
American Flannel
How a Band of Entrepreneurs Are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home
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Narrated by:
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Shawn K. Jain
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By:
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Steven Kurutz
About this listen
"I can confidently say this will be one of my favorite books of 2024.”—Stephen King, bestselling author (and onetime millworker)
“American Flannel is a wonderful book—surprising, entertaining, vivid and personal, but also enlightening on the largest questions of America's economic and social future.”—James Fallows, co-author of Our Towns
The little-engine-that-could story of how a band of scrappy entrepreneurs are reviving the enterprise of manufacturing clothing in the United States.
For decades, clothing manufacture was a pillar of U.S. industry. But beginning in the 1980s, Americans went from wearing 70 percent domestic-made apparel to almost none. Even the very symbol of American freedom and style—blue jeans—got outsourced. With offshoring, the nation lost not only millions of jobs but also crucial expertise and artistry.
Dismayed by shoddy imported “fast fashion”—and unable to stop dreaming of re-creating a favorite shirt from his youth—Bayard Winthrop set out to build a new company, American Giant, that would swim against this trend. New York Times reporter Steven Kurutz, in turn, began to follow Winthrop’s journey. He discovered other trailblazers as well, from the “Sock Queen of Alabama” to a pair of father-son shoemakers and a men’s style blogger who almost single-handedly drove a campaign to make “Made in the USA” cool. Eye-opening and inspiring, American Flannel is the story of how a band of visionaries and makers are building a new supply chain on the skeleton of the old and wedding old-fashioned craftsmanship to cutting-edge technology and design to revive an essential American dream.
©2024 Steven Kurutz (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident.
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-
Stays on point
- By Alex on 04-29-23
By: Andrew Pettegree, and others
-
Worn
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- By: Sofi Thanhauser
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
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Performance
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Critic reviews
“An engrossing cross-country tour of business owners who are working to reinvigorate a flagging industry. In [Kurutz’s] excellent telling, the triumphs and setbacks of this crop of industry pioneers will leave a lasting impact while instilling hope for the future.”—Booklist
“Kurutz’s well-crafted story is one of makers defying the odds, as well as lessons in the many harms of throwaway culture.”—Kirkus Reviews
“[An] encouraging report the efforts of entrepreneurs working to bring clothing manufacturing back to the U.S… The profiles humanize the machinations of the clothing market, finding in the entrepreneurs’ plights an all-American tale of resilience and self-sufficiency in the face of steep odds.”—Publishers Weekly
Both political parties are guilty of letting other countries destroy America. Would’ve preferred no swearing, as it was not necessary to tell the story. Real good listen overall.
True patriotism identified!
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I'm not so sure any more. Americans don't want crummy jobs and capitalists don't want to take risks and they have no pride in their work.
I don't see a way out. As long as quality is undervalued and the balance sheet governs, we're going down the drain. The best we can do is buy responsibly.
Solid Topic, Done well.
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Great stories of people and places over profit.
Thank you for the read and the knowledge.
Great read, sad story
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Eye opening regarding the state of American manufacturing - not just the textile industry.
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Incredible and honest look at the heartbeat of America
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Interesting read
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