Ranking Fashion Brands by Their Factories (Part 2)

We are back to talk about the manufacturing facilities behind your favorite brands and rate them from S-tier all the way to poop-tier. Every single brand that is listed on the screen right now is a direct result of the comment section in the last video. So if you want to see your favorite brand get talked about, please comment down below and I'll talk about it in a future video. I'd like to also mention that I tried to visit every single factory that I've spoken about on this list. There are a few that slip through the cracks that I know are just references from other people in the industry, but I do spend most of my year traveling, visiting manufacturing facilities so that you don't have to, and I'm here to share them with you. Let's get into it. CP Company, Italian sportswear brand integrating aviation goggles into their garments. Very interesting concept, has gained a lot of popularity, especially with the recent collab they did with Palace Skateboards. So super cool. I actually met one of their factories, Shandong Hikwan Industry Co., at a trade show, Fashion World Tokyo, and they specialize in doing a lot of their puffer jackets. I believe at one point they were made in Italy and now they've transitioned to making some, I am not sure if all, but at least some of their puffer jackets in China. So I was speaking to one of their sales representatives and they were showing me an example of the brown puffer jacket they had recently made for CP Company. It was extremely well constructed. And I think a lot of people hate on China when they shouldn't, because there are very bad factories in China, but there's also good factories. So when you're working with the right factory, you can get the right product. CP Company also works with Norma x Magic Knit, a knitwear factory. My friend Ed actually met them at Première Vision, which is a trade show back in the summer in France. And they just do this incredible knitwear, really, really skilled low gauge, high gauge, extremely great quality of yarn, just beautiful finished products. And they actually produce for so many luxury and streetwear brands like Prada, Palm Angels, Casablanca, and a whole bunch more. Naturally, we cannot talk about CP Company without talking about Stone Island, maybe the direct competitor to the brand, the nautical marine branch of Italian sportswear, and actually has a lot of overlap with CP Company. So there's two factories in Turkey, Polen Textil and Senpa. CP Company and Stone Island both use this factory. I have not personally visited, but it is a friend, a very reputable person in the industry that has given me the information. And I have seen some Stone Island product they've made. They primarily focus in knitwear and they do a really great job at it. So if you ever see Stone Island product, knitwear specifically, that has a made in Turkey label, it was probably made at Polentextil or Sempra. Limonta is another factory or village to talk about because actually the way Limonta is set up is they have their own entire village in Italy called Limonta, and it is populated with a bunch of different factories throughout. Everybody who lives in the village, or most, actually work for Limonta in the factories, and they specialize primarily in making fabric, although they do have other services as well. I know that they produce a of Stone Island and CP Company's nylon. So specifically the nylon with the matte and the one with the shiny finish that you'll see on a lot of the vintage jackets and a lot of the newer product as well, I know has been done by Limonta, and I don't know if it is still the case, but they are absolutely phenomenal at what they do, and they've produced fabric for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Bottega, and many other luxury fashion houses. So as far as CP Company goes, I would probably rate them an A-tier. Really great quality manufacturing across the board. And this is as far as the factories that I know. When it comes to Stone Island, I would actually rate it a little bit higher than CP Company. And I would go as far as to put Stone Island in the S-tier because they truly love R&D. They experiment on new products all the time. They've done a lot of innovations like the knitwear they did with the temperature-changing fabric, the constant new collections like the Shadow collections that are really pushing the boundaries of fabric. And I think I just see a little bit more of that coming from Stone Island as compared to CP Company. So they've earned my respect. Gucci, Italian luxury vintage fashion house, a real heritage brand and what I believe is the most successful luxury fashion brand in the industry. There's a lot to unpack here. When it comes to Gucci, a lot of their product is made in-house. It is not really factories that are accessible by the public. They're purely hired to manufacture Gucci products because the rolling demand is always there. However, they do have to outsource certain things, and I know that they've historically done that in Japan a little bit. So for example, I know that some of their denim comes from Japan Blue, which is a denim manufacturer in Japan in the Okayama region who does an incredible job at making denim really of the highest quality. And they actually produce for a lot of other luxury fashion houses. I know that they've done stuff for Chrome Hearts in the past. I know they've done stuff for other brands. What I actually want to focus on a little bit more is Yamazaki Knits. I had the pleasure of going to visit in Japan. It is a knitwear facility that truly makes the highest quality fabric with confidence. I can say I've ever seen when it comes to knitwear. Really, really beautiful shuttle loom machines that are knitting incredible fabrics entirely made in Japan with the best yarns. Yarns coming from Indonesia, Australia, from Japan. So truly, truly the best fabrics. And the owner is so kind and genuine. So they specialize purely in making fabric, and I know they've done stuff for Gucci in the the past. They've also done some stuff for Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent, so definitely a history there. As far as the rest of Gucci's manufacturing goes, a lot of the handbags are pretty decent quality. I wouldn't say they are outstanding. There are some bags that outclass others. And as far as the rest of their product goes, cutting and sewing is pretty much always on point. Fabrics are very good. But for the retail price points, given the quality, there's brands that are theoretically better to purchase out there. So I'll be ranking Gucci at an A tier. Next we have Moncler. Initially making quilted jackets in the '50s in France for workers, and now evolved into a full-blown luxury fashion house. Moncler also uses Norma Magic Knit, used by CP Company and other fashion houses. Great factory. I also know that they do some of their t-shirts and primarily a lot of their printing for t-shirts and hoodies at a factory called Decotec in Istanbul. And I had the honor of visiting the factory, meeting the owner Gürkan, and they actually do printing for for many other luxury fashion brands, and he's a super nice guy. Moncler has also done a select collection with Tègue International, LA-based mini atelier. Wouldn't even call it a manufacturing facility per se. They do take on projects, and I know that they manufactured their Moncler Greg Lauren fashion line there. They also did the tents that they did for the collection as a display piece inside the store with Tègue International. So it is a pretty reliable factory. And as far as the rest of Moncler's quality goes, I would I say it's pretty high on average. Very good product, great cutting and sewing. Is it something that is absolutely mind-blowing given the price point? In my opinion, no. And because of that, I will be rating it at an A tier. So far, some pretty high ratings. Let's keep it pushing. I want to talk about Alexander Wang. So I know they have worked with a factory called Joyce Group based in China who actually produces for brands like Journe, produces for Givenchy, did some HBA stuff as well, a wide variety of streetwear brands. And Alexander Wang is no exception. They do a of their knitwear. When I say knitwear, I'm not talking about those heavy knitted marine style sweaters. I am talking about knitwear as in cotton that is knitted. So that could be jersey, what is used for t-shirts, French terry or fleece commonly used for hoodies, anything that is done on a knitting machine. So yeah, they do a lot of their knitwear. So t-shirts and hoodies quality is pretty good relative to the price point, pretty reasonable. They do have some products that are actually standouts and their printing and embellishing on products is generally very good. So I do like Alexander Wang. And I know that they also work with Anglo Tex in Portugal, which produces for the likes of, uh, Alix. I believe they've done some Balenciaga product, and I would not quote me on that because Balenciaga is very secretive about where they make their stuff, but I have a strong feeling that it has been made there. So Alexander Wang has worked with that facility as well, and they do some really great product, fantastic qualities of fabric, so very reliable. Overall, Alexander Wang has pretty great manufacturing, been around for a long time. For the price point, It makes a lot of sense. I would rate Alexander Wang at an A-tier when it comes to manufacturing. Acne Studios, incredible fashion brand, very original ideas, a lot of cutting-edge product. They've used Zitabbi denim in Italy to do some of their denim. An incredible Italian denim factory, very strong at washing, super premium quality. Price point for that factory is extremely high, so it really shows in the quality of the products that they put out. Give that factory a super high rating, just quite expensive. Then I know that they've used Van Besko in China for some of their sneakers. It's a pretty decent factory. It's nothing crazy. And I think that in general, when it comes to their footwear, it could probably use an improvement in quality. Some of the materials being used, some of the leathers are on the cheaper side. And given the price point, I think it's a point where they can actually do a little bit better. For knitwear, I do believe they use Pointricot, which is an Italian knitwear factory, extremely premium. Does a great job, very much like Zatabi Denim, very comparable, very expensive, great quality, has my approval. And lastly, I believe they've done a lot of their scarves at Pultrend, another Italian factory. And this factory does a range of like scarves and blankets, a few other products, and I know that they manufacture with some other luxury brands. They do a phenomenal job. The Acne scarves are really great quality, really nice to the touch, especially the ones that are 100% wool. Pultrend does a phenomenal job with that. Once again, have my approval. Obviously Acne has many more factories because they, you know, offer such a wide range of products, but that kind of covers the sneaker, denim, knitwear, and scarves. So a little bit of everything. Their footwear can definitely use an improvement, and because of that, I need a brand to be perfect across the board to get a high rating. In my opinion, I would rate Acne Studios as a B tier. If their footwear, and I would say maybe some of their accessories, got a bit of a quality improvement, I believe they can rank a little bit higher because the rest of their product is actually very well made. So just buy selectively from Acne. Julius, I do not know too much about this brand. I met one of their factories at Fashion World Tokyo. The factory is called Dalian Everbright, and what's actually cool about this factory is they have very low minimums. They produce some pretty technical product, so it's a good factory for an entry-level high fashion brand. Definitely on the more expensive side. China-based, good quality of cutting and sewing. As far as the rest of Julius's manufacturing goes, I do not know much. Based on the knowledge I have, I would rank them at a B tier alongside Acne because the factory they are using, although it is good, there are certain improvements that could be made. Uh, quality of fabric could be a little bit better, especially given the retail price that Julius is going forward with. So I will be ranking them at a B tier. By the way, I've made a spreadsheet containing all of the factories I mentioned in this video and a whole lot more. I have over 100 factories listed specifying the brands they produce for, the types of products they specialize in, minimum order quantities, a direct contact at the factory so you can actually contact them directly and start working with them. And one of the hardest things when it comes to factories is actually getting contact information of a person who answers. So my spreadsheet does that, and all of it is available on my Patreon as part of the second tier or the third tier. So please go check that out if you are interested in manufacturing your own product or learning more. Getting into the Japanese brand segment of this video, Yoji Yamamoto, one of the most heritage brands in Japan. An all-time classic, and I really like their factories. I know that they work with Buzest. I actually got the chance to visit them, meet one of the sales directors, Kiyofumi, who speaks English very well, a super genuine person. I really love what they do. They do a wide range of products. They are fully vertical for so many different types of products. And I know that Yoji has done some of their jackets there. Really reliable factory, great quality, great staff. Quite expensive naturally as it is a Japanese factory, but it is in line with the type of brand they are working with. And in this case, Yoji chose very well. I believe Yoji also works with Hinode Kyori, a fabric manufacturer in Japan producing for the likes of Capital, Visvim, Issey Miyake, all the classic Japanese brands. Very much a Japanese network factory, not so open to brands from the outside, although not impossible. Very premium fabrics, one of the best Japanese know-how, so always really great quality. And maybe I'm a little bit biased towards that, but based on what I've seen, they really, really kill it, especially when it comes to knit fabrics. So Yohji is killing it on that front. In general, Yohji's product is really great. Always a few improvements that could be made. I would not say it is as consistent across the board as some of its Japanese peer brands. And I would also say that old Yohji seemed to have a lot more flair and a lot more attention to detail than it does now. So because of that, I will be rating it at an A tier. And Wander, Japanese hiking brand, really one of my favorites. Used to be made entirely in Japan. They have now started outsourcing some of their cutting and sewing to China. Not necessarily a bad thing. One of the factories they work with is called BOOM. They do the cutting and sewing for some of the jackets for, uh, Stussy, Helly Hansen. The owner was actually telling me that they will be starting with Arc'teryx and Moncler as of January 2024. That's very exciting. The factory is really picking up some great contract, and I can tell you, having seen them in person, the quality of the construction is truly phenomenal. They're also a Gore-Tex approved manufacturer, which is a very hard license to get, which means Gore-Tex allows you to make products using their fabrics. So great factory, great cutting and sewing. What I will say with Andwonder is they are not necessarily using that many Gore-Tex fabrics. Their fabrics is actually where I think they fall short because I think the rest of what they do is pretty amazing. They have some really innovative designs, but a lot of the products especially the ones I've worn. As you wear them over time, the fabrics start to pill a lot. If they were to use better fabrics, I think I'd rank them higher. There are select products that do use great fabrics. I know that their backpacks are a great example of that. I just found that with the pants and some of the jackets, I had a little bit of issues. Maybe they've corrected that, and if they start using more Gore-Tex, we won't have that issue. So I'll be rating Andwander at a B tier. Overall, very good brand. If they can improve on fabrics, I think they would rank higher. Beams Japan, great brand, very cool stores. They also use Hinode Kyori, the manufacturer that Yoji uses for fabrics. What really excites me is that they use Tadanit for all of their cutting and sewing. It's the same factory that Purple Label North Face and of course Real McCoy's uses. Very high quality factory. Sadly, few employees left, so their capacity is quite low. They are always very busy, but they do incredible work. I back that factory all the way. They also do some of their narrow width fabrics at Nimi. This is a very cool factory I got the chance to visit in Japan. They do a lot of like the Japanese hand towels that are used throughout the country, which is a very specialty fabric, uh, and they specialize in narrow width weaving. So most fabrics are done on a 60-inch width roll, but at Nii Mii you'll find fabrics that are done on like 12-inch rolls, which is super specialized, requires very technical management of machinery. They use punch cards on the weaving machines, which is a very traditional and old-school way of making fabric but leads to these beautiful results. So that is very cool. And then as far as the Beams product I do not know the factories of. There's a cardigan I had, I didn't really like how it wore over time. I think the yarn choice was only okay. That one was actually made in China, it wasn't made in Japan, and that's why Beams manufacturing network has really expanded as their brand has grown. Because of that, I will rate them a B tier. I think that if they were to bring everything back to Japan, they can climb a little bit higher, but oftentimes it's very difficult to do that with capacity issues and manufacturing complexities in Japan. So I also do understand the decision they made. There are other good factories out there. Maybe they just need to fix their manufacturing for certain products. Essentials Fear of God. A lot of people wanted me to speak on this. Jerry Lorenzo's more accessible brand. I remember there was one point during COVID where Essence, the online retailer, was flying in literal Boeing 747s entirely filled with Essentials orders because the product was selling so fast. It's obviously a hit. From a manufacturing standpoint, I think it is total garbage, if I'm being completely honest. And not to bash the industry, but the quality of the fabric is pretty mediocre. When it comes to the actual assembly, I think it's mediocre as well. If you want to get a full breakdown, you should check out Shift Fashion Group, run by my friend Joe NG. He does a full garment breakdown of the Essentials product. It's really cool, and he really gets into the assembly as well as the fabric. I know that Essentials uses Dragon Crowd, or they did at some point. Product is really okay as far as what I've seen for Essentials. Maybe they do other brands well, but I would not really be using that manufacturing facility. It's larger scale, better for mass production, which works well for Essentials. Obviously, I do have to cut them some slack because when you are making that many units of a product— and when I say that many, I'm talking about millions and millions of units— it is very hard to oversee quality control and to consistently maintain and fulfill those orders. So I do understand the complexities they went through, but I think that they could have done a better job with the fabric and the construction. Essentials for me is sadly all the way down here. It is poop. Fear of God is better. Essentials, really not great. I'm sorry, it's gonna get the ax. Nocta, Drake's division of Nike. I actually like this brand quite a lot. Jeremy Carl, who is from Montreal, my hometown city, used to work at a local boutique, Off the Hook, is now one of their designers. I know if he's still there. I know he's worked with Leaf, the division of Arc'teryx, before. He's a very talented designer. He does a great job designing their products. And when it comes to their manufacturing, I know that they've done some product with Dominion LA. They did their full sky blue sweatsuits over there alongside some other like jumper, long sleeves, and crewnecks. Quality looks pretty good, made in USA fabric, which is always nice to see from a conglomerate like Nike. I'm a big fan of that. When it comes to Nocta's manufacturing, as far as what I've seen, I would rank it as a B tier was a little bit of a tough decision between B tier and A tier, but I would say it is not at the level of the A tier brands. Those are just a little bit more elevated. Obviously price point is accounted for here. Nocta is a lot more affordable than some of the A tier brands, but still I would not say that the quality is unbelievably outstanding. I will say it is very good for Nike product though. So this next one I kind of threw in to switch things up. This is not clothing as much as it is the toys, the vinyl toys specifically, but I want to talk about KAWS. I know that they use two factories, multi- T-Tech Hong Kong and Heroin, two very good factories for producing vinyl toys. The quality has been pretty consistently good from what I've seen. I do not understand toys as well as I understand clothing. However, you can tell generally that the vinyl is of good quality. It holds up well over time. I would say that the old vinyl toys that KAWS did are of better quality than they are now, and I think a big reason for that is because they were forced to mass produce as their brand got much larger. You know, once they saw the Uniqlo collabs and really mass marketed their product, the toys started releasing in much larger quantities, and because of that we'll see some paint blemishes on the product. But I'd say Cozz generally does a pretty good job. They are certainly not S-tier like they were maybe back in 2005, but now I would say that generously they are B-tier, and that's where I would rank their toy manufacturing. If you are looking to make vinyl toys like that, that is a place to do it. Heroin and Multitech, both of similar quality, both similar capacities and similar product. Very comparable. Skims, Kim Kardashian's activewear brand. I see a lot of love and a lot of hate for this brand. I want to talk about one of their factories, Eurotex. I had the pleasure of visiting it in Istanbul. An outstanding factory for activewear, the best activewear factory I have ever been to. 20% of their capacity is actually dedicated to making Skims product. I worked with the sales rep Asli Han there. She's super sweet. I what they do there. They are so organized. It is a massive factory, extremely high quality, everything super well done, reasonable minimums, very capable and always innovating and willing to innovate. The fabrics I've seen come out of there are phenomenal, so I know that everything Skims does with Eurotex is great. However, when it comes to the other Skims product that is made not with Eurotex— so Eurotex primarily does the shapewear and activewear portion, but I know that they do some other products that are more fleece and terry based and stuff like that, not as good quality. They can definitely use an improvement. So when it comes to Skims, I would rate them as a B tier. The last brand we have to rate today is Golf, the Tyler, the Creator brand. This brand has seen as much of a trajectory in quality as Tyler, the Creator's musical career has. I think ever since he started taking himself more seriously, Golf has taken itself a lot more seriously and developed a lot more. Initially, t-shirts, streetwear items, basic stupid stuff, and now a lot more knits, more beautiful pop-ups, a little bit more of a brand identity, much more like Tyler. So I think he's been doing a pretty good job with that. When it comes to Golf, I know that they are producing with Unavailable in Vietnam, a very cool factory producing for the likes of Kith, Emilion d'Or, Palace, Stussy, pretty much all the streetwear brands. A very streetwear-centric factory. The owner is super nice, got a chance to speak to him. Will hopefully be visiting the factory this year. They seem to be doing great quality out there. Basic streetwear stuff, you know, basic streetwear quality. Decent jerseys, decent French terries and fleeces. Probably a B-tier factory, a little bit on the larger quantity side. So not for entry-level streetwear brands, definitely for the more established ones. I know that Golf was also doing, and I'm not sure if they still are, but they were doing some products with US Standard Apparel based in the US. US-made fabrics, definitely higher quality fabrics. Cutting and sewing pretty decent. I would say a between B-tier and A-tier factory. Overall, the rest of their products are pretty decent quality. I'd probably be ranking Golf also at a B tier. B tier got a lot of love this video. And so overall, that is my final tier list. Let me know what your thoughts are. Obviously I do not know the full manufacturing networks of these brands. Some of these brands probably use 50 or 100 different factories and historically have used even more. It is very difficult to get the full image, but I am ranking based on my knowledge of the product and the factories that I know they work with. If you would like to see some of your favorite brands get rated, please comment down below. Let me know what you think about my ratings. I would love to know that as well. And until next time, I'm out. Peace.