A couple of weeks ago I was in Las Vegas. For some reason, shopping in Vegas always seems better than shopping at home - even if you're shopping in all of the same stores. There we were, at The Fashion Show mall near the Wynn rifling through racks at, first, Forever 21, then H&M, then TopShop (granted we do not have one in LA yet) and I got really sad. Wandering through the land of mass production, the world of everyone wearing the same boring look and then tossing it in the trash and updating it weeks later at another fast fashion shop, was breaking my heart. How is there nothing interesting out there anymore, how is it that fast fashion has become an acceptable way to clothe yourself - bringing home the latest trends moments after you see them in magazines and losing our individuality all over again. I even find myself putting together the weirdest outfits these days because I'm so sick of looking like everything else out there. I want to help promote a change. Lets all own different things, made on a smaller scale so you know it's special and fairly unique to who you are!
A few months ago i decided I was going to do my best to support garments manufactured at the very least, in the country the brands hail from - this cut down my shopping significantly. No Forever 21, no H&M, but also take away my favorite Helmut Lang, most of what is sold at Bloomingdales, Saks, Neimans, Ron Herman, etc. It's pretty stunning how much high end merchandise is manufactured in China, Indonesia, Turkey, India, Taiwan, and who knows where else. As a Los Angeles based manufacturer I know it's not impossible to do it here and to do it for a reasonable price, so I find myself disappointed that some of the most expensive lines out there can't figure out how to manufacture locally. Is it greed? Volume? Quality? The reasons don't matter to me much anymore. I have simply begun to care more about a local economy. If you are going to spend your money on something, maybe it should be toward promoting jobs in your own city. I know that Linden is not the only local line out there, so I want to know who else manufactures here and is worth knowing about. Not just fashion, but any product manufactured in this city. I created a facebook community page just to see who else is interested in this, who else feels passionately about it. Share with me and the rest of this LA loving community who has a business worth checking out. Click the link below, like the page, and please suggest LA local designers and manufacturers you love!
MadeInLosAngeles - click this link to find the new facebook page
