Yo, people of San Francisco! If ever there has been a store that deserves to be periodically picketed by a flash mob, it’s Unionmade. (493 Sanchez Street). The Gawker story has all the information you need to know.
Postmodern bullshit deserves a postmodern form of social activism, don’t you think? Maybe the same Ministry-of-Peace type genius that drains all the meaning out of language the way that Count Dracula goes after plucky Victorian virgins can just absorb any protest or objection. But maybe, just maybe, for once folks could compel an understanding that certain kinds of talk obligate certain kinds of walks. It’s not like the store couldn’t just rebrand, after all. Say, “Expensive Stuff That We Think Is Well Made Though Maybe in a Sweatshop, Who Knows.”
P.S. There’s one in Santa Monica also.
The same can be said about “Brooklyn Industries” (http://www.brooklynindustries.com/) A couple of years ago I was looking for a messenger bag, saw a BI store and thought, cool, I’ll get a locally made bag. Not only were the bags crap, they were made in China. So when I see hipsters around town with bags that have the big red BI patch on them I can’t help but think ‘poseur’