Local Collection: The Local Crew
Click here to shop the Local Crew!
In the two and a half years that Local Laundry has been in business, we have had many requests to make our clothing truly locally made and our garments be made in Canada. This need led to the heart and foundation of the Local Collection. In order to create apparel part of the Local Collection, it had to have a unique social purpose like The Giving Toque but it also had to be 100% made in Canada. This initiative made us want to come out with apparel that supported made in Canada production and manufacturing plus an added bonus of contributing and giving back to our economy and communities.
The Local Crewneck, the second piece of the Local Collection, is a 100% made in Canada piece that we are going to use as our soapbox to shout out to the world about the importance and value of purchases made in Canada clothing.
Since more brands are moving production overseas in order to cut costs and offer their customers a product at a better price, Canadian textile manufacturing has been left in the dust a little bit. However, we still want to be able to offer to our friends, fans, and customers the option to represent their community and country in an affordable manner.
As a way to offer our customers a chance to support and revive an industry that is undergoing a revolution, we looked to what Alberta had to offer us. Most of the textile manufacturers in Alberta are called 'Heavy Textile' manufacturers who focus on producing heavy garments like Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for oil patches, as well as 'Light Textile garments like t-shirts and sweaters.
With the majority of Canada’s textile industry in Ontario, we’ve made our best efforts to ensure that we partner with a supplier who has experience in sourcing, cutting, sewing, printing and embroidering everything in Canada, even right down to the labels!
Click here to shop the Local Crew!
The biggest difference is made in Canada clothing is undoubtedly the cost of the garments themselves. The most expensive part of any garment is always the labour involved, which is why so many companies source their garments where labour is the cheapest. In Canada, due to our high standards of living and labour laws, made in Canada clothing will always be more expensive than clothing produced from overseas. With minimum wage increase over the next few years in Ontario, clothing produced and manufactured in Canada clothing will only get more expensive.
For Local Laundry, it's important to us and our apart of our value system to support made in Canada manufacturing. If more people bought one piece of clothing that was made in Canada per year it could make the difference between having more makers like ourselves explore made in Canada options. When more clothing is made in Canada, the extra money that you spend stays in the local economies within Canada reducing the carbon footprint of lower shipping distances and you would be supporting multiple local Canadian businesses.
Now, we aren’t asking you to go out and completely convert your wardrobe tomorrow to 100% made in Canada clothing, that’s just not feasible. However, even if you just had one piece of clothing in your closet that was made in Canada, it could go a long way.
Click here to shop the Local Crew!
