that could have been the comment i was referring to danielle. My comments weren’t to any particular comment that was up, it was just a response to the sum of the comments that were up. i appologize if it came across in an offensive manner, but when i’m really passionate about something i tend to be quite blunt. Its nice to find somewhere where we can exchange opinions of the state of our industry. My biggest frustration lies in the greed opressing the love in the clothing industry, at least in Canada. But that is because we have let it and the consumer doesn’t have a choice anymore. It has become quite disgusting its all about squeezing costs as tight as possible, and quality has become difficult to maintain, and theres no attempt at creating something tantelizing its more about creating something that will sell. so is the death of the highpayed designer, instead its just rotating entry level positions. but there is definetally a shift coming, to the demand for quality apparel, ethical apparel and apparel that is sustainable in style as well as quality. That is definetally the outlook and the direction that “lewd” will be taking. I do hope you will follow our progress and i do hope you will make an effort to come support us at our brand launch and limited edition shopping event at end of march. Check out http://www.lewdclothing.com for location and times.

thanks for your response
veekee @ lewd

Congrats on the new line. Production is always challenging, wherever it is done, and I agree that value for money needs to match up.

Bullshit that Canadians don’t appreciate style? I’m not saying all Canadians don’t care about fashion – just that most of them could care less. The market here for exciting clothes is small but just as adamant as your comment here.

I do think that most canadians do have a sartorial sense – just one that is not a fashionable one. The non-appreciation of style goes both ways in this country between the stylish urbanistas and the rest of us

Perhaps I don’t pay attention to everything, only what interests me. Fashion does nod the Canadian way every now and then, with Montreal indie music as you point out, or Canada Goose jackets and Dickies as we were discussing on finalfashion a few weeks ago.

So whoever wrote the bullshit about not bothering to try to create a brand out of canada i’d love to hear your response to this. – Veekee

I have no idea what you are referring to here, or I’d love to respond. Most of what I’m attempting to talk about here is embracing and building a Canadian brand in general, and speculating about what makes Canadian Labels successful, or not.  I’m not saying my word is the last word on any of this – just trying to generate discussion and ideas.
Thanks for reading or commenting. I look forward to following Lewd’s progress, and commenting on that =)

veekee

Here’s how it is guys-

make a good product, deliver it on time for the right price = make $.

Get caught up in your ego / don’t take care of business = lose money.

Also, I agree that there are great Canadian apparel success stories that just aren’t celebrated the way they should be. Are overalls uncool? Who gives a crap if they are or not. That’s the joy of fashion, if you think it’s cool, it is! Plus overalls, hiking hats, beautiful leather winter boots….they are all part of the story of Canadian apparel success. We should be showing appreciation for the manufactures of these products because clearly there are lots of people out there who love this stuff. Hello….It’s selling….without any pity money from the government!!! Furthermore, we should love it because it’s Canadian. So is fur, to all you PETA people. It’s a big part of why Canada exists! ATTN Canada: Let’s accept and promote who we are already.

Lastly, a word on globalization….
Most companies out there are scrambling to make sure they are producing overseas which allows them to make the most margin. By having all the world’s factory jobs in China, the Chinese standard of living is improving. Its just a matter of time before the Chinese need wages comparable to what it would cost to pay someone in North America. That leaves us in a situation where Chinese/ third world countries have the jobs, the infrastructure and the capital to manage production, whereas we do not. End result = we’re at their mercy.

Thanks, Danielle for starting a real discussion on the Canadian Apparel and Manufacturing industry.

I just returned from a trip to China last month. I toured apparel factories and fabric mills. This trip provided me with a much better understanding of the “bigger picture” and not just issues surrounding the garment industry. I needed to see things for myself and I saw some sad things.

The pollution really bothered me the most. It “seems” we work so hard on environmental issues here in the West , cognizant of the future generations that will need clean air and water while in parts of Asia, especially China, they are turning their country into a gigantic cesspool.And it gets worse every month.

Last word from me on Charney. Definitely give him credit for taking a T-shirt company to where it is today. Did a good job on branding. He really should give Mexico and Honduras credit for making much of his product , and not claim everything is made in Downtown LA. And his behaviour at work is in my opinion lewd,lascivious. A real creep.

You make a good point about sustainable manufacturing being closer to home. It’s definitely cleaner not to ship things so far…. I would argue that ideally, investing in 3rd world countries (worlds biggest polluters by far, yuck) should help them modernize, make the switch from coal to electricity/nuclear.

The whole thing with production in China is that – and sorry to sound like a huge nerd here – the Chinese dollar is undervalued by the (Communist) Chinese government right now. It’s not like here where a free market sets the value of a dollar. The CG says “okay, eight yuan are worth one American dollar” and that’s it. No one even KNOWS how much a yuan is really worth. Insane, right? It’s messing up the whole world banking system. But people getting paid, say 0.50$/hour in China might actually be worth a bit more than we think it is.
But it’s really unfair to US/CDN manufacturers and part of the reason so many factories keep moving over there.

If it were to be revalued living in North America would be alot more expensive, though. The cost of living here would skyrocket, since all our cheap Chinese toys wouldn’t be so cheap anymore (domestic production might rise, too – a bonus for CND manufacturing).

Big Irv – I don’t think Dov Charney is perfect, by anyone’s standards. I just think he’s done a few things right with his company that shouldn’t be overlooked because of his behaviour at work.

We have some awesome talented designers here in Canada. Doing all categories of apparel,and some doing it very well.

Sadly, many think that by trying to service the local CDN market, their company will thrive and grow leaps and bounds.

Not so in my opinion. We have a huge country with a miniscule population of 32 million people. We don’t spend like Americans on apparel, we have no quota protection, as well as high distribution costs to reach the few thousand buyers that will buy our products.
I think CDN designers need to peddle their wares to the US marketplace in order to make any kind of decent living.
I am not surprised Dubuc’s company went bankrupt. Producing clothing in Montreal has been difficult in recent years, but it shouldn’t be cited for being at the center of the bankruptcy.
I wonder just how much of Dubuc’s sales were to US concerns.

As for Dov Charney selling American Apparel, does this mean every female employee of AA is now breathing a huge sigh of relief ? Does this mean his “plans” on opening a US minimum wage factory in China are onhold ? Keep us posted.