“I don’t know the detriments of not producing domestically. It is the only reason the brand exists,” said Carrie Eddmenson, the brand creator of Nashville-based Imogene + Willie.
‘Made in the USA” is deeply woven into Imogene + Willie’s DNA, shaping its design choices, guiding its merchandising, and serving as the narrative thread that continues to resonate with consumers. However, co-founders Carrie and Matt Eddmenson originally launched the brand 16 years ago as a means of survival.
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“We came from the world of domestic manufacturing, and we were victims, I would say, of the demise of manufacturing and production stateside,” she explained. “We started the company to at least do our part to rebirth that culture.”
The men’s and women’s label is one of the few remaining denim-focused brands committed to large-scale U.S. manufacturing—a group that continues to shrink due to cost, demand and limited access to domestic suppliers.
Increasingly, brands are looking for other resources in the Western hemisphere. At Kingpins New York, representatives from brands and mills discussed the benefits and challenges of domestic, the complexity of the denim supply chain and the necessity of adaptive strategies—even if that means crossing borders.
Artistic Milliners’ vision for nearshoring in the Americas is becoming a reality. Since 2020, the company has established SFI and Star Fades Studio in California and the SFI factory in Guatemala. In June, the Pakistani vertical denim manufacturer opened AM Mexico, a denim production facility in Parras, Mexico. Clients are encouraged to source fabrics from regional mill partners like Cone Denim—which is just 200 yards away—so that fabrics can stay local and product development can be sped up.
As a multi-country and multi-category company, Melanie Balasa-Flottman, VP of global innovation and design, said Artistic Milliners can help most U.S. brands find the right nearshoring solution. “Everyone needs the ability to test, react and learn from their customers,” she said.
Cone has large customers that it services out of both hemispheres with factories in Mexico and China, and both have advantages and disadvantages. The company collaborates closely with clients to identify and implement the best solutions for their specific needs. For instance, Steve Maggard, Cone Denim president, said the needle and laundry cost is lower in Asia, but there’s less flexibility and purchasing decisions must be made further in advance.
A client may produce 50-60 percent of a long-running, stable program in Asia and respond to what’s selling with a smaller percentage of orders from Mexico. It helps neutralize risk. By servicing a portion of orders from Cone’s Mexican facilities, clients pay more, but because of the flexibility and the ability to change silhouette, sizing, wash and act on trends closer to market—they have fewer empty shelves.
“Mexico is not the cheapest. China is not the cheapest,” Maggard said. “For us to be viable and have people willing to pay a little bit higher price, we have to adjust our minimums. We have to be less stringent on and more flexible on the types of orders we’re going to take and the amount of style changes that we’re willing to make in order to service our customers”
Smaller brands, however, often lack the comfort or experience to operate across multiple countries. Though some of the processes—like navigating customs and understanding government protocols—involve trial and error, Maggard said Cone’s expertise allows it to anticipate pitfalls and manage the complexities on behalf of its customers. To reduce risk for its customers, the mill has implemented third-party audits such as the Higg Index and Oritain. According to Maggard, these well-recognized certifications simplify the onboarding process for brands by minimizing the due diligence required when integrating Cone’s supply chain.
Maintaining a global footprint is a smart business strategy, especially in a time of economic uncertainty worldwide. Unstable governments, massive fluctuations in currency and infrastructure such as strikes at ports are all factors to consider for choosing a sourcing destination, he added.
Cone’s goal is to maintain a flexible supply chain so that it can pivot and offer options to our customers to avoid a “catastrophic failure.” Additional partnerships with factories in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Egypt support this effort.
Even when they’re owned by the same company, transitioning to factories in different regions comes with special considerations. The dye formula may be same, but there are differences in water hardness and minerals. One plant may pull water from a lake, another from a well. Duplications may require some adjustments in the laundry, but Maggard said Cone’s technical team has built up expertise on what to anticipate and achieve the desired styles and shades.
Facing reality
While Eddmenson names control, partnership, flexibility, negotiation and constant connection to suppliers as key benefits of domestic production, she strongly believes in the strength of Imogene + Willie’s story.
“The heart of the product is most important. The customer understanding the product is most important, the customer feeling good in the product is most important,” she said.
Challenges persist, but over the years, Imogene + Willie has found it increasingly manageable to produce in the U.S., especially as meeting fabric and factory minimums became easier with growth. “But we also, admittedly, probably live in a bubble when it comes to that,” Eddmenson said, adding that there’s a deeply rooted determination in the U.S. to make things work against the odds.
However, the brand is not blind to current challenges facing the denim industry, particularly the lack of sources for U.S.-made denim textiles. “We probably need to pay attention more to lead times and trends, but we just haven’t built the business that way,” Eddmenson said, adding that a lot of the considerations mass brands must contend with each season is foreign to Imogene + Willie.
“We’re opening our minds and our hearts to new regions for fabric,” she said.
At the end of this complex supply chain is a customer that still wants cheap jeans.
Regardless of how authentic the story is or the efforts made to produce jeans in the U.S. or nearby countries, Maryellen Ryan, a consultant with over 30 years in the apparel industry, says the average mass-market consumer still won’t be willing to pay the premium “They’re not going to pay what we would need to charge,” Ryan said, adding that consumers need to be educated on the value of the garment.
“I would love to see production come back to the States…but unfortunately it boils down to price,” she said.
