How a kids clothing company keeps it American-made

The vast majority of clothing sold in the United States is imported from overseas. For the apparel that is still made here, Los Angeles is the garment-manufacturing hub of the country, with around 45,000 workers employed in the sector.

“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Joe Willis and Shayna Samuels, the husband and wife team behind the Los Angeles-based kids clothing company City Threads. They make their clothing — mostly cotton basics for kids — using the city’s garment production ecosystem. Ryssdal met them at a sewing factory in South El Monte that City Threads has been working with for almost 15 years.

Samuels started the company almost 25 years ago while Willis was in graduate school. Willis eventually joined City Threads full time.

“We have seven employees in our office full time, but with the whole infrastructure of manufacturing around town, it ends up being hundreds of people,” Willis said. They work with cutters, sewers, dye houses, knitters, and more.

While many other clothing brands moved their production overseas, City Threads kept their manufacturing in Los Angeles.

“Here, we can see every step of the process,” Samuels said. “We buy the fabric, it goes to the cutter, and if there’s a mistake we can see it there and repair it,” allowing them to catch and fix problems faster than if they were importing from overseas, she said.

Samuels and Willis met each other while they were students at Santa Monica High School, and both have grandparents who worked in the LA garment industry. Samuels’ grandmother owned a kids clothing store, and both of Willis’ grandfathers worked in leather. One was a cutter for leather coats and one managed a shoe factory.

“All the contractors that we use now, they were around back then,” Willis said. “There’s still enough of an infrastructure here that we can do it, and there’s still competition for price.”

Click the audio player above to hear their full conversation with Kai.