There was a time, years ago, when you could go into any clothing store and easily come out with a blouse or shirt sporting a ‘Made in the USA’ label. Those days are long gone, however. Imports of clothing have been rising, contributing to the U.S. trade deficit. In 1990, the U.S. imported only $26 billion worth of apparel. By 2007, imports of apparel into the U.S. had risen to $82 billion, while exports of clothing from the U.S. were only $4 billion. Meanwhile the U.S. clothing manufacturing industry has been shrinking. In 1990 there were 900,000 workers employed making apparel in the U.S. As of 2008, that number was down to only 195,000, according to statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To see the influence of clothing imports on a more personal level, we took a shopping trip to a woman’s clothing store located in Livingston, NJ, a suburb of New York City. The store, called Chari Amster, covers potential buyers from young women all the way through mother of the bride, according to the owner, Martin Roth. Founded 51 years ago under another name, Roth renamed it fifteen years ago after his wife.
Before speaking at length with him, we asked if we could look around. Over the next hour and a half, we tried to assemble outfits made entirely in the U.S. Here’s what we came up with:
1. Black/brown sweater top (made in U.S.), black pants (made in China), and black metallic jacket (made in Canada.)
2. Blue ramie sweater (Indonesia), black with brown trim hoodie (Korea), and jeans (US).
3. Maroon sweater (US) and black pants (China).
4. Brown and white blouse (India), black skirt (China), and brown tweed jacket (US).
5. Black sweater (Hong Kong) and gray flare skirt (China).
6. Beige sweater coat (Peru) and blue pants (Hong Kong).
7. Black and white tunic (China) and black and white leaf pattern scarf (India).
8. Knit cream skirt suit (US) and silky ivory pantyhose (US).
9. Multi-colored dress (US) and satiny coat (China).
10. Brown pants suit (US).
After our ‘shopping spree’ (we did buy a pair of black pants), we spoke with Roth about the clothing business. When we asked him where he buys the clothes in his store, he replied: “I usually work with many wholesaler showrooms that represent about five different manufacturers each.” About half of the items in the store are made in the U.S. and the remainder is from overseas. He explained that many of his long-term American suppliers had moved a majority of their manufacturing abroad. Until recently, most of the imports had come from China and India. Now countries in Southeast Asia–specially Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand–export clothing to the U.S. as well.
Although Roth has been feeling the impact of the recession, as of late 2008 he has been weathering it well. Chari Amster has been in business for a long time and has experienced many business cycles before.
Reported and written by Judy Scherer
