This one came to me via the recommendation of John Marks, whom we all know from The Tannhauser Gate. Gibran Hamdan, born in San Diego to Pakistani and Palestinian parents, was drafted by the Redskins and bounced around between teams, never accumulating any significant playing time and finally retiring in 2010, seven years after he was drafted.
Naturally, given all his newly found free time, he started sewing shirts at home.
I’m dead serious — that’s the story. Using his various family connections, Gibran started small-scale shirt production in the United States. His brand, named Alial Fital after his parents’ names spelled backwards (I’m dead serious about this as well), does limited-edition polo shirts that are suitable for work or golf. Naturally, I had to try a couple. The first one that arrived, a “Starlight” model, is considerably better-made than the run of the mill Ralph Lauren or Peruvian Lacoste polo shirt. I really dig it. I haven’t worn it anywhere yet, because I’m still trying to get rid of the twenty pounds I gained after I broke my leg, but come this summer I expect to be sporting a bunch of Alial Fital shirts to work.
I think what cinched it for me was the photo that accompanies the receipt:
There are a lot of photos on the site featuring Gibran with his wife and son. I’m a sucker for that traditional-American-family business. I won’t bother to ruminate on the fact that so many “American” executives have made their fortunes shipping jobs overseas for a single-quarter financial gain while this son of immigrant parents busts his ass to make shirts right here in the United States. All I can say is that our country is better off for people like him.
If you want to save $20 an on Alial Fital order, you can use my referral link. I’ll get $10 store credit if you do, which frankly will only encourage me to spend money I don’t have on shirts. So if you hate me, click that link and get yourself a real American-made golf or work shirt!
That’s awesome; the best in your “Made In The USA” series yet.
The handwritten note sealed the deal.
Edit - Handwritten note AND photo sealed the deal.
I’ve heard great things about AF. A couple years ago they sponsored Tristan Herbert, a Virginia-based road racer now famous for the fence-busting Camaro at Sebring from a few weeks ago:
I thought of this series when this article popped up on my RSS reader this morning: http://reason.com/archives/2016/04/21/buy-american-hurts-americans
Did not agree. Please keep up what you’re doing, Jack.
Just read that.
Fuck that guy in the fucking face with an all-American horse dick. His idea that it’s better for foreigners to make labor money so they can buy American investment products is “reason” enough to put him up against a brick wall and splatter his brains. What a traitor.
Not to mention the fact that his writing made me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a grapefruit spoon.
I started pointing and laughing at his empty rhetorical questions right after the 1st paragraph. If that’s the best he can do, he doesn’t even qualify for an early 1980s high school newspaper.
I doubt that 100% of what goes into Alial Fital’s shirts is American made. They may use imported thread. I’ve found that the European brands of embroidery thread are just slightly better than American made Robison-Anton, and much better than Coates & Clark (which feels gritty as it runs through the machine), though with general sewing Coates probably works fine. You can get decent stuff from Korea, but I haven’t seen any Chinese thread distributed here yet.
Jack likes buying American. So do I, if possible. I’m not thrilled about buying German stuff but Madeira thread seems to work best on my machine.
The largest domestic manufacturer of recumbent trikes in the US (Catrike) was created, is owned, and run by a Brazilian immigrant. If I hadn’t fallen in love with the Linear 3.0’s LWB speed and ergonomics, I’d likely be taking up space on local cycling trails with one of Paulo’s 3 wheelers, likely his sexy 700.
It’s merely anecdotal, but a month ago I took the young man of the house over to my favorite specialty sports shop to look at and purchase a pocketknife with some of the monies he had earned. Subtly steering him towards the “blades with holes in them” section, I gave him a brief lesson in the various types of knives and features of each, along with how to hold, use and care for each type. He initially was eyeing a nice Spyderco Cat - and I was pleased to see it possessing my favorite “Made in Golden, Colorado, USA, Earth” engraving - but his greedy eyes chose the less expensive Tenacious with its longer combination ground blade and the highly visible “China” stamp on the flat side. After experiencing the smooth gliding action of the Cat’s mechanism as my thumb locked the blade into position, the Tenacious’s action, while not gritty or notchy in any sense, definitely provided greater resistance and was more slide than glide compared to its properly pocket-sized counterpart.
I have no idea what thread was used in the short run Rick Sternbach organized Dirty Pair stadium jacket (78 made!) from the late 80s, but it’s remained bright and shiny through scores of washings and 3 relinings.
I bought a Polo. You’ve got $10. I’m filling out my USA made wardrobe quite well. Funny now that I took a yuuge pay cut to start a business, I buy just a few expensive quality pieces of clothing and it serves me better than lots of cheap stuff ever did.
Who do you recommend for denim? I have old US made Paper Denim and Lucky Jeans. Who makes a relaxed fit jean like the Lucky 487 in the US? I bought a Chinese made pair and they are rubbish.
Try LC King. $60 for Cone Mills jeans. The sizing is NOT vanity sized though. Measure your waist. Ask me how I know 🙂
Be wary of LC King (If you read this). I’m unsure if their non-selvedge comes from NC or Mexico. I haven’t emailed them as I haven’t wanted to pull the trigger on a pair, but I do own a coat from them. Their Fisher Stripe (Herringbone) was foreign at the time. Now that Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, GA makes a Herringbone, I hope they’ve switched to USA made fabric.
Cone has been sneaky about getting their brand synonymous with USA made when they are a very global operation.
I wear Gustin Shirts - they too can be sneaky with their fabric sourcing. I found their waxed canvas supplier uses Chinese duck canvas and uses Martexin Wax applied in the states as a finishing operation. They claim it to be a USA fabric and actually changed their description to ‘American sourced’ after I called them out on it.
There are too many textile mills that are getting steam rolled thanks to marketing and piece cost decisions… even by cut and sew operations / brands that are supporting Made In the USA initiatives.
I’m being finicky, but I have nothing else better to do with my life.
Thanks for the heads-up. Explains why some of their Cone stuff is actually cheaper than their Duck fabrics.
LC Kind used to use American Cotton Growers’ mill in Texas before it closed down. I have some overalls made of it and they’re tough as nails.
Cheap (made, not price) jeans wear out after a year, if one is lucky.
I remember when denim was nearly indestructible.
Raw denim woven in Greensboro by Cone does not last long as it skips a lot of chemical (and sometimes sanforization) finishing processes. Best quality Made in the USA denim can be found in Wranglers cut and sewn up in Mexico. Mount Vernon Mills may be the largest denim producer in the states, and they provide fabric for lots of brands like Carhartt, Lee, Wrangler (any VF brand, essentially).
That being said, I wear Cone denim woven in NC.
Good news , this .
-Nate
Off topic.
Concerning the Baruth Quad-Heli-Port and Repair Facility, comments closed.
If you had to reccomend a quad copter to start with for a 7 year old, which one would it be?
So far I have chosen poorly. One from amazon arrived DOA, my wife purchased one from Walmart that lasted about a day before it crapped out, no obvious things broken, like bent shafts, broken props or loose wires. Just wouldn’t stabilize in flight anymore. The Sky Viper from Target had two motors mounted so far off axis out of the box that two of the rotors wouldn’t turn.
All of the one we chose had more positive Amazon or Walmart reviews than their immediate alternatives from those retailers.
From your article I took it that the Hubsan had a lot of durability problems, and the the Syma was difficult for a beginner to fly. Any further developments?
I am at a loss.
I think the Syma X13 is the best beginnners’ micro-quad. It’s pretty durable unless you use the flip function and snap the rotors off on the floor 🙂
Good stuff. Congrats on the marriage.
man, I would if they had something plain in a non-loud color. I dress to avoid attention, and those patterns/colors run counter to that.
They rotate often enough that if you watch the site periodically I think you’ll see something you like.