Rob McMillan

“I first started thinking about Dearborn Denim in 2014 because I wanted to get out of my job as a bond trader and start my own business.”

“When I looked at apparel manufacturing, I realized you can manufacture in Chicago paying fair wages and sell directly to customers online and really shrink the supply chain down to get great jeans at affordable prices.”

“Nobody else was doing it, so we signed our lease in March of 2016 at our first location and started making jeans.”

“When we started, it did not feel like there were huge hoops to jump through. We got our sewing machines, we had our fire inspection, and it was off to the races.”

“In a few years, we had grown enough that we needed to move. We purchased a building with 25,000 square feet of space, more than triple the size of our first facility. We did that in 2021, but we were not able to move in until August of 2023. Most of that two-year process was delays for building permits.”

“It felt like there was just stamp after stamp after stamp, approval after approval, before anybody could touch what I would consider a very minor renovation project. I think it’s almost impossible for a business to navigate Chicago construction code efficiently and in a timely manner.”

“Even their own employees don’t always get it right. For example, we were told we needed to install this costly electrical work where the lines come down from the ceiling. After we had it installed, we learned that wasn’t actually required after all.”

“And don’t even get me started on the trees.”

“When you build a parking lot, you are required to have green space. Even though our whole parking lot is surrounded by forest, we still had to plant trees.”

“To do the landscaping, you need two permits – a landscaping permit and a department of forestry permit. At the time, we only knew about the landscaping permit; our contractor never filed the forestry permit.”

“So, we ended up going to court and paying a fine for not having a forestry permit. Then once everything was done, it took months to get an inspector to come out and confirm it; by the time he came, one of the trees had died and we had to replant it and send pictures.”

“When you start all this, you have to deposit the expected cost of the landscaping, which for us was $13,000. Once you’ve done it, you’re supposed get the deposit back. With all these delays, we still have not had that money returned.”

“I think there are too many steps to jump through. Each one has its justification, but when you add them up, it’s just so convoluted.”

“So, it took us two years to move. All that time, you’re paying rent on your old space, and carrying the mortgage and taxes for your new space. That’s a huge drain.”

“Not to mention the time and energy it takes to navigate all these requirements. We’re a small business; we didn’t have the money to hire people to manage and navigate it for us. How do you run your business and then spend 100% of your time trying to navigate this factory move?”

“When we started this move, we had 27 employees. Now we have 75. We’re not far from outgrowing the space again. Then we have to do it all over again.”

“I have an irrational love of Chicago, so I plan on staying. Plus, we do want to stay close to our employee base. We have a surprisingly low turnover rate and if we were to suddenly move an hour away, we would have to find an entirely new workforce. But, doing this again would be a big ask. I’m dreading it.”

“There are a tremendous amount of industrial spaces in Chicago that are currently vacant that could use a tenant. Nobody wants to touch them because once you’ve touched one, like I have, you know what it entails.”

“We renovated it, but we were years past our timeline, way over budget, and some of this stuff didn’t even need to happen. You plan for it being 50% more expensive or twice as expensive as you expect, right? Well then double it again.”

“I think there are probably many stories out there where people just gave up halfway through after running into a good-intentioned regulatory body that is just not functioning efficiently. And that’s killing business and costing jobs.”

Rob McMillan
Founder and CEO, Dearborn Denim & Apparel
Chicago, Illinois