NEW IDEAS, NEW
MARKETS, NEW
INSIGHTS—INNOVATION
TAKES MANY FORMS.
LOOK AROUND
AND YOU’LL FIND IT
ALL OVER THE U.S. A.
THIS IS
HOW
WE DO IT
Photographs
by Saverio Truglia
MOTOR CITY
DENIM CO. DETROIT
With Motor City Denim,
Mark D’Andreta (at right,
with seamstress Shirley
Thomas) has come full circle.
His father outfitted many a
Detroiter while running the
cut-and-sew shop at Hudson’s, the majestic downtown
department store that closed
in 1983, and then created a
company to make “robot
clothes,” protective covers for
the machines on automotive
assembly lines. When the
Great Recession hit and car-makers slashed their orders,
D’Andreta, 51, who now runs
the family firm, diversified,
launching Motor City Denim
and producing handbags and
jeans on the same machines
as those robot clothes. “To
survive,” he says, “you have to
be flexible.” The robot orders
eventually returned, and his
custom-sewn-apparel unit is
still growing. Capitalizing on
speed honed for the auto-makers, his factory produces
lines for both local designers
and major brands such as Kid
Rock’s Made in Detroit, for
which it sews messenger
bags and jackets. “There’s momentum to create a Detroit
garment district,” D’Andreta
says. “If you don’t have manufacturing, it won’t work. That’s
us.” —Chuck Salter
