Made in America Surfing Lifestyle Apparel

Have you checked the label in your board shorts or any of your other surfing clothes to see where they are made?  Would you be surprised to learn that most of what you wear is not made in America but made in sweat shops all around the world.  According to the Textile Fashion Study, China, Hong Cong, Italy, and Bangladesh are the top four. There is a good bet that your surf shorts came from one of these countries.  But if you do your homework you might find great surfing apparel made in America.


At the 2018 Surf Expo, Birdwell Beach Britches and Katin were two exhibitors who make apparel in America.  Birdwell apparel, hats and bags all carry the "Made in the USA" tag.  The Katin brand has some "Made in the USA" label on some of their products.

The reason this caught my attention is that I watched a cable news documentary the other night about the fashion industry which surf lifestyle apparel is part of.  I learned a new term, Fast Fashion.  What is Fast Fashion you may ask.  Fast Fashion is when the fashion industry produces cheap disposable clothes with new fashion season / styles coming out instead of a few times a year to more than ten times a year.  Cheap clothing where styles change often has a big impact on the environment when all these disposal clothes are tossed in the trash or donated. 

Did you know that most of the clothes you donate never, never get worn again.  The internet is filled on articles on this subject.  The documentary I watched showed how much used clothing ended up in Haiti.  Used clothing is shipped out in 1,000 pound bails. Click HERE to read one of these articles from Fashionista.

With Surf Expo being a two times a year event, that appears to me to be perfect.  But Surf Expo is not the only apparel trade show where new styles are rolled out.  I am not sure with America's appetite for new clothing styles can anything be done to stem the tide of throw-a-way clothes. 

All that being said, I would hope that surfers all over the world would be more conscious about the surf lifestyle apparel purchases they make and do their part to reduce the amount of used clothing  piling up in warehouses and landfills around the globe.

Until next time, be safe in the sun and have a great day in the great outdoors.