Just Look at Their Shoes
10 Jun

By Tony Angelino
Cupid Intimates
Many years ago the apparel industry started leaving the United States. The common public perception has always been that its cause was the corporate search for cheap labor, but those in the industry know that the principal reason was that Americans didn’t want to sew any more. Sewing was considered to be an unattractive labor career, less interesting and less rewarding than higher-paying ones in the automobile and steel industries, and more physically demanding than those in the service sector. Jobs in those industries were more highly prized, and applicants stood in line for them. Yet willing applicants for sewing positions were impossible to find. Manufacturers were merely trading operators. Very little new talent was appearing at plants, even though the signs were always posted advertising “OPERATORS WANTED.” […]