Made in USA Is Harder Than the Label Suggests

Patriot Jean Co. set out to make jeans that are truly 100% Made in the USA — from cotton to labels to packaging. What they found is that the domestic apparel supply chain has shrunk so much that doing this requires absorbing high minimums, rebuilding supplier capacity, and working around missing infrastructure.

Founder Patrick Mate explains what it takes to build a domestic denim brand today, why U.S. apparel manufacturing collapsed over the past decades, and what needs to change if local production is going to scale again.