Made in America. Maybe not?
What if tariffs and AI can't shield fashion from the failure of the American dream?
The current administration might have started a chain of events in the fashion industry that could create irreversible damage or success to the future of American manufacturing and fashion businesses. Tariffs are duties (a tax) imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports (or, exceptionally, exports) of goods. As of April 2025 Trump has imposed a 104% tariff on products from China, forcing a chain responses from other countries. What does this mean for American fashion brands? I’ll explain it in the easiest and most fashionable way possible. The images you are seeing are created with A.I.
A.I Fashion image created using Canva
If you had to lay out every piece of clothing with the tag “Made in America” would you have enough clothes to wear for the week? American consumers, more specifically fast fashion lovers underestimate the amount of clothes we get from China, Bangladesh and other countries we have deemed “third world”. In fact, the people in these countries have skills majority of Americans would need the next 2-4 years to obtain, the skill of making things. The decline in U.S. garment manufacturing over the past few decades means that even when U.S. cotton and other textiles are processed domestically (spun into yarn or woven into fabric), it is often sent overseas for final garment production. High labor costs and offshore manufacturing dominance make large-scale U.S. apparel production less competitive.
If we’re being honest majority of Americans do not have the education or skillset to work in large manufacturing and production factories. As of recent data, the United States has approximately 6,000 apparel manufacturing establishments. This number has declined significantly from 15,478 establishments in 2001.
As you can imagine many of the existing US factories hire immigrants to sew the partially made in America clothes for the few fashion companies that buy domestically.
What’s next for apparel factories and designers? If history repeats itself, we can take a step back in time to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when the U.S. became a hub for textile production and factory development. This led to a growing workforce that needed to learn how to build and operate heavy machinery. In today’s case, we need more Americans to learn how to use industrial sewing machines. If we want American-made products, then we need Americans making those products. A revolution of skilled labor is coming, and from laborers to creators, we’ll need more individuals who can produce goods at scale to make up for the decrease in foreign imports. The apparel exports from China to the U.S. were valued at approximately $20.5 billion USD. The United states spends more money paying for apparel products than we make creating our own.
It will take time and millions of dollars to prepare American cities and citizens for larger industrial workforces like the one China has developed. The current factories are in looking for employees but would you be comfortable with you neighbor sewing your clothes for $12 a day?
Americans working in fast fashion sewing factory
The fashion ecosystem—whether we’re talking fast fashion or high-end couture—relies on a lot of hands to get a single dress from the textile mill all the way to the sales floor. Behind every designer are skilled pattern makers, graders, cutters, and small-batch producers who play a huge role in bringing ideas to life. And right now, these makers have a real chance to help close a growing gap in the American fashion market.
There’s a rising need for skilled laborers who can blend hands-on craftsmanship with today’s tech tools. The future of fashion isn’t just about sticking to tradition or chasing the latest trends—it’s about combining what we already know with what AI and innovation can offer. That’s where the real magic (and progress) happens. Investing in American designers would bring back the dream of innovation for our story-telling and product development. We would open spaces for fashion designer to work along side factories and retailers to create sellable collections with lower MOQs, slowing down fashion by bringing back the the skilled and detailed hands of American creators.
Will AI run the fashion world?
AI gives us an imaginative new world of fashion—one that blends diversity and artistic expression in ways that leave us all feeling inspired. It’s the haute couture, high-resolution fashion of our dreams that makes the conversation around AI feel like we’re just a step away from robots teaming up with ChatGPT to design clothes.
But the truth isn’t quite as glamorous. We’re still at the very beginning of AI and fashion working together to create more than just imagery. Before we can use technology to truly advance the fashion industry, we need to manually evolve the system itself. What I mean is: until a sewing machine can stitch garments without human labor, the future of fashion will always rely on skilled hands—no matter how futuristic the design.
Right now, AI is best used for fashion marketing and content creation. Designers who’ve already produced their collections can use tools like Clo3D to bring their pieces to life on virtual models. Brands like H&M are already experimenting with digital models for their campaigns. Still, fashion tech is in its early stages, and the workforce skilled in these 3D design tools isn’t large enough to make it mainstream just yet. There are also bugs to work out—AI-generated images still struggle with memory, consistency, and accuracy. We have time to make the tech improvements while we develop our real issues in manufacturing and production until then AI will be used in the industry as the system of the future, only showing us the potential of what could be created.
