Happy Fourth of July to my readers! One might think Americans are the most unswervingly patriotic of dressers. But according to a 2009 survey by luxury market analysts Ledbury Research, you might be surprised.
Below is a list of consumers, ranked by percentage who prefer to buy goods from their own country:
The research firm dubs this sartorial nationalism "fashionalism". Given the historical byproducts of excessive nationalism in Europe and elsewhere, one hopes the energy and tenor of so-called fashionalism will be light and none too serious.
I think behind the numbers is a closely coupled relationship between a particular notion of "quality" and certain, historically prominent crafts and industries that happened to develop in specific countries. In France, think women's fashion, leather goods and silk (Lyon was a major center of production). In Germany, think automobiles, precision tools and machinery, photographic equipment and watchmaking.