Truth Plus

Over the past year of writing Truth Plus, I’ve written a lot about the economic and philosophical implications of bringing manufacturing and textiles back to the US. Yes, there are fashion designers here in NYC who are choosing to source as much as they can locally, and to keep their production in the city for as long as they can. But Rachel Weeks, Founder and CEO of collegiate apparel and accessories brand School House, has gone many steps further towards building a sustainable Made in the USA-based business model.

Weeks, who graduated from Duke University in 2007, and went on to spend a year in Sri Lanka as a Fulbright Scholar the next year, started School House with both fashion and social issues in mind. Her aim was to produce more fashionable, well-made college apparel via fair labor practices and using local resources in North Carolina, where the company is based. Below is a fantastic slideshow, produced by School House, that shows how domestic textiles and apparel manufacturing declined in the past half-century, and how through innovative practices and hard work, they as a company are aiming to bring some of it back. Currently, the company supports over 2000 North Carolina jobs via its offices, vendors, and factories.

Rachel answered a bunch of questions for Truth Plus via email. I hope one day to be able to go visit School House to meet this inspiring entrepreneur and her team, and to see their fresh thought processes being put to work. Congratulations to Rachel on a really smart and exciting venture.

TP: What was your background and how did you conceive of the idea for School House? How did you get the company off the ground?

RW: Growing up in North Carolina, I developed passions for both fashion and feminism and could never find a way to make the two peacefully coexist. When I discovered the field of “ethical fashion” while I was a women’s studies major at Duke, I knew I’d found my passion. I wanted to start a company that would meet a need in the fashion industry but also embody socially responsible manufacturing concepts. Fashionable collegiate apparel was a natural fit! The industry really seemed to be dominated by the same sportswear brands, and I saw a tremendous opportunity to bring products to the market that would capture the essence of the collegiate lifestyle. I also believed that college students would respond to the idea of supporting living wage and craftsmanship through their buying power… Throughout history, college students have always been some of the most progressive members of our culture so I loved the idea of bringing the ethical fashion movement to college.

Following graduation, I had the opportunity to spend a year researching socially responsible apparel manufacturing initiatives in Sri Lanka as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. While I was there, I decided to take the plunge. I had $20,000 from a car accident I was in as an undergraduate (I was hit by a car in NYC – I don’t recommend this is as a start up strategy!) and used it to hire a fashion and graphic designer I interviewed via Skype. I developed the samples for our Duke launch collection, came home and got our first order from Duke University Stores. That was really how it all got started!

TP: Can you talk a bit about your experience in Sri Lanka and how they translated into creating fair labor practices in the US?

RW: Encountering extreme poverty, and living around it, was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. I became so angry with the way our culture started to devalue manufacturing jobs and pushed them overseas to places like Sri Lanka, forcing the world to compete based on who could make it cheaper. The women I met in garment factories could barely afford to feed themselves and were living on less than $2/day. They had such amazing skills, could create such beautiful garments and were the hardest working people I’d ever encountered in my life, but their jobs were just not valued. I decided that I wanted to use School House as a means of promoting the value of human capital, fair wages, and craftsmanship in the fashion industry. We started in Sri Lanka and were able to leave behind the country’s first living wage garment factory, and continue that mission right here in our own backyard — North Carolina.

TP:Had you always been passionate about Made in the USA?

RW: To be honest, the only company that has caught my attention with a “Made in America” label in the past ten years is American Apparel, so I can’t say that it’s been on my radar. However, that’s exactly why I’ve become so passionate about what we are doing with School House. The south in particular has such a rich history of textiles and apparel manufacturing, and no one has tried to breathe new life into the “Made in USA” label in far too long. College students today are graduating into the worst jobs climate in recent historical memory, and in School House they have the opportunity to support a company creating new jobs every day…just by buying a super cute cardigan. There’s no better time for this!

TP: How did you go about finding all of these local businesses? It’s amazing but I can imagine it was challenging.

RW: We truly have gone door-to-door. Some of the best factories we’ve found didn’t even have websites, so we had to follow a ton of leads and trust a lot of references. It also happened quite a bit that someone would refer us to a factory, and we would find that they had since closed. So many factories have shut down in small town America over the past decade it is so sad! But the businesses that remain have survived through their ability to innovate and respond to new opportunities like ours. I just think we are entering a new manufacturing era more focused on cottage industries.

TP:Do you think they way you’ve built School House could be replicated by other US businesses? Is all Made in the USA a scaleable, profitable concept?

RW: Absolutely. Particularly with rising costs in China, skyrocketing fuel prices, etc. more and more companies are looking at how they can do this. It is not a fit for all companies–particularly volume based, cost driven manufacturing businesses–but for higher end brands and cottage industry products there are certainly profitable ways to manufacture in the U.S.

TP:Who is the core School House customer?

RW: Our core customer base is 18-25 year old young women attending college. As we grow, we certainly want to design for alumni audiences, teens, babies, you name it! But right now, it’s all about the co-eds.

TP: Do you work directly with universities? Such a great idea to bring the ‘America’ back to American schools.

RW: Yes, we partner with each university’s licensing department to obtain the rights to manufacture their merchandise. I look at every one of those conversations as unique and important in order to build long-lasting relationships with these schools.

TP: What are your plans for the future as you move forward with School House?

RW: I want School House to live up to its fullest potential. I believe we can and will be a household name, and that we can build a brand that is recognized globally for our mantra – “American Collegiate Craftsmanship.” I know it will take even more blood, sweat, and tears than I’ve already put in it, but I’m in for the long haul!