I’m reviewing some old posts about a few of our first Archival factory visits to Columbiaknit here and here. At the time, around 2010, we were working with Portland brand Winn Perry on a line of made in USA, cotton t-shirts and rugby jerseys. These products marked our first move into apparel from bags (our first, the Archival Plain Musettes).
At the time of our factory tour, Columbiaknit was well known for the rugby jerseys they the licensed for partner brands like Lands End and LL Bean. Later, we made our own Archival Rugby jersey.
Even in 2010, it seemed liked US manufacturing was in its Cadillac desert phase: most of the places we visited were filled with old boxes of unsold goods, machines in need of parts and archival mounds of fabric rolls.
I’ve been in Portland for a decade and feel like I missed this golden era of heritage design/Made in USA/outdoorswear. I went into Winn Perry a few times as well as Reveille, but missed out on a lot of those times.
Oh the good ole’ days…
I feel the same way. I mean, I miss the golden era of heritage. Dehen, Self Edge and the Portland Outdoor Store are still around. Winn Perry was such a magical store. I wish I had doubled down on my WP acquisitions at the time. And Reveille!
Where is that awesome striped tshirt the person in the beanie from? Is that a ColumbiaKnit or something else?
That was one of our early, prototype sweatshirts made in collaboration with Columbiaknit. You can still find these on ebay at times: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125235100405?nma=true&si=TfR6urlSXElFYWKKaqXC133VIbU%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
I have several Columbiaknit rugby shirts and they are some of my favorite (and most often worn) pieces of clothing. I even got lucky with rolling the dice on a practice Jersey and received something I can wear out of the house.