I remember growing up in the 1950s and 60s, and I swear, every piece of clothing I put on my skinny body (except the Clancy Brothers’ Aran Sweaters] had a “Made in U.S.A.” label attached.

Below, the Freyne once-dirty laundry – all clean after our visit to Greer’s Laundromat. Yes, indeed, a good feeling – clean clothes.

But the pre-seatbelt, pre-cell phone, pre-Internet, smoking-is-good-for-you 1950s and 60s are a distant memory in more ways than one. I went through the clean-clothes stack one-by-one.

The clothes you see at right, including  “American” brands like Dockers, Lee and Nautica were, according to their labels, made in:

China
India
Sri Lanka
Vietnam
Pakistan
Guatemala
Honduras
Philippines
Mexico
Dominican Republic

Not one, repeat, NOT ONE, was “Made in U.S.A.”

Of course, there is an alternative: public nudity.

Hmmm.

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Peter Freyne, 1949-2009, wrote the weekly political column "Inside Track," which originated in the Vanguard Press in the mid 1980s; he brought it to Seven Days in 1995. He retired it shortly before his death in January, 2009. We all miss him.