Scott Paul had been on a mission for 15 years: to find the perfect Western shirt, made right here in the U.S.A. The president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing knew what he was looking for — that classic gingham check, the pearlescent snap buttons, the boxy cut that telegraphs rugged individualism and effortless cool.
But time and again, he came up short. The shirts on the market were either flimsy fast fashion knockoffs or vintage thrift store scores — never the high-quality, American-made icon he had in mind.
Until, that is, he stumbled upon Brazos Fine Shirts, a young brand that’s on a mission to bring the Western shirt back home. Founded by Carter Baldwin, a native Texan with a background in direct-to-consumer startups, Brazos is reviving a garment that once defined American style — and rebuilding the supply chain to make it entirely in the U.S.
“What’s more Americana than this style of shirt, but none of them is made in the US,” Baldwin mused on a recent episode of The Manufacturing Report podcast. “That resonates with people. They understand that there’s a premium, to a degree, for Made in America, and so my job is to deliver that.”
What’s really hard about garment manufacturing, I’ve learned, is that it’s a skilled craft. A robot can’t do this, a machine can’t do it, you have to have human hands doing it. The supply of talent and lack thereof is a real thing.
For Baldwin, the quest to create the perfect Western shirt began back in his college days at the University of Texas in Austin. He and his friends would scour thrift stores and bargain bins for the iconic ginghams and plaids they saw on their musical heroes, but they could never find a consistent source — and certainly not one that was made in America.
The idea stuck with Baldwin as he built a career in the world of direct-to-consumer startups in Los Angeles. Working for companies like TechStyle (now the parent of Fabletics and Savage x Fenty) and the men’s grooming brand Manscaped, he got a crash course in how products are sourced, manufactured, and brought to market in the age of e-commerce.
But he also saw firsthand how those products were almost always made overseas, in countries like China where labor is cheap, and regulations are lax. And he knew there had to be a better way.
So in 2019, Baldwin decided to take the plunge and launch Brazos, named after the river that runs through his home state of Texas. His goal was simple but audacious: to create the highest-quality Western shirts on the market, and to make them entirely in the United States.
It was a steep learning curve, to say the least. Baldwin quickly discovered that the domestic garment manufacturing industry had been decimated over the past few decades, as brands chased cheaper production overseas. The supply chain for fabrics, trims, and skilled labor had withered, and the few factories that remained were struggling to stay afloat.
“I think the biggest thing to understand is the domestic supply chain we have here has been decimated,” Sean Kincaid, the president of K&F Electronics in Michigan, told The Manufacturing Report in a previous episode. “When I started back in 2004, we had 3,000 circuit board shops, and today we have less than 150.”
But Baldwin was undeterred. He sourced the finest fabrics he could find, from Japanese chambrays to American-grown Pima cottons. He worked with pattern makers and sample sewers to get the fit just right. And he partnered with a factory in downtown Los Angeles that could handle the kind of small-batch, high-touch production his shirts required.
The result is a shirt that’s built to last — and to justify its premium price point. Baldwin knows that he can’t compete with the fast fashion giants on cost, so he’s focusing instead on quality, craftsmanship, and storytelling.
“You have to do that, you have to do that, that romancing of the product and all those things to support the, you know, the consumer giving you the mind space that the positioning that you need is the seller to sell the product at the price you need to, to make the margin acquired,” he explained.
“So nobody’s ever seen these before. These are 26 fall previews.”
It’s a strategy that’s already paying off. Brazos shirts have been spotted on celebrities like Post Malone, who wore one on stage in Paris. And the brand’s Instagram feed is a virtual lookbook of rugged Americana, featuring bearded models in wide-brimmed hats and weathered boots.
But for Baldwin, the real measure of success is much simpler. It’s the knowledge that he’s creating something of lasting value — and helping to revive a proud American tradition in the process.
“Manufacturing can be sexy,” Wesley Sprecher, the president of operations at Blue Water Components in Florida, told The Manufacturing Report.
Manufacturing can be high tech. Manufacturing can be high paying. Manufacturing can be clean. Manufacturing can be where you can build wealth for your family and the next generation.
With Brazos, Baldwin is betting that he can prove Sprecher right — one snap button at a time.
To learn more about Brazos Fine Shirts and shop Carter Baldwin’s made-in-America masterpieces, visit brazosfineshirts.com or follow the brand on Instagram at @brazosfineshirts. And for more conversations about the people and policies shaping American manufacturing, subscribe to The Manufacturing Report wherever you get your podcasts.
