​Made in the U.S.A.

Northern Folk pop-up shop will sell American-made clothing and apparel

Local shoppers and fashionistas will get a favorable opportunity to buy American-made apparel this April 18. In fact, this might be the community’s best chance yet.

Northern Folk, a locally curated pop-up shop, will house 13 made-in-the-U.S.A. vendors at Ecce on Broadway. While some Fargo-Moorhead retailers sell American-made products, Northern Folk will be the only “all-American” multi-vendor shop the area has seen in years – decades, maybe.

Consumer demand, of course, is one reason for the lack of American-made products. More than 95 percent of Americans buy foreign-made clothes, shoes, upholstery, etc.

Northern Folk creators Ian Johnson and Adam Grahek are willing to take a chance on Fargo, nonetheless.

The two have known each other for years and have stayed friends because of their similar lifestyles and interests, including music, the outdoors and, more recently, entrepreneurship.

“I think we’ve stayed in touch because our lives have oddly run parallel paths a bit,” Grahek said. “And we both became interested in this idea of American-made clothing at the same time … (Northern Folk) has been fun because this is the first project of any type that we’ve collaborated on.”

Yes, American-made products are expensive. In many cases, they’re at least double the price of average products. But Grahek and Johnson believe the value is worth it.

“There’s always that initial purchase,” Johnson said of his first American-made buy. “For me it was a pair of boots.”

For Grahek, it was Raleigh Denim. “It’s the only pair I wear,” he said.

It’s about having quality over quantity, they agreed.

“For me it was kind of a lifestyle change in a sense that it was boiling down to simplifying and getting rid of things that may be cluttering my life in a sense,” Johnson said.

Buying American-made goods is a community value in the Iron Range of Minnesota, where Grahek grew up.

“There was kind of this deep sense of pride in American-made trucks. People simply don’t drive foreign-made trucks there because that (takes away from) what the community survives on, steel,” he said.

“I think the impact is the same (with apparel), and if nothing else it brings a little bit of attention or conversation to the fact that it does matter where the things you buy are made.”

Northern Folk will focus on selling “timeless,” for-any-occasion products. That way, customers can get the most amount of mileage, so to speak, out of their purchases.

“These are things that our grandfathers wore and that really will never go out of style,” he said.

While a majority of the downtown boutiques and shops are catered to women, Northern Folk will have some of the best quality, exclusive and classic men’s, and women’s, apparel in the area. As two knowledgeable people of downtown Fargo (Johnson works in the area and Grahek’s sister owns Unglued), the guys said more men’s apparel stores are needed.

“I haven’t bought clothes in Fargo honestly in years,” Johnson said. “And I think that’s kind of unfortunate because I don’t think that I am an oddity …

“I do think that the stores that have kind of made downtown what it is have allowed this conversation to happen, which I think both Adam and I are grateful for.”

Perhaps a permanent American-made apparel shop for Fargo will come out of this. A lot of that may depend on the turnout or the success rate of Northern Folk, which the guys say they are very unsure of.

But for the sake of community and the good northern folks who work hard to make exceptional products, it’s worth a shot.

“You’re making a more informed purchase. Your purchases are making a bigger impact financially within your community or at least your state or your country,” Johnson said. “And at the same time they are making even less of an impact by using less material, less product. And so it really is kind of taking that buying habit and forming it into a lifestyle decision.”

IF YOU GO:

Northern Folk

Sat, April 18, 2 to 8 p.m.

216 Broadway (above Ecce)

http://tiny.cc/hhp3wx