[telotortium]

No it wouldn’t. American Apparel used to (maybe it still does) make its shirts in a factory in Los Angeles, and its shirts were not noticeably more expensive than the likes of Abercrombie that made clothes overseas. AA couldn’t have competed in the lower end of the market, but their clothes were still not astronomically expensive because the factory was already heavily automated via machines.

The larger cost for a lot of manufacturing in the richest countries is permitting and regulation, plus the fact that the manufacturing knowledge cluster is concentrated in China now, making every part of setting up a factory there smoother.

[asdff]

Los Angeles Apparel is what you are thinking of (I believe owner of AA sold the brand and started this which is manufactured in los angeles). And their t shirts, blank t shirts not dress shirts mind you, are $28 or so depending on weight. Blank hanes or fruit of the loom t shirt made overseas can be had for basically an order of magnitude less than the american manufactured version.