Clothing 'Made in USA'--How About 'Made in Silicon Valley'

As the death toll at the garment factory that collapsed in Bangladesh tops 1,000, the "Made in USA" label has gotten renewed attention.

The factory, just north of the capital of Dhaka, housed contractors that mass-produced cheap clothing for many Western companies and paid workers low wages. And while manufacturing has increased in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia, it has fallen dramatically in the United States.

But in Mountain View, at least one clothing company remains on American soil—well, if you count bikinis as clothes.

Established in Sunnyvale in 1984, Ujena Swimwear has manufactured bikinis and one-piece swimsuits from their factory at 1931 Old Middlefield Way for 11 years. In 2010, the family-owned business added a showroom.

"It is unusual to be down the street from Google, yes," said Lisa Anderson, president and co-designer of the swimwear. Ujena has developed a customer base of women at the nearby technology companies who like to try swimsuits on. "The women at these big companies are busy. If they need to travel they can easily swing by."

A Los Altan, Anderson explained that Ujena Swimwear "is not what you can get at Target," in reference to the origin and price of the garment. The cost of Ujena Swimwear can range between $64 to $249, and it's all made in Mountain View.

"There was a time, one run, that we tried manufacturing in China, but the quality was lower," she said about the lining of the fabric and the feel of the clips. "It was a lot less expensive, but not worth it."

That's a similar conclusion that author Elizabeth Cline arrived at while researching her book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. She now reads labels carefully and prefers to buy "Made in USA." If not, she purchases used clothes at second-hand stores.

Cline told NPR's Terry Gross that to meet their profit margins, companies like Wal-Mart, H&M and Zara produced tons of clothes and "they sell them for as cheaply as they can, and they do that by lowering the quality and finding the cheapest labor they can to make it." 

Stores like Walmart and the Gap have expressed an interest in improving labor practices in nations from where they import clothes.

As president of the company, Anderson thinks about profits. However, she expressed that profits don't drive the business.

"We'd rather have a quality product with more Bay Area presence and keep it at the steady pace it is," she said.

For Ujena, a steady pace helps the company afford to pay and keep employees who know their product well.

"We really need to be careful because we have long-term staff that we are committed to," Anderson said about a staff that grows to 40 during the peak summer swimsuit season. The longest employee at the 29-year-old company has been there 22 years. "It can be dangerous to get so big and then have to put the brakes on it," that is, to have to let go of workers, she explained.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of workers in the garment industry decreased between 1990 to 2010 from 900,000 to 150,000—that's a job loss of more than 80 percent. The greatest number of layoffs occurred in 1996 and have continued since, the BLS report shows. This change in apparel manufacturing in the United States was a result of the 1993 signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement, noted Cline in her interview.

With customers all over the globe, Ujena staff prides itself on its "hands on" approach.

"If we have an idea we can go to the back and in a few hours have a sample," said Trisha Tompkins, Anderson's co-designer. The swimwear brand can also make a quick alterations for a customer in the showroom.

This attention to detail and quality has helped Ujena maintain loyals fans, some who've had the same swimsuit for 20 years Tompkins boasted.

"We makes suits that are high quality and using great fabric that's timeless," Anderson said.

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