Ever wondered what materials and labor actually go into the making of the clothes that we

wear? Alright. Content creator, Macy Gilliam, told us she couldn't stop thinking about it, and it

sent her on a months long journey to make, and we really mean make, one item

of clothing completely from scratch starting at the farm. Here's our conversation. Macy, you spent ninety

hours making a sweater. I did. And why? Why? First of have you brought the sweater?

I brought the sweater.

The sweater is here.

Can you please reveal

the ninety hour sweater? What? Ninety hours of work over four months and $2,000?

This is a $2,000 sweater.

This is a $2,000 sweater.

Can I feel the $2,000 sweater?

That's at cost. I That's not marked up. That's at cost.

I mean, it does feel very sturdy. I do feel like I could Sturdy is another

word for us. Listen. I talk us through this process, why you wanted to do this,

and if you accomplished what you set out to do.

Yeah. So I think a question I often ask myself is why not? So an idea

will come to me, and I think, well, that could be interesting. So I've always been

very interested in fiber arts. I've always loved to sew. And then I wanted to get

into knitting, and then it I had seen a couple people talk about a sheep to

sweater project. And I said, well, that sounds interesting.

So it's like the sartorial equivalent of farm to table.

Yes. Okay. Exactly. So I started this process in May 2025. I went to the Queens

County Farm Museum, the last working farm in New York City for their sheep shearing festival,

and I got to see them shear a sheep. I got to pick the the shearer

helped me decide which sheep would be best, which wool is the best quality for me.

We picked a merino sheep named Fraher.

Fancy merino. Okay.

Yes. Fraher is a white color. This undyed part of my sweater is actually that's just

Fraher's color, which is really sweet.

So frannie. That's lovely. But then once you get the wool, that's not the end of

this process.

No. That's the very beginning. The wool cost me $48, which if you knit at all,

you know that enough wool yarn to make a sweater is normally, like, a couple $100

Okay.

Which was the first sign that this was going to get much more difficult. Okay. The

the high cost of the yarn must come from the labor that I had decided to

do. Yeah. I I just am really fascinated by the way that our clothing is made,

and I think that we're so separated from it in a way that doesn't let us

appreciate it fully. You know? Like, if we don't know with what materials it was made

or or by whom or using what processes even, if you can't picture every step of

the process, how could you appreciate it?

It's interesting. We talk a lot about supply chains when it comes to food, but you

don't think about it as much when it comes to clothing.

Supply chains when it comes to clothing are baffling. In many cases, a clothing brand does

not even know they couldn't even tell you Yeah. Where it was sewn even. They because

they might contract out to a manufacturer who subcontracts out to a different manufacturer. And then

they certainly couldn't tell you where the fabric was woven, where the cotton for the fabric

was grown, or where the sheep were raised. So much of the supply chain brands brands

just aren't tracking. The EU digital product passport, I'm very bullish on that they're going to

be required to start tracking that, and I think that will be a great thing for

consumers. Because another thing another question that I've had for myself is, if I'm paying more

for a sweater, do I know or any clothing. Do I know that it was better

made with better quality and ethics? So this is

a thing for me because I used to be very diligent about shopping at places that

were

more expensive because I thought they had a more ethical supply chain. And recently, stories have

come out that that's not necessarily true. If I buy a $1,700 sweater, it may not

be any nicer for the humans or the sheep or the supply chain than the one

I'm buying from H and M.

Exactly. It's super frustrating. What helps the most is transparency. There are a couple brands I

really love that do a great job of that. Attire, the label comes to mind. They

do something pretty revolutionary in my opinion, where on their website next to the cost of

the sweater, it will tell you what they paid for materials, where the labor was done

and what that cost them, where the hardware is from and what that cost them. So

brands like that that are giving you more transparency, I really always appreciate because other than

that, you don't know. So, like, digital product passports from the EU will hopefully help with

that because a brand can tell you anything they want. But if they can't prove where

it came from, how do you know?

But was this worth process? Alright.

So That's a good question.

You did the wool. You had to you had to wash it. You had to dye

it, and then you had to knit

this sucker. Into yarn. Spinning was a huge spinning took twenty four hours of the ninety

hours. The only longer step was the knitting. Oh,

so this is our we're shearing behind you here for our TV viewers.

Shearing step. There's me in my apartment scouring it. So I was pulling off, like, literally

pieces sheep

Oh, yeah.

It's like

a it's like a skein or something. Right? You have like, put it on the cushion.

Is me learning to spin actually at a shop in Brooklyn.

Of course, it was in Brooklyn.

My sweater is 100% New York City made, which it's gotta be the only sweater in

the world because I am the only person who's used the wool of a New York

City sheep like this. Because the Queens County Farm Museum, those are the only there's, eight

New York City sheep. I've gotta be the only girl in the world with a New

York City sweater. So, yes, it is worth it.

How often have you actually worn this sweater?

I've worn it three times. Okay. Alright. It's hot and it's uncomfortable and it's poorly fitting.

And that's because I don't know how to do any of this. This is my first

time doing any of this. It's not like like really, what messed me up, I think,

the most is the yarn spinning because some of this yarn you can see is, like,

much thinner, and then the white yarn you can tell is, like, thicker. It's much chunkier

where the sweater then doesn't, like, drape nicely. This section, like, sticks out and it's stiff.

And that's because I spun this yarn, all the undyed yarn at the end when I

was You're

a little better at it? Lazy. Oh, okay. Alright. Look. At the end of the process,

though, was it worth doing, and and should people think more about where their clothing comes

from?

Absolutely. I set out to understand more about clothing manufacturing and understand more about making something

for myself. Yeah. And I absolutely achieved that. I have so much more of an appreciation

for these things. And then also when I am shopping for a sweater in a store,

I can then look at it and I now knowing how to knit this is my

first knitting project. Now knowing how to knit, I can look at their knitting and see,

is that done well, or is this kinda loose, or did they not finish that quite

right? So I do think I think we should all be more curious about where our

clothing is coming from. I mean, the fashion industry is, like, one of the it's the

second most polluting industry in the world behind oil. That's worth looking at. And I think

we're we're all over consuming, and we should ask ourselves what are we getting for it.

I think I personally have started to shop less overall and then just use you know,

then I'm saving money so that when I do buy things, I can spend more time

researching them and spend a little more per piece. And I just do a lot of

secondhand shopping because then you can avoid the whole mess of wondering who made it. That's

kind of erased from it. You're just buying it at the thrift store.

Wear per use. Girl, you gotta wear that, like, 18 more times.

I have to wear it a lot more. I really should

be wearing it. Alright. I'll wear it a couple times for you. We're gonna leave it

there. This was fascinating. The full YouTube video is online. Thank you for coming in.

Thank you. Alright.