Manutailer

The concept of a "Manutailer" has been around for ages yet somehow seems so progressive at this point in history. Ages ago a blacksmith was just a blacksmith who created and sold necessary goods in order to make a living. He was good at what he did, he worked his craft at his shop, and he sold to whoever needed his products. At some point in time, with the expansion of both the national and global markets, this concept was broken down into it's most simple elements; the manufacturer, the retailer, but also a myriad of other facets such as marketers, advertisers, shippers, distributors, resellers, etc.

This blog is poised to take a step forward while looking back in order to evaluate who is currently a "Manutailer" and how they are benefiting both themselves and the consumer. I first became enamored with the idea of a manutailer while filling out tax information for a company I started in 2003. My company designed, printed, and sold clothing directly to the end wearer. While filling out tax sheets I was stymied by the lack of designation for a company that did everything in house. Since I was manufacturing, advertising, distributing, and retailing it was hard to categorize my business according to existing designations. For tax reasons it made sense to be considered a manufacturer at times and a retailer at other times. For census reasons the line was also blurred, did I want to be counted in the next "manufacturing is up 19% in this country" when I was creating what I considered art?

I invite all of my readers to contribute examples of who is a "manutailer" in this day and age. Let's start with the A's, I would like to throw two companies that I know of personally into the ring for closer inspection; American Apparel, and Aaron R. Thomas design