Mary Van Notes

I wore blue yesterday, but I wasn’t feeling blue.  I had a fun day hanging out with friends downtown and drinking blue bottle coffee. I’ve been wearing my vintage letterman sweater a lot lately.  It fits perfect and keeps me cozy warm in the San Francisco wind.

50s letterman sweater: thrifted, had since high school
deer printed shorts: H&M
flower tights: Urban Outfitters
silver oxfords: F21
80s blue bow blouse: Wasteland (remixed here and here)
vintage Etienne Aigner purse: ebay

(photo by Joshua Cobos, taken with a disposable camera)

I feel a little bad for buying some new things at H&M recently.  For one because I’m broke and can’t afford it, but mainly because of global labor rights politics.  I became more aware of the issue after watching the following video.   Please, please watch this.

After watching that video, it made me not want to buy any new clothing that was made outside the USA.  Unfortunately I’m poor and needed underwear.   I hate that that is my excuse, as I think a lot of people just pull the defeatist card when it comes to issues like this.  They think, “Well, it’s going to happen regardless.”  If I know injustice is happening I can’t just say oh well.   I don’t shop at Target anymore because of the money the company spent on the Yes on 8 campaign.  I think you can make a difference by where you choose to give your dollar.  So I’m hoping to be better at that.  At least for the most part, I feel good that I buy vintage and American-made clothes.

One of my friends said, “Where do you draw the line? Appliances, packaging… it’s all made out of the country.”   And yeah, that’s true.  But again, if I know I can do one thing to help the problem, I’ll do that.  I will try my darnedest.  Because I know for the rest of my life I’ll remember the image of that charred hand reaching through a gated window in that sweatshop in Bangladesh.  I will never forget it, and I’ll think of it every time I read the label of an item made in Bangladesh, Madagascar, the Philippines….

Does this issue affect you?  Do you take action?  Are there stores you stay away from?  I’d love to hear what you all think of this.

I’m in the market for some new shoes.  The shoes I wear day-to-day have been well worn, and even my high heels have seen better days.  Ever since this post I’ve been more vigilant of buying American made.  Also, our country is at war and yet no one seems to act like we are.  I kind of wish more American companies were advertising “Buy American.”  It seems the kind of patriotism we had in buying American during WWII has been lost.  But even if we weren’t at war, there are many other reasons to buy shoes made in your very own country.

For instance, if you’re against China’s censorship policies then why not boycott China goods?  Don’t like seeing sweatshops?  Why not buy American where our government has some measure of control over human rights?  So political reasons, human rights issues, those are good reasons to buy American but even simpler than that – the carbon footprint.  Locally produced shoes that don’t have to travel overseas… that helps!  And when you buy American your money goes back into America.  We’re all struggling right now, why not support your neighbor?

Sure, there are shoes I covet that are not made in the USA.  Most of them aren’t.  But when it comes to basics, I’ve found some good Made in the USA companies that produce some cute everyday basics shoes and they’re competitively priced, so they are an affordable option.

Like those cute Salvatore Ferragamo bow flats that are oh so popular?  Well you can get a pair of American made bow pumps at usmadeshoes.com.  Same with these cute red bow shoes.

American Apparel offers shoes now like these Bobby Suede Lace-up shoes:

Tic-Tac-Toes is a company that focuses on dancing shoes and is very proud to make shoes in the USA.  They state on their homepage, “Tic-Tac-Toes shoes and boots for men and women are manufactured in our own modern factory in Gloversville, New York, USA!  We do not import uppers; we do not import labor; we do not import shoes!” They have dance shoes, and street shoes available and even boots.  If you don’t like the slick bottoms of dance shoes, you can take them in to a cobbler and have rubber soles added for a small price.  Check out some of these cute options:

tapestry floral flats

bow flats

Need some silver metallic boots made in the USA? Yep they got those:

Western boots

How about some sweet mint T straps, saddle oxfords and two-tone heels?

sweet bow heels

vintage style T strap heels (reminds me of the 30s)

And there you have it, some very cute shoes made in the USA.  Do you guys know of any other shoes that are made in the USA?  I’d really love to find more.