Foreign businesses have replaced textiles in Upstate South Carolina. Residents are 'baffled' and worried by tariffs.

BMW employs 11,000 people at its 8 million square-
foot campus in Spartanburg, S.C. (BMW photo)

Upstate South Carolina was once known as the country's textile hub until the 1990s when "automation and cheaper labor overseas took the industry away from the state," reports Eduardo Medina of The New York Times. President Trump's new tariffs aim to revive the industry, but some people who used to work at the old mills don't know why anyone would want to bring that work back because of the low wages and often unpleasant working conditions. Much of the region has new industrial partners that have improved the overall quality of living for many residents.

Adolphus Jones worked at a mill in the small town of Union, S.C. Medina writes, "Jones, now 71 and retired, scoffed at President Trump’s vision of an American manufacturing revival through tariffs. The mill work had paid little, Jones recalled, and upward mobility was nonexistent." Jones told him, “The textile industry is dead. Why would you want to bring it back here? Truthfully, why would the younger generation want to work there?”

The Trump administration's push to bring back an industry few residents miss represents a mismatch between current economic realities and the limits of what tariffs can accomplish. "Today, companies like BMW and Michelin — from Germany and France — are the economic engines of the region," Medina explains. "Now, leaders say that waging a trade war could undermine future recruitment of international investments and risk losing the jobs that are already in the region."

BMW alone "has invested more than $14.8 billion into its South Carolina operations" and has created "most than 11,000 jobs." BMW's suppliers have created thousands of additional jobs in the region. 

So, local residents were baffled "when the White House’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, attacked BMW’s manufacturing process in an interview . . .," Medina reports. "He told CNBC that 'this business model where BMW and Mercedes come into Spartanburg, S.C., and have us assemble German engines and Austrian transmissions — that doesn’t work for America. It’s bad for our economics.'"

Even in Union, a rural area with 8,000 residents, a recovery from textile's downfall has slowly evolved. Medina writes, "Union County has successfully recruited renewable power companies, bioscience and medical employers, and a Dollar General distribution center that employs nearly a thousand people."

Some Union residents think a more modern mill might further improve Union's economy. Leroy Spencer, a retiree in Union, told Medina, "If Trump can bring that back, it would be amazing, and I think the economy would pick up around here and get better." However, building new mills with automation and modern equipment would mean ordering machinery and supplies from overseas, which will likely face higher tariffs and thereby increase construction costs.

Jones sees the "whole tariff back and forth as baffling," Medina writes. "When he worked in a plant decades ago, he made tassels for graduation caps. Now, he says, more of Union’s next generation should be wearing those caps — not making them."

Outdoorsy clothing brand based in Morehead, Ky., gets recognized for spreading 'Appalachian chic' worldwide

Jesse Wells, a fiddle player for Tyler Childers, wore
the yellow trucker hat seen here during their recent
performance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

A clothing company based in Eastern Kentucky received an Excellence in International Trade Award on Dec. 12 from the Kentucky World Trade Center, an organization that promotes Kentucky-made products abroad.

New Frontier Outfitters, "started by brothers Jared and Josh Ravenscraft, has been spreading Appalachian chic worldwide thanks in part to the brand’s popularity among country music artists and a surprising following in the Netherlands," Alfred Miller reports for the Louisville Courier Journal. The company has also shipped orders to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Celebs spotted wearing the retro-inspired clothing include country music star Tyler Childers and actor Channing Tatum.

Josh Ravenscraft said they were surprised by the award. "From our mom’s kitchen table to being on stage with the former governor — it was a surreal moment," he told Miller.

$108 hoodie illustrates modern realities of 'Made in America'

Scores of manufacturers moved their factories overseas in the past 40 years to take advantage of cheaper labor and laxer environmental standards. President Trump has vowed to lure manufacturers back home, but it may be difficult for many companies to do so and still make a profit, Dustin Stephens reports for CBS News. To illustrate the obstacles to "Made in America" labels, CBS interviewed Bayard Winthrop, all of whose American Giant apparel is made in the U.S., and followed production of its popular hooded sweatshirt. He illustrates how some manufacturers may have to provide fewer jobs and rely more on automation and immigrant labor to remain profitable.

When Winthrop came up with the idea for American Giant in 2012, the first major problem he faced was a lack of infrastructure for apparel components. He had to essentially coax a master yarn dyer out of retirement to accomplish that part of the process, Stephens reports. But the supply chain problems start with farm labor: a North Carolina cotton farmer told CBS he hires seasonal Mexican workers because few locals are willing to work for him, no matter what pay and benefits he offers.

Workforce is also a problem in the mill where the cotton is cleaned and spun into yarn. It must rely largely on automation to stay profitable. "In the 1960s a mill like this would have employed 2,000 workers; today, about 125 work here producing about 2 million pounds of yarn a week," Stephens reports. But human workers must be used in the final step, where the fabric is cut and sewn. Keeping this step in the U.S. adds as much as $17 to the hoodie's cost, Winthrop said; American Giant tries to keep costs down by selling its products almost entirely online, with only two brick-and-mortar stores.

The final cost of the hoodie is $108. And though it's widely praised as "the greatest hoodie ever made," the price tag could put it out of reach for many Americans. However, Winthrop says domestic manufacturing matters. "I think we're selling a value system," Winthrop told CBS. "Stand for some things that matter, stand for American manufacturing, stand for the people that are making stuff. And when we buy things, when we do it consciously, when we do it with an eye towards understanding how these little votes that we make have an impact attached to them, we'll be better off."

Outdoorsy Kentucky clothing brand gains steam worldwide

Mark Wystrach of Midland performs while wearing
New Frontier Outfitters gear (Photo from NFO)

A clothing company based in Morehead, Kentucky, is building a cult following with "retro-outdoors wear" and "American blue-collar chic," Alfred Miller reports for the Louisville Courier Journal.

Brothers Jared and Josh Ravenscraft founded New Frontier Outfitters in 2016 because they felt that most of the big-name outdoors clothing brands, like Patagonia, were focused on the American West. They wanted to give consumers an option that promoted adventures in Appalachia as well as more general outdoorsy gear, Miller reports.

The first designs were based on retro ski badges and their father's collection of old trucker hats. "Today, New Frontier Outfitters has a brick-and-mortar store in Morehead with outposts in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and Cave Run Lake in Kentucky [near Morehead]. The brothers say they regularly ship hats, shirts and other gear across the country and the world," Miller reports.

The brand is starting to make a splash with celebrities. Channing Tatum visited their store in 2017 and wore a branded hat in an Entertainment Tonight interview, and country singer Tyler Booth wore one of their shirts in a concert last month, Miller reports.

"But perhaps the brand’s biggest coup has been their association with Grammy-nominated country group Midland, which shares a retro aesthetic with New Frontier Outfitters," Miller reports. "Midland’s broad appeal has meant New Frontier Outfitters orders from faraway locales, including Sonora, Mexico, where Mike Zapata says he and his oldies band, Los Hijos de Frank, sport the Ravencrafts’ hats and other retro apparel he first spotted Midland wearing."

Outdoor lifestyle entrepreneur hopes to create small micro-factories in rural Colorado

A Colorado entrepreneur is using locally sourced materials, such as Rocky Mountain sheep wool, to manufacture clothing in small micro-factories in rural communities, Hari Sreenivasan reports for PBS NewsHour. Former Microsoft manager Dan English founded Voormi with the goal of returning textile jobs to rural America by making clothes made for recreation in harsh conditions in rural areas that experience those conditions.

English said Vroomi was based in Pagosa Springs, Colo. (Best Places map), a mountain town of less than 2,000, "so products could be sewn in the morning and tested in the afternoon," Sreenivasan reports. English told him, "What we hope to do is provide an industry in small rural towns that allow people to live here, play here, and work here without having to have multiple jobs throughout the year."

English compares Vroomi's strategy to that of craft brewing, Sreenivasan reports. English said, "We like to think, if we can take a small batch mentality and turn things quicker, that consumers want new, fresh things on a regular basis." English has three manufacturing sites and hopes to have as many as 10, each with eight to 10 people sewing, throughout Colorado.

The Pagosa Springs Sun published a profile of Vroomi in 2013. To see the profile click here.

Rural distillery in legal battle with university, which claims it owns the rights to word 'Kentucky'

A rural distillery in Eastern Kentucky has found itself in a legal battle with the University of Kentucky, which claims it owns the rights to the word "Kentucky" and wants Kentucky Mist Distillery to stop using the word on shirts promoting its business, Linda Blackford reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Kentucky Mist co-owner Colin Fultz said he received a letter from UK attorneys saying the university has trademarked 'Kentucky' since 1997. The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg first reported the story. The newspaper is behind a paywall. (UK lawyers claim this shirt could confuse people into thinking it was related to the university)

The UK letter states: "It is our present position that Kentucky Mist Moonshine Inc.'s use of the mark KENTUCKY MIST MOONSHINE to identify articles of clothing is likely to cause deception, confusion and mistake as to Kentucky Mist Moonshine Inc.'s affiliation, connection or association with the university." The letter goes on to state that UK will "consider further action as it deems necessary," Blackford writes.

Fultz told Blackford, "What they're saying is crazy; all I'm using is the name Kentucky. The only thing that we trademark was Kentucky Mist Moonshine . . . we just wanted to sell our own shirts."

Jason Schlafer, UK's director of trademark licensing, "said the problem is that Kentucky Mist Moonshine is trying to register with the Federal Trademark Registry in the same category, Class 25, in which UK is registered. This category includes shirts and sweatshirts." Schlafer told Blackford, "It is the obligation of a trademark owner to monitor the registry and ensure that marks that could dilute your registered mark don't register."

The Eagle reports that Kentucky Mist has acquired a Lexington-based attorney, James M. Francis. Francis said in a statement:

"Kentucky Mist Moonshine, Inc. is disappointed by the tactics employed by the University of Kentucky to claim the exclusive right to the word KENTUCKY. This represents a shameful overreach by the University and an assault on the rights of business owners across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The action by the University is an attempt to exploit a trademark that should never have been registered by the US Patent and Trademark Office and is likely unenforceable or invalid. It is blatantly disingenuous to claim that there is a likelihood that consumers would be confused between the University of Kentucky and a small eastern Kentucky distillery and gift shop. While we hope to be able to resolve this amicably, Kentucky Mist Moonshine, Inc. is and remains a proud supporter of the University of Kentucky, it is prepared to vigorously defend its rights and the rights of all businesses, large and small, to use the name Kentucky to identify themselves, their products, their geographic location and their heritage."

Mid-income rural families can figure on spending about $193,590 to raise a child, less than urban ones

Middle-income rural families consisting of two parents earning between $62,500 to $108,210 annually with a child born in 2013 can expect to spend about $193,590 up to age 18 on the child, says the annual Cost of Raising a Child report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Families earning less than $62,500 can expect to spend an average of $145,500, and those earning more than $108,210 can expect to average $307,920. Rural costs are considerably lower than overall costs. (USDA graphic)

Costs are broken down by housing, food, transportation, clothing, health care, child care and education and a miscellaneous category. About 30 percent of costs will go to housing, 18 percent to child care and education, 16 percent to food, 14 percent to transportation, 8 percent to health care and miscellaneous and 6 percent to clothing.

For a middle-income rural family it will cost $10,430 annually for children under 3. For children 3 to 5, annual costs are $9,940; 6 to 8, $10,320; 9 to 11, $10,660, 12 to 14, $11,430; and 15 to 17, $11,750. For lower-income families costs are $8,000 for children under 3, $7,510 for 3 to 5, $7,660 for 6 to 8, $7,960 for 9 to 11, $8,590 for 12 to 14, and $8,780 for 15 to 17.

In one-child households, 21 to 32 percent of expenditures go to the child; in two-child households, 31 to 47 percent is spent on children; in three-child households, it is 38 to 57 percent. (Read more)

Clothing factories are coming back in U.S., but jobs are still hard to come by due to mechanization

Textile plants, which migrated overseas in the 1990s to save money, have begun returning to the U.S., and their output in this country has been steadily climbing, Stephanie Clifford reports for The New York Times. "In 2012, textile and apparel exports were $22.7 billion, up 37 percent from just three years earlier. While the size of operations remain behind those of overseas powers like China, the fact that these industries are thriving again after almost being left for dead is indicative of a broader reassessment by American companies about manufacturing in the United States." And about 15 percent of American companies that manufacture overseas have already decided to move some production to the U.S., and 33 percent are considering the move.

Americans love buying products made in America. A Times survey conducted in January "found that 68 percent of respondents preferred products made in the United States, even if they cost more, and 63 percent believed they were of higher quality," Clifford writes. "Retailers from Walmart to Abercrombie & Fitch are starting to respond to those sentiments, creating sections for American-made items and sourcing goods domestically. But as manufacturers find that American-made products are not only appealing but affordable, they are also finding the business landscape has changed. Two decades of overseas production has decimated factories here. Between 2000 and 2011, on average, 17 manufacturers closed up shop every day across the country, according to research from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation."

"Now, companies that want to make things here often have trouble finding qualified workers for specialized jobs and American-made components for their products," Clifford writes. "And politicians’ promises that American manufacturing means an abundance of new jobs is complicated — yes, it means jobs, but on nowhere near the scale there was before, because machines have replaced humans at almost every point in the production process." (Read more)

Attire with flying-ear-of-corn brand flies off shelves

Seed company DeKalb has been using a flying ear of corn as its logo for years on its packages of corn, soybean and sorghum seeds. In August, the company stamped the logo on a line of clothing marketed at 15- to 24-year-olds, and that crowd has been buying the T-shirts, jackets and hats at a brisk pace, reports Erin Crawford of the Des Moines Register.

The company did not start the WingWear line (at left in a promotional photo) to enter the fashion business but to reach out to young people."We realized we had to do this in a way youth could connect with, through fashion and music and an online experience," DeKalb marketing manager Jason Hoag told Crawford. "Try to make a connection with them they could truly understand."

Unlike the company's past in-house efforts, a local advertising agency designed and marketed the line. Profits from the line will go toward agricultural scholarships. (Read more)