When Glenn announced that he would be launching a clothing line with American-made clothing, most in the media were left scratching their heads and many tried to mock. But now that he's released 1791 Jeans, the fashion world is starting to take notice.
Outside Online, a website and magazine dedicated to encouraging active participation in the world outdoors, has written about 1791 Jeans in the "Plaid and Canvas" feature:
Yet, Americans are becoming more conscious about where their products come from (see: the “locally sourced” movement), and, in the case of blue jeans, it has aligned two very different sorts of people: Glenn Beck and menswear bloggers.[...]there is something interesting about Beck telling his 27-year-old son-in-law, Tim DiDonato, who Beck hired to design for his 1791 Supply & Co., that “you have to find selvage.”
That was his one specification for the company he supposedly started after seeing a Levi Strauss & Co. commercial using “global revolutions and progressivism to sell their products." Beck proudly announced that the jeans would be made in the USA, going on to say, “We make them from the same company that Levi's gave up on,” which isn’t totally correct. Beck’s jeans are made by the same White Oak denim mill Levi’s still does business with, but the man wanted his selvage denim, just like almost every forward-thinking American menswear enthusiast.
Just Google “selvage denim” and you’re bombarded with dozens of results telling you it’s trendy, that hipsters like it, that menswear enthusiasts like it, and etc. While you’re unlikely to see Beck’s jeans worn by models on Milan runways, the timing of Beck’s launch came almost exactly a month after Alex Williams of the New York Times called the “Made in the USA” tag, “a signifier of old-school craftsmanship, even luxury.” The piece even went on to mention the plant used by both Levi Strauss & Co. and Beck, saying “the embrace of domestic goods has also moved beyond scruffy D.J. types in Brooklyn who plunk down $275 for a pair of hand-sewn Dungarees sewn from Cone denim from the company’s White Oak plant in North Carolina.”
Read the full article HERE