Why We're Sold Out

Wondering why we don't have everything in stock right now? Well, it's a long, complicated story that can be summed up by saying there isn't a lot of apparel manufacturing in the USA anymore. And it's really expensive!

Reality is, most companies produce their clothes overseas under poor conditions because it's cheap. Even companies who start in the USA often move overseas as they grow for cost reasons. With that, it's already difficult for US factories to stay open, when all of their work is going elsewhere.

Our aprons, for example, cost about 6x's more to make in the USA because everyone who makes them is actually paid a fair wage, and our factory costs more to operate. In order to keep our pricing fair, we end up with a much lower profit.

Even less common - we're doing CLEAN MANUFACTURING, which aside from being very rare, is also very new! In 2018, the fashion industry produced more greenhouse gas than France, Germany, and the UK combined - we don't want to make that worse. There aren't many factories worldwide who operate with higher standards, and finding an American one isn't easy. They are typically small, and can't work at the same pace as large factories with people working 14 hours a day.

And since they aren't very popular or widely used, these clean USA factories don't have much opportunity to grow. If they can't grow, this industry will never change.

Most companies, however, are not willing to spend the extra cost, take less of a profit, and suffer through the growing periods to do the right thing.

We want to do things better, pay fairly, and treat all people with the respect they deserve for their work - whether they are growing our cotton, weaving our fabrics, or sewing our aprons. We want to prevent fabric waste from rotting in landfills, and want to produce fewer bad emissions in our process.

So that's why we're often sold out. We're sticking it out through the growing pains, and we're not lowering our standards to move faster.

We're so grateful for your support and patience with our sewing team, and here's to hoping that someday our little solar-powered factory is big enough to keep up.

Some of our sewing team, with our aprons being made!