Category: General Business (Page 14 of 17)

They started out as child actors, and then moved on to becoming cash cows in the tween market with their DVDs. Now the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley (left above), are becoming fashion moguls.

Newsweek has a story on their high-end fashion label, The Row, and their incredible rise as a power in the fashion world.

Even more interesting is the fact that they have become advocates of American manufacturing:

The Olsens, who will be 25 in June, did not go to fashion or art school. They have built a considerable reputation by obsessing over darts (they hate them), gamely absorbing the blows of skeptical retailers, and keeping their celebrity mostly under wraps. They also have become champions in a longstanding effort to save this country’s garment factories. In 1965, factories in America produced 95 percent of the clothes sold in this country, according to savethegarmentcenter.org. Today, only 5 percent of the clothes sold here are produced locally. The future of New York’s garment center is no longer in mass production, activists argue, but rather in small-scale, high-end manufacturing that relies on skilled artisans.

“The whole point is reinvention—not what it was, but what it can be,” says designer Yeohlee Teng, who has been a leader in the effort.

The Olsens have taken up this blue-collar cause by producing their collection in factories in New York and, to a lesser degree, Los Angeles. (Their handbags are produced in Italy, as are a few of their superfine knits.)

“I really believe in our being able to create here and utilize the skills that people have here,” says Ashley. “The skill set is here. Our main issue is that some of the machinery is gone, so some knitwear is produced in Italy. But whether it’s clothing or cars, I believe in manufacturing as close to home as possible.”

It will be interesting to see if this sparks a trend in the U.S. garment industry.