Good news in the Mending Department
A friend, Jeremy Liu, just sent me an article about American Giant (link at the end of my brief comments). They’ve done something radical in the world of manufacturing. Rather than continue to discard their messed up product, they decided to fix and sell them—and, gloriously, celebrate the fixing by making it visible. American Giant took what had been a line of waste and made it a product line.
It looks like American Giant has a radical organization: From Fast Company’s report, the workers, based in the US, wanted the production-line-damaged hoodies to be repaired and sold. The workers! They wanted their work to be visible and honored.
What does it take? I think it’s a fundamental result of American Giant owning their production facilities—no outsourcing labor, here or elsewhere; they keep production local; they give the production staff access to operations and management staff. (I want to write that whole sentence again because it is so important, you could just read it again.)
How do we generate products that give people comfort and yet acknowledge that the planet has limited resources. Here’s a model. Free flowing communication—up and down the chain of command, recognition of the value of material(s), recognition of the value of work, prices that reflect the cost of materials and labor, sufficient volume to keep prices competitive with other comparable manufacturers.