Lazlo

Grey Sheep

www.instagram.com/lazlo_men/

Location

detroit / united states

University

Princeton

Graduation year

2013

Contact

We’ve set up shop in Detroit, where we’re hiring men who were trained to sew in prison and paying them a living wage. We use the best organic materials available to make products that we want to wear every day, and we’re building them to last.

We aren’t doing it alone: from partnering with the Michigan Department of Corrections on hiring, to developing fabrics with a mill in LA that shares our commitment to quality, it’s a team effort.

In short, we’re doing our best to build a company that we feel excited to be a part of. We’ve tried to keep business simple. Invest in your employees, invest in your community and make products you feel great about. Some companies see this as a burden. We see it as an opportunity.

Latest Collection

The Heirloom Collection

With clean lines and premium fabrics, the Heirloom Collection is our interpretation of the modern uniform.

We set out to create an interpretation of the modern uniform that represented our values. After considering the most essential items in a man’s wardrobe, we decided to start with an American icon, the white crewneck t-shirt.

A white tee doesn’t need to be reinvented every season, so we are focused on getting it right before moving on. Our singular focus allows us to completely immerse ourselves in the fit, fabric and construction, leading to a product that will look as good in ten years as it does today.

Because the t-shirt has been done so many times, the easiest way to make our garment stand out would be to do something bold, but what we really wanted to do was pay attention to the subtle details. We’re always looking to simplify, so each adjustment has to add value and be done very consciously.

From our fabric to the packaging, we are committed to sustainable, locally produced materials of the highest quality. In our search for a domestically produced organic jersey that would allow us to back our t-shirts for life, we sampled fabrics from mills around the country. Unsatisfied, we realized we were going to have to build a custom fabric.

We chose to start with the best raw cotton. The top 3% of the U.S. cotton crop is Supima cotton, but only 1% of that 3% is organic and the vast majority of it goes over to the European market. We were told we were on a wild goose chase to try to get our hands on organic Supima.

A mill owner in Los Angeles bought into our vision and convinced one of the absolute best yarn spinners to work with us on a small run in Switzerland. Our next production run was large enough to be spun at a sister company in the US, which reduced transportation emissions. Our fabric is made of 100% Organic Supima® Cotton, grown in the American southwest, spun in Georgia and milled in California.

After the fabric is knit in Los Angeles, it travels to Detroit. Each garment is made by hand at our facility in Detroit, where we’re hiring formerly incarcerated men. We believe in investing in our community, which means paying our workers a living wage of at least $15 per hour.

To uphold our commitment to eliminating toxins from our supply chain, some garments are dipped 6x by hand in a natural indigo bath. This is a traditional practice that goes back thousands of years and leads to a rich finish. Each shirt is unique and will age beautifully.

We examine every step of the process to ensure that our clothing will stand up to heavy use. We recognize even when garments are made with the most environmentally friendly fabrics and energy sources, they still impact our planet. Therefore, truly sustainable production means also designing garments that will be as appealing in a decade as they are today—and then constructing those garments to last that long. Every item is backed for life.