd like. Made in North America tends to be pricier items than made in China, Indonesia, etc. And as Rose & Joan points out, the rules of which country is mentioned on the label isn't necessarily where the item of clothing was mostly fabricated.

I feel a bit funny about making efforts to become more of a locavore but not paying much attention to the source of the clothes on my back.

taylor

Veteran

Most of my clothes are from AT and the seem to be made in Taiwan and China.

Misia

Veteran

Mac, I live in Canada, and you will be surprise to know that not that long ago I bought 2 tops at Giant Tiger store that wore made in Canada, not kidding you! And the fabric was 50% poly and 50% cotton, which I think is great. You can see one of them in my latest thread in picture 3.

Scarlet

Veteran

I can tell you right now almost everything I bought in the U.S. was made in China because I almost always check before buying something. In Germany, it is more often made in the E.U. or Turkey, but I don't shop the super cheap stores here (like H&M or C&A), so I don't know about those. But here's the breakdown from yesterday's outfit:

shoes (bought in US) made in China
pants (bought in Germany) made in Romania
shirt (bought in US, Target, in fact) "made in Mexico of imported fabric" (WTF?)
belt (bought in US) made in Argentina (that's a new one on me! Maybe that's why it's held up so well.)

New jacket that I did not wear is made in Bulgaria

and bonus because I changed for dinner:

shirt (bought in US) made in China
pants (bought in US) made in US!

underwear, no idea. Bras often made in France.

I don't really see clothes the same way as food. I usually check the labels before I buy something to assess quality/price justification and because it's interesting.

I doubt for example that most clothing flies around the world. It probably travels in shipping containers, which is much more environmentally friendly, at least the way I understand it.

Scarlet

Veteran

Angie - is that your new summer sale dress?? I was thinking of going back to try one on today.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Scarlet-Rosie and Julie, great comments.

(This is another Diesel dress! I have a few and am still waiting for the denim one).

Anonymous

Oh, dear. Shopping for clothes just got harder! Not only do I need to shop with fit and quality in mind, now I need to shop locally!

Most of my clothes are made in China. I do have several pieces that are made in Canada which kinda makes me chuckle...a Canadian living in America buying Canadian clothes in America. I have found lots of knitwear that I buy in America is actually made in Canada. I have a couple button-front shirts made in Hong Kong.

I am frustrated that the "made in" labels are so misleading. Just because it is assembled in one place does not guarantee that it was totally made there.

Frances

Mac, the locally grown movement is huge out here in the Bay Area, but the truth is, I rarely cook and rarely make it out to our wonderful farmers markets because my schedule doesn't always coincide with their hours. So I wind up in Whole Foods a lot and try to buy the produce that's tagged as locally grown, but WF is so incredibly pricey that I don't always make the healthiest choices.

Similar situation with clothes. I remember when I started to become conscious of this issue 10 years ago, I started calling around to running shoe manufacturers to ask where their shoes were made and assembled and to let them know that as a consumer, I was concerned about the overseas sweatshop labor issues. Since I usually go through a couple pairs of running shoes a year and they are quite pricey, I wanted to be careful about where I was spending my money. But the reality was that it was hard to get a straight answer out of them, difficult to find a manufacturer who was making running shoes anywhere but in some factory overseas, and so, being an orthotics wearer who severely overpronates, my options narrowed pretty quickly.

In the 10 years since then, I think there have been dramatic improvements in the awareness level around these issues and the range of choices for both locally produced food and clothing has expanded, but we definitely have a long way to go.

Mac

Veteran

Marlene - NO! I hope you don't feel like this thread is pressuring you to buy clothes in a way that's more difficult for you! That truly isn't my intention. I had just gone to the grocery store where I had bought produce, and so "where things are made" was on my mind. I think it's an interesting question to ponder but I'm absolutely not trying to make anyone feel bad about her shopping choices.

Frances - so interesting! I think in the Bay area, people must be much more aware of these issues than here in Toronto. And, yeah, difficult to get a "straight answer" on so many things, these days. *sigh*

Renata: Wooohooo! Glad to read that there are still items of clothes being made in Canada; that makes me happy.

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