This article is from the archive of our partner .
Google and American Apparel have little in common, besides Google's recent move to make a product in America, something the hip clothing chain has done forever. In a move to make itself look more conscientious than Apple (and the rest of its competitors), Google has opted to manufacture its new streaming media device, the Nexus Q, here in the good ole U.S. of A. Unlike American Apparel, whose products comes from a Los Angeles factory, for Google, this is just a fun little experiment. "We’ve been absent for so long, we decided, 'Why don’t we try it and see what happens?'" Andy Rubin, who heads Android for Google, told The New York Times' John Markoff. But, it probably doesn't want to flop now that we're all watching. And who better to get some dos and don'ts from than a company that has 23 years of experience in domestic manufacturing? Here's what American Apparel can teach Google:
Do: Emphasize the 'Made in America' part. American Apparel wants us to know it makes its stuff in America, instead of overseas sweatshops. It plasters its slogan, "Made in America. Sweatshop Free," all over ads and its stores. Its tags don't just say "Made in the U.S.A," but this one, for example, says "Made in LA by a woman with healthcare for herself and three children." On its website it asks visitors to take a tour of its "Sweatshop-Free Downtown L.A. factory. (Pictured above.) The company really plays up its moralism here. Unlike competitors, it creates American jobs. Unlike overseas factories, it can guarantee an American standard of pay and treatment. American Apparel CEO Dov Charney even uses the Made in America thing to push a cost-saving angle. With transportation costs and oversea wages rising, Charney sees American manufacturing as the economic move, he told The Los Angeles Times' Shan Li. "As that happens to the worldwide economy," he said, "it's going to make a lot of sense to manufacture in the United States or in Los Angeles."