As many of you might have already heard, Ralph Lauren recently revealed his designs for team USA's opening ceremony outfits. As expected, RL drew on classic designs and very American colors. Though some are in an uproar about the barrette, we're more concerned about some very specific details regarding the clothing line: the country of origin.

As it turns out, every piece of the outfit has been made in, you guessed it, China! From the off-white shoes (reminiscent of nurse's shoes) to the questionable barrettes, not a single item has been made in the US. While the collection itself may be considered cute by some, a majority of the public has responded negatively. RL stated that it doesn't matter if his product was made elsewhere because Ralph Lauren represents such an iconic part of American fashion.

We don't really buy that, but do you?

Let us know what you think!

We're not sure if all of you heard yet, but #Northeastern #Minnesota has been hit by some really awful flooding in the last 24 hours. Most of the #flooding took place in #Duluth, but #Ely has been hit really hard, too.

Thus far, a lot of damage has been to the streets and sewers of #Duluth, but they've also experienced loss in a few other areas. We're sad to say that the  #Lake Superior Zoo has lost all but one of its barnyard animals because of flooding in the #zoo. Furthermore, a #polar bear and a #seal were found outside of their zoo enclosures early Tuesday morning! Needless to say, #Duluth has a lot to handle right now.

That being said, #Wintergreen was fortunate enough to leave Duluth before this happened, but our thoughts and prayers go out to the residents of Duluth as they begin to recover from the sever flooding and hail that hit last night. We ask that you all keep Duluth and the rest of Northeaster Minnesota in your thoughts and send them good vibes as well.

Thank you,

Wintergreen Northern Wear

We've recently become aware of something called the Made in USA Challenge, and we have to say it's a really great concept.

More and more companies are trying to use the "Made in America" slogan to promote their business, and while this isn't necessarily a bad thing we have to say it's sad how wrong these businesses usually are. For instance, Disney has recently started a "Made in America" segment as part of their world news program, despite the fact that they also outsource a large amount of their production. In fact, Disney makes most of its goods in China, Vietnam, and Honduras!

Don't be fooled, though, Disney is not the only culprit. Places like Forever 21 (who used to make their goods in L.A. until they were caught using illegal labor practices), The Gap, and American Eagle are all guilty of promoting American made products without even making a small fraction of their items in the US.

While we here at Wintergreen admire the big corporation's efforts at promoting American made items, we do not appreciate the misuse of the label. We work hard to provide high quality items and are proud to make these things here.

What do you think? Should these companies be allowed to claim "American Made" even if they only have a couple items?

For those of you from Minnesota, this last week has brought some rather sad news. George Chappele, more commonly known as "Dark Star" was found dead in his Minnetonka home earlier this week. As a KFAN radio personality and racetrack announcer, Dark Star was well known and loved throughout the state. While his death is seen as non-suspicious, we still mourn the passing of a young and talented man.

At the age of 66, Dark Star had achieved many great things in his lifetime. He worked for 25 years at WCCO-AM radio and eventually moved to KFAN. While his humor was sometime seen as "off color", he was still well respected in his industry.

This week we mourn Chappele's death and pray for the friends, family, and fans that are so deeply affected by their loss.

Sorry for the delay, folks! We've been busy here at Wintergreen Northern Wear trying to design some fun new shirts for this summer! This is the second part of the "Why buy Wintergreen" segment. Today we'll be focusing on the fact that Wintergreen products are made in America! All Wintergreen brand products have been hand-made up in Ely, Minnesota. We cut, measure, and sew each and every anorak by hand just for you. We'll even take custom orders! We are dedicated to providing products from America for several important reasons.

First of all, we want to ensure that you get the highest quality item possible, and if we make it anywhere else we just can't be so sure. This isn't to say that you wont get some great stuff from around the world, but we think the best way to manage production is to keep it right under your nose! In fact, you can go to the production room in Ely and watch the seamstresses put your coat together!

Second of all, we want to support the American economy. Times are tough all around and we don't see the logic in sending labor to another country when we could use the help here, too! While globalization is an important and necessary part of any economy, we feel that by keeping the labor here, we are helping out our own business as well as other "American Made" businesses. And we think that's kinda important!

Finally, we do it because it works. Sounds weird, right? Well we here at Wintergreen feel that there's no point in fixing something that isn't broken. We've been hand-making all of our products here for over 25 years and have yet to see a good reason to produce anywhere else! Sure, it might save us a few dollars here and there on production, but we figured that in the long run our commitment is to you, the customer, not to our pocketbooks.

So here concludes part 2 of the reasons you should buy Wintergreen (and American Made) products. Happy blogging!