The Native-owned brand makes modern, high-quality clothing in the U.S., sourcing locally as often as possible.
Of all the 112 companies included in the 2024 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide, just one creates apparel inspired by the people who lived on this land before there was a United States of America.
Ginew is an Oregon-based clothing company that makes modern American garments based on the designs of American Indian tribes. Its apparel, inspired by several hundred years old traditions, is a take on the hard-working Indigenous peoples of the West.
Ginew was founded in 2010 by Native Americans Erik Brodt and Amanda Bruegl, a husband-and-wife duo who both have daytime jobs as practicing medical doctors. The domestic company’s garments celebrate the respective tribes of their ancestors, including the Ojibwe, Oneida, and Stockbridge-Munsee.
“Since my wife and I are Native Americans, a lot of the creative element comes from us,” Brodt said. “We also hire designers and work with Native artists, especially on product creation and product design.
“A lot of the clothing that our grandparents, and great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents wore were a lot of the really cool icons of men’s and women’s practical style, which is more of a kind of western ranch or western workwear style. We draw inspiration from the clothes they wore, from our tribes, and any of the artists and graphic designers we work with, most of whom are Native Americans.”
Ginew began making belts and leather goods shortly after Brodt and Bruegl married. They crafted their first series of belts from their traditional wedding buffalo, which was hunted, prepared, tanned and hand-dyed by their families.
In 2017, Ginew introduced the first American Indian line of denim jeans, and in 2020, expanded into making coats, T-shirts, vests, scarves, and other goods, with each item they make drawing direct inspiration from their cultures or relatives.
Being a small company making small batch apparel, Ginew contracts with other apparel manufacturers to produce its creatively designed clothing.
Located in Portland, Oregon, Ginew utilizes the nearby Pendleton fabric mill to weave material for the linings of its jackets. Most of its manufacturing is done by cut and sew shops in California.
“We are probably most known for our coats,” Brodt said. “We use Pendleton fabric inside of premium shells. We’ve got waxed canvas, which is a very beautiful fabric, some denims and we have a great relationship with some of our fabric suppliers.”
The Heritage denim coat has become one of the brand’s signature items and pays homage to Brodt’s great-great-grandfather.
“I started thinking about the transition he made from hunter-gatherer to agrarian,” Brodt said. “I thought about what he might have been wearing in those moments and how it would need to be utilitarian, functional, sturdy.”
The result is a thick denim outer layer and a lining with a graphic printed wool that is made by Pendleton and designed by a Native American artist that incorporates colorful Ojibwe and Onedia family symbols and teachings.
While the Ginew team tries to source all its materials in the United States, a few items come from global suppliers. The initial denim jeans collection was sourced from the renowned White Oak denim mill in North Carolina, but since that mill’s closing, Brodt has had to look elsewhere for denim fabric.
“We do use some fabric that is imported but not much,” he said. “They disassembled the White Oak mill so now we do some sourcing from Japan. We only use imported fabrics when we can’t get them in the U.S. anymore.”
Applying the best efforts to keep its products Made in America, Ginew also sources denim from Vidalia Mills in Louisiana, which purchased many of its looms from the Cone White Oak Mill.
Ginew creates its apparel using natural fibers that include cotton, deerskin, and wool. After purchasing the fabrics, Ginew sends them to its manufacturing partners to be cut and sewn. The finished items are returned to Ginew’s Portland warehouse where orders are filled for their direct-to-consumer sales.
“Our typical clientele are socially minded, highly astute consumers who pay incredible attention to the longevity of their wardrobe,” Brodt said. “We are a small-batch producer, not fast fashion. We have many heirloom-quality garments.
“Our goal is to make things that last and last, pieces which are meant to endure for decades if not generations. We hope to decrease the mass consumption and waste.”
In that spirit, Brodt still wears the first coat Ginew ever made.
“I still wear the sample,” he said. “I’ve been rockin’ that coat now for over 10 years and it will keep going strong.”
Brodt realizes the extra costs that go into making clothing in America but wants people to know that “Made in America” is revered around the globe.
“One thing that is interesting to me about our collections is that there a whole bunch of people in the U.S. that are into Made in America but are put off by prices,” said Brodt. “In Europe, Japan and even in China, Made in America is a premium thing. They don’t even bat an eye at the prices which is interesting to me.
“The realities of manufacturing in the U.S. is not an easy thing at all. You see a factory overseas that is government supported much like our government supports agriculture here. In China, it’s subsidized by the government, and you can’t compete.
“We are trying to make the best quality stuff we can and that comes from making it in the U.S. No one else can make Pendleton wool fabric like that. We work with some really great factories here.”
Ginew products are sold at select boutiques, but most sales are online purchases. You can shop Ginew on its website.