Shopping for work clothes at TJMaxx

Dh was in desperate need of some work clothes, we've been budgeting for it as we knew it would be an expense for the fall, and to make the most of our wee budget we of course went to TJMaxx, one of our favourite pre-China-free stores.

I wandered around in the kids toy section with the boys while B looked for some clothing. My goal was to find anything not MIC (Made-in-China). Success! ONE book about Lightning McQueen which was "manufactured in Mexico" (am I a conspiracy theorist? why does "manufactured" make me suspicious... ) and to my absolute JOY I discovered that every single book by Sandra Boynton was "Made in USA". We LOVE Boynton in our house and this is going to help out a lot to know that her stuff isn't on the MIClist.

Back to the clothes shopping however.... funny how I so rarely read the label on clothing.... there was a hefty Asian contingent in the men's shirt department. Vietnam was pretty popular as was of course our good friend China. Thailand made some appearances as did India, Korea and Indonesia.

I would say our foray was about 75% successful. Certainly it was much easier to avoid China, but of course then you're just going to other Asian countries which may or may not have better work standards, and still face the same environmental concerns. One of his shirts was by Luciano Ceccarelli - guess where that was made. ;-) We couldn't find a single thing made domestically in the dress shirts and pants department. We couldn't find a single tie not made in China, either. Looking for some options in that regard.

So, we're not batting 100%. But luckily for us this isn't about achieving absolute perfection. :-) This was a real eyeopener and really showed me how difficult finding locally or at least domestically made clothing is going to be. But we shall find it! (with your help, dear readers! please post your tips and links in the comments section)