Made Right Here
I am posting this on All Plaidout as an ALL POINTS BULLETIN. We would love your help sharing this video with whomever you can, by any means possible. We are looking for investors and networks to fund future episodes. If you feel comfortable hosting this on your blog, your facebook page, your Tumblr, or your Twitter we would be so thankful. And if you know someone who would be interested in such a project, please share with them as well.
Longtime fans of the blog know I love a good factory visit. In May, Joe Gannon and I took a trip to Tennessee. While there, we shot video at Pointer Brand, Imogene + Willie, and at Billy Moore’s house. It was all done with the hope we’d come away with some kind of TV pilot.
The show is called Made Right Here. It’s our desire to not only show how it’s made, not only where it’s made, but to also show the people who make it. We want to tell their stories. We also asked them to show Joe and I how to make one of their signature items. We made six pairs of carpenter jeans at Pointer. We made a chambray western shirt at Imogene + Willie, and we made belts and buckles with Billy Moore.
I say we made… really, we tried and failed to make all these things. This is part of the story, too. These people are craftspeople who’ve dedicated their lives to mastering a skill, a skill that is really tough to do.
We have been sharing this with people to whom we’re connected in television for the last month or so, and we’ve received some positive feedback. One criticism is that we need to shorten the trailer to about two minutes (It’s sitting pretty at just under seven minutes right now).
Joe and I owe an endless amount of thanks to the wonderful people we met at Pointer Brand, Imogene + Willie, and of course the inimitable Billy Moore. We also must thank our team, Mr. Here Productions’ Matt Springer and Rick Page. Without their impetus, their hard work, and their abilities as producers and directors, this would still just be an unfulfilled dream.
“When the textile mill goes, so does a way of life.” So reads today’s headline in 
In college, while on assignment as a costumer, digging through a Goodwill bin in a small Indiana town, I pulled out a ratty, six panel, dark green, buffalo check cap. Tied in a simple bow in front, it had an exterior hat band attached with seam tape to allow the band to slide up and down, “A brilliant idea for an ear cover,” I thought. The cap was invented by