Free Republic

A once-virtuous cycle is breaking down. What now? For decades, the donation bin has offered consumers in rich countries a guilt-free way to unload their old clothing. In a virtuous and profitable cycle, a global network of traders would collect these garments, grade them, and transport them around the world to be recycled, worn again, or turned into rags and stuffing. Now that cycle is breaking down. Fashion trends are accelerating, new clothes are becoming as cheap as used ones, and poor countries are turning their backs on the secondhand trade. Without significant changes in the way that clothes are...

112-Year-Old Apparel Maker In Pa. To Close Sun, 11/04/2012 - 1:20pm Michael Rubinkam, ORWIGSBURG, Pa. -- One of the last U.S. apparel manufacturers of its kind is losing its shirt. FesslerUSA had survived war and depression, free trade and foreign imports, producing millions of knitted garments from its base in eastern Pennsylvania. Five years ago, third-generation owner Walter Meck and his family were feeling so good about the company's prospects they doubled capacity, moving into a former pencil factory outside the small town of Orwigsburg. They were still setting up shop in the new place when the Great Recession hit....