Winthrop: Patriotism and domestic manufacturing support are fundamentally nonpartisan
Bayard Winthrop · American Giant: Bayard Winthrop · Jul 1, 2024 · at 31:04
Bayard Winthrop is the founder and CEO of American Giant. He discusses avoiding partisan politics when launching an American-made apparel company in 2011.
0:00 / 0:21exact quote · 21.9s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I view those types of things as patriotic and nonpartisan in their very nature. And this idea that Let's say the conservatives have claimed a patriotism I find to be just wrong. I think that we're all, you know, most Americans are deeply patriotic and they might have different approaches to it.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Bayard Winthrop
Trump and Biden Administrations Maintained Surprisingly Consistent Protectionist Trade Policies
“Two pretty opposed administrations, obviously. They're quite consistent on trade policy. Bob Lighthizer, who is the U.S. Trade Representative under Trump, right? And Ambassador Tai under Biden actually see the world quite similarly and are doing good work.”
American Giant Could Produce a High-Quality 100% Domestic Cotton T-Shirt for $15
“I mean, I could produce a great quality, hundred percent cotton t-shirt that you would love. That would retail for 15 bucks or less.”
Winthrop: Abandoning local manufacturing and quality alienates core brand customers
“If you lost that foundation, if you lost that commitment to quality, you lost that value system that supported local manufacturers, your core customers would leave you, and when they left you, eventually you'd lose everybody.”
Winthrop: Committing to American-made supply chains gives brands a competitive edge
“If you exist on a foundation of a commitment to a type of a supply chain like American made or a really high quality that gives you a leg up, you could stand out and do something unique and something that, that customers would really value.”
U.S. Foreign Policy Purposefully Sacrificed Domestic Manufacturing for Cheap Consumer Goods
“We made a bipartisan decision to place consumption at the center of our foreign policy. We felt that getting consumers the cheapest prices and the most choice was the absolute best thing to do, as opposed to putting manufacturing at the center of our foreign p…”
Winthrop: US manufacturing has far stronger legal protections than Bangladesh or China
“And to be clear, if you make stuff in the United States, you get the human rights benefits, the environmental benefits, the worker safety benefits that are baked into domestic law in a way that if you make it somewhere else, like Bangladesh or China, there are…”