Right now, Made in USA and heritage/heritage-styled brands are cleaning up. From all the reports from Vegas this week, it looks like the trend is over the top, and it’s going to start the long slide down through consumer exhaustion.
The question is, how are we going to move forward without losing the focus on quality, longevity, and origin that these brands are encompassing?
This is a question with a 2 to 3 year horizon, and the replacement trends that seem to be lurking now are 90’s surf style (see Warriors of Radness) and another wave of grunge (logical follow-up to flannel and boots overload).
If there’s a way to combine those surfacing trends with the current focus on stateside production and craftsmanship, now is the time to start thinking about it. We won’t be knee deep in waxed canvas, aged leather, and Pendletons for too much longer.