Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The other day, I brought a couple pairs of binoculars to lower Manhattan to meet up with fashion reporter Avery Truffleman. We were there to do a little bit of urban birding. Are you a big birder? I don't do outdoorsy things.
It's not in my nature. I'm not an outdoorsy guy.
Luckily, Avery made an exception for us because we were not, in fact, heading out to spot migratory birds with spectacular plumage. No, no, no. We were on the hunt for some very particular kinds of clothing. Would it be fair to say that fashion is kind of your Roman Empire? Yeah, I would say fashion is my Roman empire.
You see, Avery is the host of a podcast called Articles of Interest, which is all about unraveling the hidden histories behind the things we wear. She's done deep dives into the question of why women's clothing didn't used to have pockets, or how preppy Ivy League style got big in Japan.
And I wanted to talk to Avery because her latest season is all about how a massive shadowy force has been shaping the stuff we all wear for the better part of the last century in ways that most of us might not know about. And what is that shadowy force, you might ask? The United States military. The United States military.
It is kind of common knowledge at this point that many of the most resource-intensive technologies that define our daily lives began in government-funded labs as military R&D, from nuclear fission to GPS to the internet. But what Avery found is that that same military-industrial influence has shaped many things that are even more intimate in a way.
The very clothing we wear to express our sense of who we are or to protect ourselves from the elements. And it's the kind of hidden influence you can actually see on the street today, if you have the right kind of eye.
Yeah, do you want to take a little walk?
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Chapter 2: How did military designs influence civilian fashion?
And why some of your favorite outdoor brands may just be moonlighting as American military suppliers while keeping it as under the radar as they can.
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Now, the yarn that Avery spins in the new season of her show is an epic tale, woven over seven episodes from the Revolutionary War to the invention of digital camouflage. Today, we're going to focus on the way that military designs have changed the way that many of us dress and spend time outdoors.
So where does the story of this strange entwinement between the military, the gear industry, and the world of fashion begin?
I mean, I think it starts in the founding of the United States. But in the modern era, it really comes from World War II. I mean, it was this like cataclysmic event that shaped every single part of modern life. And every single industry got involved in the war effort, including the clothing industry. And it fundamentally changed how everybody dressed, including soldiers. and eventually civilians.
You see, for the first century and a half of its history, the U.S. military more or less took its sartorial cues from the militaries of Europe. The Revolutionary Army basically took the design for the famous British redcoats and turned them blue, in part apparently because of how much indigo was produced on American plantations.
Later, our soldiers dressed like the French, and there was even a period when American officers wore pointy little helmets like the Prussian military. But when World War II arrived, it presented a new kind of problem for the people in charge of outfitting U.S. soldiers, one that called for a more technological approach.
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Chapter 3: How did World War II impact clothing production and design?
They started doing this in the 80s. They've been in that game for a really long time. And Outdoor Research became especially known for this high-tech glove system.
It started with this special operations community that led us to develop a system, a seven-glove system for the special forces community.
That's Alex Rodero, head of tactical at Outdoor Research.
And then that's cascaded into bigger army projects.
Like gloves for the entire army, which is just... An entire next level of scale.
Now, one big reason that gear companies like Outdoor Research might want to work with the U.S. military is, yes, the massive scale of their orders. But it's also the fact that military clothing must, by law, be made in the United States. Making military gear offers a means of subsidizing domestic manufacturing, which has become extremely rare in the clothing industry.
Making clothes for the military is one of the only last remaining domestic clothing industries that we have because it's a matter of national security, right? We don't want our clothes for our military to be made in another country because if we went to war with that country, that would give them a major tactical advantage.
They could, whatever, lace all our clothes with arsenic or not give us clothes, you know?
So military contracts offer a way for companies like Outdoor Research to diversify their supply chain and their streams of income.
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Chapter 4: What role did the Quartermaster Corps play in clothing innovation?
I think it comes back to, you know, we really care about the soldiers and we make gloves to protect soldiers' hands.
And we don't just make for the U.S. military. So we also have overseas tactical production that we build for NATO troops. So my parents live in Poland. Obviously, there is a Ukraine crisis going on. There are thousands of U.S. troops that are in Warsaw right now. And on a daily basis, I get pictures from my mom of U.S. military and NATO military wearing OR gloves in Poland.
Although beyond a sense of duty, there are other benefits that make it worthwhile to deal with the military contracting.
People get introduced to the brand through the military. So like when you're a kid and you're 18 and you're enlisted and you get your bag of your gear and in it is an OR glove. And that OR glove goes with you through your entire tour of service and is a dependable piece of gear. That's a great brand introduction. That's a way for you to fall in love with the brand.
And when a big government contract actually does work out, that's great for business.
We have an 80-20 model where the tactical business is 20% of our business. And sometimes that balance shifts. Sometimes the tactical business is really, really good and it helps to support the outdoor business when the outdoor business is in trouble. oftentimes vice versa. So it's actually great to be diversified in this way. And as we learned through the pandemic, having U.S.
manufacturing was a lifesaver for us. I don't think we laid off a single person in the pandemic.
And even though Kat mostly designs the civilian outdoor wear, Still, all the tactical stuff, all the army gloves and the special ops clothes, they're all still being designed right here, side by side, in this one building.
So we have things that get developed for the military that then get commercialized in our outdoor space, and then we have vice versa. Crossover is inevitable.
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