Hello, friends. What you got here is another episode of The Way I heard it, specifically number 303.

It's called The Incredible Symphony of Things.

At the risk of destroying what's left of my credibility, Chuck, I'm going to go ahead and say that this is my favorite conversation so far.

Well, let me tell you, as I said to you after we were done recording it, that it felt like a two-hour podcast in an hour and 10 minutes.

It's dense. It's full of information and passion, too. There's a lot of passion in this discussion.

You know, it just occurred to me that my mom's last episode was really enjoyable, too. I really

like that one a lot, too, but this guy, Bayard Winthrop, is right up there with my mother.

Byard, true story, sent me a sweatshirt in the mail 12 years ago.

His company is called American Giant, and he left a career in finance and decided that he wanted to make clothing not just in this country, but he wanted to make it entirely in this country, which just doesn't happen much anymore.

Every element of the supply chain is in his control, all through the Carolinas, from the cotton, to the zippers, to the buttons, to everything.

He makes the greatest hoodie ever made, according to Slate Magazine, who wrote an article with

that title about the same time, 12 years ago.

And he has taken the reverse commute ever since.

No real marketing to speak of.

No retail outlets until very recently. I think they have some small stores here and there. But by and large, he just got rid of everything that

consumers don't care about and committed to making the very best product he could make

entirely in this country. And unlike so many other people who have vowed to do the same

thing, he is not out of business. In fact, he is struggling to keep up with demand. And that's pretty

great. It is great. And to hear him talk about it, he speaks so passionately about it. I know he started in finance,

but now his love is clothing. He loves making clothing and he loves doing it here. He seems like

a real patriot to me. I mean, last week, I was telling you before, you know, we did the equipment

test. And in talking to this guy, we had a conversation for like 45 minutes and I didn't want it

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