A menswear factory in Brooklyn has been "doing things the old-fashioned way" for more than 60 years.
Martin Greenfield Clothiers produces handmade men's suits, an impressive feat considering less than 3% of clothes sold in the U.S. is American-made. Most U.S. apparel companies outsource their labor to places where clothing is faster and cheaper to make. But Martin Greenfield isn't in the menswear business for the money alone.
Greenfield arrived at Brooklyn manufacturer GGG Clothes in 1947 from Czechoslovakia; it was his first job in the States. He carried unfinished garments from one station to the next. A poster boy for the American Dream, Greenfield worked his way up from blind stitcher to supervisor to vice president, and eventually bought the factory, renaming it in 1977.
Today, he continues the tradition of making suits by hand at his four-floor warehouse in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where his client list includes Barak Obama, Bill Clinton, Michael Bloomberg, and Leonardo DiCaprio. "I see my suits being worn all over the world," Greenfield says. "I love to see the results."
On Varet Street in East Williamsburg, a 100-year-old brick building houses the last unionized men’s clothing factory in New York City with more than 100 employees.
The city was once an epicenter of apparel manufacturing, with more than 3,000 clothing factories rooted here. During the 1970s, fast and low-cost labor abroad forced U.S. companies to ditch the “Made in the USA” label for cheaper alternatives.
Today, 97.5% of apparel sold in America is made outside the U.S. Martin Greenfield Clothiers is the exception — a company thriving by doing things the old-fashioned way, and employing people rather than machines.
Source: The American Apparel & Footwear Association
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
