At a certain point we realized we were never going to be able to compete with manufacturing in India or China, so we decided to do the opposite,” says Bronte Treat, who runs Richter Goods, a small-batch San Antonio shirting company, with her husband, the designer Mario Guajardo, and their business partner, Carlos Echeverri. “We really believe in planting your flag and being good at one thing.” For the Richter Goods team, which includes ten highly skilled pattern makers, machinists, and seamstresses, that kind of mastery means their entire line of Western-inspired men’s shirts gets designed, cut, and sewn in-house with a hyper-focus on fit, fabric, and sustainability. To minimize waste, they keep their inventory, which is restocked weekly, intentionally low. Subtle details—pearl snaps, chevron flap pockets, and the occasional…
