This Chicago-based apparel manufacturer makes a good product at a competitive price.
Blue jeans are an enduring part of the American fabric.
Ever since Levi Strauss and partner Jacob Davis invented the sturdy work pants in San Francisco in 1873, blue jeans have become synonymous with the American worker and the rugged clothing of the West.
Through the subsequent generations, denim pants have graduated from dependable work clothing to fashionable apparel worn for almost any occasion.
And while still a symbol of Americana, blue jean manufacturing is no longer a quintessential example of apparel made in the United States.
The Big Three of blue jean manufacturing – Levi’s, Wrangler, and Lee – no longer manufacture their denim pants in America. That task is left to a few dozen smaller companies committed to keeping blue jeans an American enterprise.
Dearborn Denim is one such company trying to continue the American tradition of denim manufacturing at its factory in Chicago.
Launched in 2016 by young financial trader Robert McMillan, Dearborn Denim is proud to be American-made and relies on the premise of producing quality jeans sold at a competitive price with the many foreign-made brands.
“Competition in the denim space is pretty fierce,” said the 41-year-old McMillan. “There are a lot of people who make a lot of jeans. We differentiate ourselves with good products, cut and sewn in the USA at competitive prices. We have a $39 jean that is made in the United States.
“Even when you compare it against imports, those imports are being made with inferior denim and our jeans just last 12 times longer. Our jeans are much cheaper on a per-wear basis. Of course, we have fancier jeans that go all the way up to $120. Our best sellers are sold for $75.”
The Cherry On Top
Dearborn Denim sources its denim fabric from Mt. Vernon Mills in South Carolina and Cone Mills from its Parras, Mexico facility. The popular Cone Mills White Oak Demin factory in North Carolina closed at the end of 2017, leaving a paucity of American denim mills for sourcing.
“There were a number of mills still open in the United States in 2017; Cone Mills White Oak, Denim North America, another called Denimburg, but the options for U.S. denim have decreased,” said McMillan. “Vernon Mills has several locations in Georgia and South Carolina and uses cotton grown in the U.S.”
Once the denim fabric is shipped to the 25,000 square-foot Dearborn Denim factory, the fabric is cut, sewn, finished, and shipped directly to customers. A team of 60 employees can produce 500 pairs of jeans per day in styles for both men and women. The company also manufactures multiple other products for men including button-down shirts, jackets, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and underwear.
“With the American-made messaging, we treat it as the cherry on top as opposed to a reason for buying our products,” said McMillan. “The reason for buying our products is that we provide an exceptional value to customers, the right combination of comfort, durability, and price.
“We kind of lean on the ‘buy a product made in the USA’ as a differentiator in the market, but by no means is it ‘buy our product because it is made in the USA.’ It’s ‘buy our product because we make a really phenomenal product and oh, by the way, it’s made in the USA.’
“We make sure we make products that last a long time and give a customer a great value, which is why we have an exceptionally high returning customer rate because they really like the product. It’s a great value. We hear about everybody struggling financially so we don’t try to price-gouge for our products.”
The Digital Boardwalk
Evidence of customer satisfaction can be witnessed through Dearborn Denim’s sales.
“We are having our best year ever,” said McMillan, who has watched his company grow year-over-year. “We are a bootstrapped, family-owned company. We don’t have outside investors. We keep growing and continue expanding our facilities, expand our head count, expand our manufacturing capabilities in terms of equipment we have on hand.
“It’s really old-school marketing. If you want to grow a business, you just have to be the best in the space that you are in. The return customer is how any of it works. You have to make sure they come back for more.”
Dearborn Denim received high marks in a Wirecutter review by the New York Times in December and continues to expand its reach through positive reviews and social media advertising. With just one brick-and-mortar store in Chicago, Dearborn Denim is a dedicated e-commerce business with just a small batch of production for wholesale.
“Everybody originally thought with e-commerce you have so much less overhead, compared to brick-and-mortar retail,” said McMillan, who is the sole owner of Dearborn Denim. “But the fact is you have to pay the Mark Zuckerbergs, the Googles, the Metas for the traffic. So, there is a new kind of rent, and that rent is digital advertising because you have to keep the website relevant, so you have to keep your digital spending up or otherwise your traffic goes down. So, instead of having a big sign on Main Street you have to have a big advertising spend on the digital boardwalk.”
To keep prices competitive with foreign-made competition that use cheaper denim and pays low labor costs, Dearborn Denim runs profit margins from between 40 and 60 percent. Most other brands run on margins of 70 to 80 percent.
“Depending on the product our margins generally fall in the 50 percent range,” added McMillan. “Those are a little bit tighter than normal for e-commerce brands, but our success is based on offering our customer a good value.”
“How many people found out about us today.”
McMillan still considers Levi’s and Wrangler as his main competitors even though historically those two behemoths have less market share than they did 30 years ago. But he continues to take on the challenges that American manufacturers still face and is looking ahead to continuous growth.
“I know a lot of people are down in the manufacturing space right now, especially with the jobs report that just came out with the largest revisions that ever occurred, but people still need pants,” he said. “You have to remember we are a relatively small jean brand and to us, being up or down in the grand scheme of the market as a whole, we are not like a top-three player.
“For us, it is more like, ‘how many people found out about us?’ That’s what determines our sales. How many people found out about us today.”
Dearborn Denim jeans are available in many colors other than the traditional blue jeans. There are also many distinctive styles to choose from. Shop Dearborn Denim jeans and other apparel at www.dearborndenim.us.
The Alliance for American Manufacturing does not receive a commission from purchases made through the above links, nor was the organization or author paid for favorable coverage.
Labeling Note: This story is intended to highlight companies that support American jobs and that make great products in the United States. We rely on the companies listed to provide accurate information regarding their domestic operations and their products. Each company featured is individually responsible for labeling and advertising their products according to applicable standards, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s “Made in USA” standard or California’s “Made in USA” labeling law. We do not review individual products for compliance or claim that because a company is listed in the guide that their products comply with specific labeling or advertising standards. Our focus is on supporting companies that create American jobs.
For more on the Federal Trade Commission’s standards for “Made in USA” claims and California’s “Made in USA” labeling law, please also read this guest post by Dustin Painter and Kristi Wolff of Kelly Drye & Warren, LLP.