If you know us, you know we've been swimming against the current for years – stubbornly committed to keeping our manufacturing here in the USA. It's been a long journey, and now with policy changes aimed at bringing manufacturing back home, more people are asking how this shift has affected our business.
A reporter reached out early this spring, curious whether these new policies had benefited us. At the time, it was too early to tell. Eight months later, we're ready to share what we've learned – not just from our perspective, but from the voices that matter most: our manufacturing partners.
We want to hear from the quilters, knitters, dye houses, and cut-and-sew factories about how the recent upheavals – tightened regulations, rising wages, tariff changes, and enforcement raids – have changed their businesses. These are the real stories behind "Made in USA."
As a small brand, we can only do so much to support the local manufacturing ecosystem. But we can share what we've built: our network of makers, our processes, our partnerships.
For this fall collection, we're taking a cinematic approach to showcase our outerwear. Each piece travels through at least three locations – from quilter to cutter to dyer to finisher – touched by countless skilled hands before it reaches our quality check and heads to you. Every garment truly is a labor of love.
We hope you'll join us for this intimate look into the businesses that make "Made in USA" more than just a label.
Here is a note from our founder, David Mullen.
You can listen to this on Spotify. or read the transcript here.
Hey, it's David Mullen, I am the founder of Save Khaki United.
A reporter reached out early this spring, curious whether these new policies had benefited us. At the time, it was too early to tell. Eight months later, we're ready to share what we've learned – not just from our perspective, but from the voices that matter most: our manufacturing partners.
To kick things off my team wanted me to share a bit on the history of SKU, Save Khaki United, and why we do what we do, so here it is. In the next few weeks, you will hear stories from some of our partners who help us produce our collections: the quilters, knitters, dye houses, and cut-and-sew factories about how the recent upheavals – tightened regulations, rising wages, tariff changes, and enforcement raids – have changed their business. These are the real stories behind "Made in USA."
When we first started Save Khaki, we were making about half of the product in the United States and producing woven goods overseas, which at the time seemed like the most efficient way. Los Angeles was an easy place to do cut-and-sew for knits, and I had experience with cutting, sewing, and garment dyeing there. In India, we knew some excellent manufacturers who produced our cloth—fabric being central to Save Khaki. They made garments for us, which we’d bring to Los Angeles for dyeing. It was complicated, but it worked. We opened a small store in New York on Lafayette in Soho, and as things grew, we decided to open another one in the Lower East Side. To differentiate, we made the Broome Street store 100% made in the USA, which led us to evolve the name to Save Khaki United.
American manufacturing, though, is inefficient and more expensive. But I’ve always been stubborn and believed we could change that, because there are so many benefits to producing close to home. You know the people making your garments, the entire supply chain, and you can control quality better. In the U.S., we excel at things like cotton knits and five-pocket jeans—though ironically, SKU doesn’t really do jeans. Over the years, we pushed our US made collection into shirt jackets, woven shirts, and chinos, learning through trial and error how to manage complex sewing operations.
If you are trying to make garment is the US, Los Angeles is a good place to start. Roll up your sleeves, and work closely with the factories. Manufacturing is really about managing problems—it’s a proactive process. Early on, I spent a lot of time visiting factories from Los Angeles, New York, to New England.
To me, “Made in USA” isn’t about flag-waving or nationalism. It’s about differentiation, producing smaller runs, reducing our carbon footprint, cutting waste, and hopefully treating people better by working with them directly. Walk into the factories we work with, and you’ll see what America really is—a diverse melting pot. In Los Angeles, it’s mostly people from south of the border. That diversity is part of the story.
I’m proud of our commitment to American manufacturing, and we’re doubling down with our Good Work line. It’s truly a labor of love: building a modern denim workwear collection and trying to source every component domestically—fabric, thread, buttons, labels, fusing, trims, hang tags, everything.
Well, I hope you like what we do here, and thank you for being part of our journey.
keep truckin'
David
Still and Moving Images | Alek Parker
Creative Director | David Mullen
Model | Chris Datolla
Music credit: Not Long Now by Falconer
Special thanks to team Saitex, USA
© Save Khaki United 2025
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