LISTEN: Where Do Your Blue Jeans Come From?

By Matthew McMullan
Nov 20 2017 |
Photo courtesy LC King’s Instagram page

For LC King’s jeans, the short answer is: Tennessee. The long answer is: All over America.

If you’re selling an American-made product, it takes some work to truly guarantee it’ll be Made in America. Following the exodus of a lot of U.S. industry after tectonic shifts in the global economy, it simply isn’t easy to find every input your product requires in the United States.

But that isn’t a problem for LC King, a Tennessee-based workwear manufacturer.

“Our customer really wants a 100 percent, American-made jacket, jean or coat, and we’re able to supply that, said Jack King, the current preisdent and great-grandson of the company’s founder. King told the Manufacturing Report podcast that he domestically sources everything that goes into the products they put on the shelves at its factory store in Bristol, Tennessee:

Whether it’s our fabric comes from Trion, Georgia out of Mount Vernon Mills, or denim that comes from Cone mills, which is closing, but we have a backup with Mount Vernon; our thread comes out of Atlanta, Georgia, Venus thread; our buttons come out of Lawrenceburg Kentucky, from YKK. Our iconic red zipper, it comes out of Macon, Georgia; the tag comes out of Addison, Texas, and our overall hardware, which are the hooks and the bars, it comes out of Massachusetts. So it’s 100 percent American-made. And the pocketing comes out of South Carolina. Jack King

It’s quite illustrative of how much goes into making an American-made product – and gives a snapshot of the map of domestic suppliers that apparel manufacturers rely upon, if they choose not import their goods.

LC King doesn’t import. It’s been relying on American-made supplies and a quality product for its century of existence. Check them out online, and listen to the whole podcast here or right here: