While Detroit has been recognized as the Motor City for the last century, another manufacturing industry has been growing over the last decade.
Small apparel manufacturing businesses have popped up around the city and nearby suburbs and are taking on big issues.
As most fashion brands are importing products from factories overseas, the remaining pockets of American apparel making largely remain in the Carolinas, California and the Pacific Northwest. However, industry leaders in metro Detroit say the area's businesses offer a fresh perspective of what apparel manufacturing could be, rather than a continuation of what it has been.
"I think that we can develop this region as an ethical Silicon Valley for apparel manufacturing," said Jennifer Guarino, founder and CEO of Detroit-based nonprofit Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center.
While ISAIC had been in the works for a few years, it officially launched April 2020 in a 12,000 square-foot Midtown Detroit space funded by Carhartt Inc. The organization continues to operate above Carhartt's flagship store on Cass Avenue with a staff of 33.
"Everyone in this industry here is really trying to challenge the existing model," said Brenna Lane, co-owner of jean manufacturer Detroit Denim Co.
Within the last few decades, a phenomenon called "fast fashion" has taken over the industry. Brands including Forever 21, H&M, Shein and ZARA produce new garments quickly and cheaply. Such practices include competing to reduce costs and improve bottom lines by compromising quality, paying the lowest wages and risking inadequate work conditions.
"You have to really be considering a triple bottom line approach to truly be sustainable," Lane said.
The triple bottom line takes into account the financial cost, along with social and environmental costs.
Over the last few years, the fashion industry has been singled out for its perpetuation of unethical labor standards and environmental consequences. Concurrently, Lane said that she has witnessed an increase in greenwashing, a form of deceptive marketing in which a company purports to be taking sustainable initiatives to attract customers and distance itself from its industry's environmental concerns.
"On the one hand, I think I get really frustrated by that," Lane said. "… On the other hand, it lets me know that people are starting to demand that their brands be showing some sort of sustainability initiative."
"The curtain's been pulled back on the industry, so it's not going to be out of sight, out of mind anymore," Guarino said.
Balancing a triple bottom line in apparel manufacturing must include innovations in technology, Guarino said.
"So many chase the lowest unit price," Guarino said. "If you don't overproduce and chase that unit price, all those resources that you're dumping, by choice, can go toward paying labor — domestic labor."
ISAIC's equipment includes programmable sewing machines, laser cutters and multi-ply cutting machines.
"Instead of having people earn low wages doing menial tasks, you deploy tech to do those, then you can actually afford to pay more at a higher-skilled contribution," Guarino said.
Over the next nine months, ISAIC is expected to see more advancements in technology, she said.
Detroit Denim operates out of a 5,000-square-foot space on Detroit's west sidewith a seven-person staff. The entire business runs on a made-to-order model, Lane said, to which the company pivoted in May 2021 in efforts to reduce waste.
"We're no longer speculatively manufacturing and saying 'You know, I think this many in a size this are going to order jeans,'" Lane said.
Since the new model's launch, Lane said she has seen proof of concept that jeans can be made profitably without a large inventory. The product is also customizable to each customer's size and style preferences.
Other local companies in the industry are offering similar models.
Dearborn-based Carhartt, which has a global workforce of more than 5,500 people, is testing a program that allows users to customize their workwear. For example, a left-handed construction worker could move the hammer loop on their pants to the left side. The program is in partnership with DXM, a technology platform that enables companies to custom fit, personalize or co-create products.
"Making sure that there's no waste, that you're not overbuilding inventory, a lot of the focus has been about this idea of a unit of one," said Alex Guerrero, senior vice president and general manager of global product at Carhartt.
Founded in 1889, Carhartt operates and owns four manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and three in Mexico. Carhartt's revenue was $1.35 billion last year, according to Crain's Data Center.
The family-owned company began as a workwear manufacturer for railroad engineers, the "astronauts of the day." It now sources or manufactures in nearly 20 countries. Of the 35 retail stores across the United States, two are in Michigan with its flagship store in Detroit. One of its largest U.S. customers is Tennessee-based farm and ranch supply store Tractor Supply Co.
Detroit Sewn, a Pontiac-based cut-and-sew operation that also sells retail from its space, has also shifted to a made-to-order model for its brand to minimize waste. The company manufactures in its own facility and sometimes imports blank apparel — clothing without any decoration for brands to add designs — when orders cannot be fulfilled in-house.
"This is us doing our part to prevent waste, which the apparel industry is so widely known for and such an abuser of, so we don't keep big stockpiles of inventory," Detroit Sewn President and CEO Karen Buscemi said.
In addition to Detroit Sewn, Buscemi founded nonprofit Detroit Garment Group in 2012, which provides educational programs on the business of fashion, mentorships and connections to job opportunities in the industry.
"Of all the fashion programs that we have in the state … none of them were teaching anything about the business of fashion. So they were all graduating them with the skills to be a fashion designer, but not to actually do anything with that other than go to work for somebody else," Buscemi said.
The lack of local skilled sewers has pivoted businesses to include training in their hiring process.
"We really do have to train a lot in-house, and we've just worked that into our model," Detroit Denim's Lane said.
Offering competitive wages and a healthy work environment is also important to keep turnover low, she said.
Since its launch in 2020, ISAIC has graduated 25 students from its in-house Fundamentals of Industrial Sewing and Production course. While ISAIC's focus is on apparel, Guarino said the organization's programs and solutions are also applicable to manufacturing soft goods, or textile products like automotive interiors, bedding and carpet. Local cut-and-sew companies have hired some of the graduates, including Detroit Denim.
Gettees, an apparel basics company operating out of a factory in Sterling Heights, was inspired by a college assignment.
Mat Hunt was at Michigan State University working on a case study of the garment industry when he came across reports about the 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse in Bangladesh, an event that spotlighted labor concerns in fashion.
As a result of what he learned, Hunt said he strives to keep all aspects of Gettees local. Cotton is sourced from the U.S., and the design, cut and sew steps are done in its Sterling Heights factory with a production staff of about 15.
"Some of our first sewers had a lot of experience in automotive sewing," Hunt said. Overall, however, extensive training is built into the onboarding process at Gettees.
"Part of the challenge is wherever you go in this country, we can't find talent," Guarino said.
With continued efforts, Guarino said she envisions major fashion brands reshoring production to Detroit.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of apparel manufacturing employees in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area increased by 61.6 percent, from 716 workers in 2011 to 1,157 in 2021. BLS data also showed an increase in the number of private apparel manufacturing establishments nationwide over the course of 2021 — from 6,304 companies in the first quarter to to 6,526 in the fourth quarter.
"If we can build a really great talent force here, the industry will come here in a heartbeat," Guarino said.
As storefronts shut down at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, apparel manufacturers in metro Detroit found a way to contribute — and keep their businesses afloat.
ISAIC, Gettees, Detroit Denim, Detroit Sewn and others pivoted from their usual production lines and committed their factories to making personal protective equipment for hospitals, nonprofits and community organizations.
"It supplied PPE, but it kept some of those businesses open," Guarino said.
Detroit Sewn fulfilled mask and isolation gown orders as large as 75,000 units. "I think we learned a lot about what a little factory really can do," Buscemi said.
At Gettees, "The growth definitely leveled off a little bit because of COVID, but we felt lucky enough to keep people working, and sewing masks and gowns and helping out," Hunt said.
Online shopping also heavily increased during the pandemic and gave brands an opportunity to continue sales and decelerate revenue declines.
Hunt said that while Gettees has a brick-and-mortar store in Eastern Market, about 80 percent of sales come from e-commerce. Last year, Gettees' online sales were up 100 percent last year over the previous year, Hunt said, and it is projected to double again this year.
Lane said she and her husband, who founded the company, had to shut down Detroit Denim's storefront during the pandemic and online sales enabled them to stay afloat. However, they're planning to reopen their brick-and-mortar shop this fall.
"I think it's (Detroit) a really great place to challenge the industry," Lane said.
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