It’s nearly Superbowl Sunday, and it’s downright chilly in much of the country. When I grew up in Washington, winter was a time when the soil was damp, with the smell of rotting leaves, and often with the perma-damp texture of mud that freezes at night and thaws during the day. Really, a great surface for playing football.  I’m not going to put up any fronts. I had a short, awkward relationship with football, primarily in elementary school. Football and I tried to make it work again in the 7th grade, but it felt uncomfortable and forced. Finally as adults, football and I have matured, respect our differences, and enjoy a romp in the park once or twice a year. The Wilson website has precious little about the history of this company. What are they hiding?  Wilson Sporting Goods can trace its roots back to Schwarzchild & Sulzberger Meat packing plant in New York City. Rather than throwing away all the valuable animal by-products, Sulzberger decided to start Ashland Manufacturing Company in 1913, making tennis rackets, violin strings, and surgical sutures. In 1915 Thomas E. Wilson was appointed president and, in a stunning display of presidential ego, promptly changed the name of the company to the Thomas E. Wilson Company. To his credit, Thomas Wilson made some brilliant decisions for the company, immediately branching out into making team uniforms and golf bags. He also hired Arch Turner, a respected leather craftsman, to develop the modern football. Mr. Wilson left the company in 1918 to focus on the meat packing business (which he also renamed Wilson & Co.)

The Thomas E. Wilson Company continued to cultivate its brand with endorsements from Ray Schalk and Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne. Rockne had started making trips to the factory as a part of an advisory staff, and he selected the Wilson football as the official ball of the Fighting Irish.

In 1925 Wilson got past a design flaw by inventing the first valve-inflated football. This eliminated the need for a stem to be hidden under the laces, causing a slight wobble in a spiraling football.

The new sporting goods company did well and expanded in the years to come, and in 1931 they changed their name to Wilson Sporting Goods. Later that same decade they were manufacturing a wide variety of sporting goods with their 800 employees.

Wilson starting working with the NFL in 1941 and has been a part of every play on the national gridiron ever since. In the midst of helping the war effort (many of their factories produced tents, duffel bags, and helmets), they developed what would become a somewhat legendary football design called “The Duke,” after one of the most respected figures in the sport, New York Giants owner Wellington “The Duke” Mara. The Duke is made with the finest materials, lock-stitch seams, hand-sewn ends, and a triple lining. The Duke was used through 1969, but replaced in 1970 when the NFL merged with the AFL. This new organization continued to be called the NFL (did they win a coin toss or something?) and selected a newer model Wilson football, citing the consistent quality of Wilson’s product (this new model football has no official name, but for the sake of the article, let’s just call it The Marquis after Nicolas de Condorcet.) After Mara’s death in 2005, the official Wilson football of the NFL was renamed “The Duke,” and so it shall be for evermore.

To this day, Wilson continues to make all of its footballs in Ada, Ohio (as I understand it, some of the small, novelty footballs are made overseas). Each is made by hand by one of the 120 employees. Collectively, these proud workers produce 700,000 footballs a year.
 

It’s hard to throw a good pair of jeans away.  How many other articles of clothing do we wear with gaping holes in them?  Shoes?  No.  Shirts?  Not likely.  Jackets?  Certainly not.  Most of my jeans are older than my children.  When you spend this much time with an article of clothing, why not invest in a good pair?  Tellason was started by Tony Patella & Pete Searson.  Tony and Pete believe in an excellent pair of jeans, and set out to make them.  They start with high quality raw denim.  Tellason’s denim comes from the Cone Mills White Oak plant in Greensboro, North Carolina.  This fabric is cut and sewn in San Francisco, and finalized with a leather patch made in Portland, Oregon.  Hunter S. Thompson wrote in his book Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, that the Angels had an initiation rite that involved soaking new denim in all kinds of filth and wearing it unwashed.  True or not, the practice of washing your jeans infrequently (or not at all) is more prevalent than you might think.  Up until this week, I thought that I had a lazy, shameful secret.  Now I realize it’s environmental, frugal, and downright trendy.  The folks at Tellason endorse this practice for the care of their fine jeans.  From their website:“We believe that denim should rarely, if ever, be washed.  If you must, turn them inside out and hand rinse them in cold water with very little soap and air dry.  Remember, the less you launder your jeans, the more authentic and interesting wear the patterns will be.”

You’ve got to admire the moxie of these guys.  This can’t be an easy market to break in to.  Most people are satisfied with their jeans and believe that there are few things more American than a pair of Levis.  Only this isn’t really true anymore.  Now, Levis are made almost exclusively overseas.  In fact, it was found that Levis had continued to label their jeans “Made in the USA,” even though they were being manufactured in the Northern Mariana Islands.  I don’t mean to pick on Levis, but they are undeniably the face of Big Denim.  If you want to find a pair of jeans that are made domestically, you have to look around a bit.  I did, and I found them.

Until now, I wasn’t excited about what I found.  I haven’t written an article on jeans before because what I had found was that America still made a lot of what we call “mom-jeans.”  Many of you know what I am talking about.  And yes, I know that there are a lot of moms (and dads) out there who need jeans and love the comfortable fit of pleats and elastic waistbands.  But it wasn’t until I found Tellason’s website that I was inspired to write about a truly fashionable product that is handcrafted with care and quality materials here in the States.

I’m going to pick on Levis again here for a second.  I noticed on their website that they now have a line of Made in the USA pants.  They happen to be the exact same price as Tellasons.  But what you may not have noticed is the fine print, which reads “made from imported fabric.”  Yes, we now have people cutting and sewing these jeans domestically, but the denim is being shipped in from all corners, wasting fuel and exploiting low-wage economies abroad.  Who can say if high-end Levis are measurably better than the Levis bought for a quarter of the price?  Tony Patella, interviewed by The Citrus Report, said “Most brands that call themselves premium are not making premium anything. They are selling average crap and a premium price.”  With Tellason, if you have a problem, you have someone to answer to you.  When I sent an email to Tellason to ask them a question, Tony Patella himself got back to me in six minutes.  I don’t even know how he typed out that message so fast.  I’ve spent more time in line at the coffee shop.

Tellason Jeans

"The secret is in the carbonite."

For many of us, our late teens and early twenties are a time of assertion and self discovery. Emmanuel’s ideas to modernize soapmaking along with his Zionist ideals lead to strife within his family, so he decided to pack it up and move to America in 1929. There he found work with US soap and chemical manufacturers, and met his first wife, Paula. Seeing the writing on the wall, Emmanuel dropped “heil” from his last name, and began asking his parents to join him in America. They never did. Eventually, Emmanuel received a postcard from his father that read simply, “You were right – Your loving father.” He never heard from his parents again.

After his wife died in 1944, Emmanuel adopts the honorific “Dr.”, though he never completed the advanced degree.  Leaving his children to be raised in foster homes, Dr. Bronner decided to try to convince President Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and the American people in general of the dangers of Communism and Fascism, as well as his plan for world peace.  In 1945, Dr. Bronner was arrested for speaking without a permit at the University of Chicago and was committed to the Elgin State Insane Asylum where he underwent shock treatments.  He escaped after a few months, and traveled to Los Angeles.

Even a great crib sheet is no substitute for studying.

His time in Los Angeles was spent embroiled in the political activism of Pershing Square.  It was there that he found a platform for espousing his “All-One” religio-scientific ideas, and sold soap on the side.  After realizing that most of the people were coming for the soap, but not listening to him speak, he got the idea of filling all of the extra space on his labels with elements of the “All-One” philosophy.

In the years that followed, Dr. Bronner continued honing his soap and and his philosophy.  Time was on his side, as they say, and along came the counter-culture revolution of the late 60s and 70s.  And with this revolution came a new breed of young people who sort of dug what Dr. Bronner was laying down.  But more than that, they loved his soap for its natural ingredients and homespun vibe.  The soap business began to flourish.

Though it was originally offered only in Peppermint, Dr. Bronner’s soaps now come in a variety of scents, such as almond, lavender, eucalyptus, citrus, and rose. In addition to their soaps, they also now offer an extensive line of balms, lotions, shaving gels, and hand sanitizers.

Although Dr. Bronner passed away in 1997, the Bronner family continues making his soap more or less the same way he was making it.  All of his soaps and balms are made with organic and fair trade ingredients.  All the bottles are 100% post consumer recycled plastic.  There are no detergents, foaming agents, petrochemicals, or synthetics, and they are not animal tested.  My wife and I like to take it along when we are camping to wash the dishes, or to wash oneself if so inclined.

Why is it called “18 in 1 uses”? Well, according to the packaging:

1. Always dilute for Shave-Shampoo-Massage-Dental Soap-Bath!
2. Peppermint is nature’s own unsurpassed fragrant Deodorant!
3. A drop is best Mint Toothpaste; brushes Dentures Clean!
4. A dash in water is the ideal Breath Freshener & Mouth Wash!
5. Peppermint Oil Soap for Dispensers, Uniforms, Baby, Beach!
6. Dilute for ideal After Shave, Body Rub, Foot Bath, Douche.
7. Hot Towel-Massage the entire body, always towards your heart.
8. Pets, silk, wool & body tingles head to toe – keeps cool!
9. 3 dashes in water rinse most Sprays Off fruit & vegetables!
10. 1/4 oz in qt H2O is Pest Spray! Dash, no rash Diaper-Soap!

I know what you are thinking, and you’re right.  That’s only ten.  I don’t know what to tell you.  Let me see if I can come up with eight more.

1. It makes a decent shaving cream.
2. According to Levi’s official website, Dr. Bronner’s keeps your Levi’s shrink-to-fit jeans fitting like a glove.
3. It’s concentrated, so it’s great to take camping or on a boat where every square inch of storage counts.
4. The peppermint variety apparently makes a decent organic pesticide.
5. It’s good for cleaning out the car and leaves a pleasant scent.
6. Empty bottles can be used for storing paint in single serving portions.
7. It always gives to something to read in the bathroom.
8. Can be used to convince unwanted guests that you have joined some sort of intergalactic soap cult.

Yikes.  That was harder than I thought.

Dr. Bronner’s Organic Castile Soap.

Why must twins always dress alike?

Dov had an affinity for American culture. By the time he was in high school he began smuggling Hanes and Fruit of the Loom t-shirts from the U.S. to sell to his Canadian friends. He felt that the American T-shirt was “iconic and unique and in most ways better than the T-shirts we had access to in Canada.” He claims to have transported as many as 10,000 shirts at a time, renting a U-Haul truck to carry the load. “I developed a kind of importing business, from the United States to Canada,” says Charney. “That’s why it’s called American Apparel.” Charney was later arrested, and that put an end to his “import” business.

While attending Tufts University in Massachusetts, Charney continued importing t-shirts. His short-term goal was to begin manufacturing them himself, and in 1990 it was realized. In 1997, as his company grew, he moved the facility to Los Angeles.

It's a shame what became of Chris Gaines.

There’s a lot to love about American Apparel. They start their factory workers off at $12 an hour, which is $11.60 per hour more than the average garment worker in China. According to Glassdoor.com, American Apparel also starts their Sales Associates off at $1 more per hour than Old Navy. Even if you include the cost of shipping, someone at Old Navy is making a ton of dough, and it’s not the person folding the shirts. It gives new meaning to “The Gap” (Old Navy’s parent company. Terrible joke. I know.).

American Apparel is very green. Their “Creative Reuse” program encourages designers to find uses for scrap fabric, such as for children’s clothing, neckties, and scrunchies. As a result, they estimate that they save 30,000 pounds of fabric a week. They also have a bicycle lending program and offer free bus passes to their employees. Plans were made in 2007 to increase their use of organic cotton from 20% to 80% over the next four years (I was unable to find any information on their progress). They also have a 146-kilowatt solar electric system on the roof, providing the factory with 20-30% of its power.

That's it. Make love to the camera...

As a result of American Apparel’s dedication to social and environmental issues, Goodguide gives them a 6.6, which is great for a clothing manufacturer, and exceptional for one operating domestically.

On a personal note, another thing that I deeply respect about American Apparel is that one has to look closely at the garment to see what brand it is. With few exceptions, I will not wear clothing that it also an advertisement. I appreciate that American Apparel knows that if they make an attractive, high quality product, people will make an effort to find out what it is.

American Apparel has never shied away from controversy. Their advertisements have drawn both criticism (for being provocative) and praise (for their honesty and lack of airbrushing). The pictures that I have chosen for this post are some of the tamest I could find(Hi, Mom!). Dov Charney has also had a number of sordid charges leveled against him (haven’t we all? No?), though none has stuck. This isn’t the place to get into the details, but there is plenty written about it online. There is a thin, gray line between lovable rogue and despicable scoundrel. Either way, I know whom I will be dressing up as for Halloween this year. And I know what I’ll be wearing.

American Apparel

The first reference to alphabet blocks goes all the way back to 1693 when philosopher John Locke suggested providing children with “dice and playthings, with letters on them to teach children the alphabet by playing.” Locke’s suggestion must have fallen on deaf ears, because it took well over a century before Friedrich Fröbel (the father of kindergarten) began creating the blocks and giving them out as gifts. In 1820, alphabet blocks were being made in New York, but it wasn’t until 1858 that the S.L. Hill Company of Brooklyn started large-scale manufacturing. By the 1880s, The Embossing Company of Albany patented a system of “ornamenting wood” by painting a surface prior to embossing, and then painting again in order to create a two-color design. By the turn of the century, alphabet blocks were a well established staple in the preschools of America and have remained so ever since.

Any why not? They’re a great toy and learning tool. Let’s break down the pros and cons.

Pros

• It gives the kids something to stack. Those little hands need to practice coordination, and it’s safer to use these harmless blocks than bricks.
• It teaches basic engineering.  I specifically remember learning that the running pattern was much more structurally sound than the stack pattern.
• Blocks stimulate creativity. They start off as nothing but can become anything.  The only limitation is that of imagination.
• Blocks can be a social toy. When used properly, they encourage cooperation. When not, well…
• They’re cheap (most of the time).

Cons

• It’s no fun to step on them in your bare feet.

But all blocks look the same, don’t they?  No.  Something about these really grabbed my attention. They look downright kingly, like one could make a wax seal out of one of them.  They are made from sustainable Michigan-grown basswood and printed with non-toxic inks. In fact, Uncle Goose independently tests every gallon of ink before it goes to the production line.

Does Grover Cleavland get one or two blocks? What about "Big Bill" Taft?

But if these classic English alphabet blocks aren’t enough, they offer a variety of other languages, Egyptian hieroglyphics, braille and sign language blocks, nursery rhyme blocks, and even a set of blocks featuring all forty-four American presidents plus the Oath of Office.  I must admit,  I could use that set.

Uncle Goose Blocks

An admittedly awkward metaphor.

Todd Gentry and Shawn Reniker founded Inno-Labs in 2001, and among other things developed this product. With all due respect, by “developed this product”, I kind of mean “pointed out the obvious”. I really don’t know why no one thought of this before. We should all be a little embarrassed. In the 1990s when the internet was new and magical, Todd Gentry started a successful regional Internet Service Provider. As if he had something to prove, he then turned around and improved on something that is nearly as old as fire. It kind of makes me feel like I’ve been asleep at the wheel.

Now, if I connect these two wires...

You’re skeptical. I understand. I was too. If these things are so great, why haven’t they been around for generations? I wish I could tell you. But what I can tell you is that they get terrific reviews on Amazon. Not only that, but I heard about them from a trusted source who kept raving. It’s hard to argue with the logic of this product. Are you load them up with your favorite BBQ items, you can put the whole thing in a freezer bag for a marinade. They are dishwasher safe. The metal has low heat conductivity, so they can be easily handled. They just make sense.

Save the sticks for the campfire.

Fire Wire Stainless Steel Flexible Grilling Skewer, Set of 2

A few years ago, we got a self-winding hose reel by ReelSmart (the name of the company before they were bought out by Suncast). Yes, you read that correctly. Self-winding. It uses the water pressure in the hose to generate the torque to pull the hose in. More than one visitor to our backyard has stood, mouth agape, staring in wonder as our hose winds itself up as if by magic. If you’ve not witnessed this before, it’s almost disturbing. It’s reminiscent of when Mary Poppins uses her witchy powers to make the room clean itself.*

I really didn’t know anything about the Suncast Company before writing this article, and frankly, I still don’t. They are very mysterious. I looked all over their site for history of the company. When I eventually found a well hidden link to an About Us page on their Homeplace Collection site, I got a 404 error. What are they trying to hide?

Despite this, they have me under their spell. I’m becoming a bit of a fan. I’ve been thinking about getting a rain barrel for a while, and don’t tempt me with the tumbling composter. That’s a rabbit hole that I’m not ready to go down.

Suncast Hose Reels

*I realize that this is the second reference to a Dick Van Dyke musical that I have made in as many posts. Although this was not intentional, I shall make no apology.

Come back next week for my article on Suncast’s Bye Bye Birdfeeders.

Wow.

When it comes to shaving, some guys have sensitive skin. Professor Frank Shields of MIT was counted among them. He was tired of traditional shaving methods and wanted to create a shaving cream that did not need to be worked into a lather. I have to admit, I’ve never used a traditional lather, so I looked it up on YouTube. I got bored in about three minutes. Three minutes. The instructional video that I found was in two parts. That means we are looking at more than ten minutes just for the lather. No wonder so many people wore beards back then. Who has the time?

In 1919, Professor Shields got it right. He named his product Barbasol (“Barba,” the Roman word for beard, and “Sol” for solution), created a great striped logo in the image of a barber shop’s pole, and started The Barbasol Company a year later. Through the 20s and 30s the company utilized risqué advertising and celebrity endorsements (Babe Ruth, Knute Rockne) to become a national name. Later, Barbasol gained a government contract to supply GIs with shaving cream during World War II (the necessity of gas masks in WWI had already led to the decline of facial hair in the military), packing an Overseas Special into every soldier’s kit.

Be careful over there, GI.

Shields eventually sold the company to Pfizer in 1962. Over the next forty years, Pfizer experimented with adding different versions of the shaving cream for sensitive skin and unique scents like Cool Menthol and Lemon Lime. They later created a stick deodorant and aftershave, as well as shaving gels. Finally, Pfizer sold the company to Perio in 2001. Since then, Perio has attempted to revitalize the company. Ladies and gentlemen, they now have a scent called (wait for it)… Pacific Rush. I live eight miles from the Pacific, and I have no idea what that means. It sounds like a Gatorade flavor.

Insert your own inappropriate caption here.

This post is meant to be part of the Father’s Day series. Admittedly, shaving cream may not be the best gift idea, but how about shoving a couple of cans into a pair of Smartwool socks? No? Well, he’s your dad, not mine.

Barbasol

I wish I could tell you more about how Peter and Patty came up with Smartwool, but the website is pretty cagey. I suppose I would be too, if I held the secret of wool socks that were both soft and shrink free. By all accounts, that’s what they came up with. I wish I knew how they did it. I’d get a suit made out of the stuff.

People love these socks. I’ll be honest with you. These are not the tube socks that you buy by the fistful from the 99¢ store. They seem to average about $15 per pair. But judging from the reviews they get on Amazon, people are lining up to fill their drawers with Smartwool socks. They’ll even write glowing reviews, free of charge. Like this one:

Good heavens! Where are they? Why do I get the impression that they are in danger? Do they really have time to review socks? Let’s get the science from Travis of Outdoor Sport Marketing.

Great review, and Travis seems to be pretty knowledgable about sock design. Also, he appears to be broadcasting from the safety of a bunker of some kind.

Smartwool remains in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I understand that the socks are made domestically, but much of their other clothing line is made overseas.

When I was in the fourth grade, I had a great teacher who told us (among other things) about the idea of planned obsolescence. Mr. Sondale told us that “they” could make a sock that could last you for the rest of your life. But if they did that, you wouldn’t buy any more socks and they would be out of business. That sound like the kind of story that a teacher might tell when he is trying to make a point to a fourth grader. That may be the case for many companies that make cheap socks, but it’s certainly not the case for Smartwool.

Smartwool

This one is coming to you courtesy of David Lazarus and his poorly researched column in the Los Angeles Times.

Thanks to April.