There is a browser that traces the origin of each garment

It's happened to everyone, at least once, to fall in love with a piece of clothing, or at least develop a strong attraction to a material object. Whether it's a fabric or, more simply, a silhouette, it's easy to identify a detail that makes us reflect on how nice it would be to know precisely in which city that garment is made, or even the name of the manufacturing facility. Discovering this information, once reserved for oblivion, is now possible thanks to a website, ImportYeti, a kind of search engine that provides access to a wealth of useful information, previously exclusive to the so-called "industry insiders".

How does ImportYeti work?

ImportYeti offers the visitor various options. The most popular is the more "classic" one, which involves entering the name of the brand of interest in the search bar to find its suppliers. For example, by typing "Stüssy", we discover that the California-based brand relies on numerous suppliers around the world: Taiwan, China, Guatemala, Japan, India, and South Korea. One limitation of ImportYeti is that we cannot know if Stüssy is indeed finalizing the items by adding its own logos, labels, and prints, or if the mentioned factories also handle this process. From what can be learned from the classic search on ImportYeti, Stüssy produces many of its accessories in Taiwan, at the Minsheng Village factory. In Hong Kong, at the Etonix Apparel production site, mohair garments come to life. ImportYeti reports that from January 2015 to the present, Stüssy has shipped a total of 488 containers from Asian countries to the United States. The meticulous details provided go beyond: the site certifies that the main port from which it has shipped is Hong Kong (160 times), while the port that has received the most shipments is Los Angeles (264), followed by Long Beach (195). It even specifies the type of container used to ship the loads containing merchandise: Stüssy has used a thermal container 22 times. Such information can be researched for any other brand, including those in the high-end segment.

How did ImportYeti go viral?

The search engine, initially used to compile reports and track the production and distribution chain, became accessible to everyone thanks to TikTok. In particular, thanks to the efforts of creators William Lasry and Sam Despo, who allowed many to discover the app's most secret features, creating quite a stir on the social network. The first even visited some of the mentioned factories, revealing the production costs of some items. ImportYeti is a tool that can be essential for anyone: brands, industry experts, and even newcomers looking to enter the fashion system. It can be very useful, especially because it allows you to select the best producers right away, avoiding unpleasant mistakes during the garment creation phases.