I'm as embarrassed to admit ownership of a pair back in 1980 as I am to confess that I wore a Nehru jacket to my 9th Grade prom in 1968, but a reader in Taos feels differently

He does, however, object to this symbol of Eastern Preppiness being manufactured by Chinese slave labor. (Better that the six-year-olds digging up Congolese cobalt for Nantucket habitues’ Teslas be put to sewing garments in their spare time? — Ed)

The East is Red–Nantucket Red.

… Regardless of their huge popularization, Bickerstaff continued wearing his Reds at  dressy and not so dressy events, until they finally wore out. He never considered replacing them, especially after jumping ship to Taos. That is, until last week, when he shrugged his shoulders, muttered “what the hell,” and ordered a new pair of Reds from Murray’s.

They arrived soon and the Tatler was delighted with them, as they looked identical to his old ones from long ago. One thing he was curious to know was, were these lovely Reds still made on-island, as his original pair were. Alas, they were not only not made on-island, these essential New England artifacts are now made in China.

Bickerstaff can understand if, owing to their popularity, and no doubt having difficulty in these times finding skilled needle workers, and the like, especially among young people wanting to learn a trade, the Murrays had to go off-island. But in China, where the factories use forced labor, prisoners of war, and even children to man their sweatshops? In addition, there’s the god-awful Chinese government to consider, which supports some of the worst people on earth, and some of America’s worst enemies.

Hey Murrays, (they still own the company), why, in your search for cheap labor did you not consider other countries in the Far East, such as Bangladesh, India, Timor Leste, Kazakhstan, Nepal and others, where democracy and human rights are respected, and labor is affordable? Why patronize such a cruel and easily bought dictatorship as China?

The topic of this garment has, believe it or not, been debated for some time: the Wall Street Journal even published a fair and balanced discussion of the issue in 2021:

Not many pants out there are as instantly recognizable as Nantucket Reds, the deep-pinkish trousers that originated on Massachusetts’s tony Nantucket Island in the 1960s. That’s when the original—and as purists would argue, only—Reds retailer, Murray’s Toggery, began offering pants inspired by the sun-bleached sailcloth of French fishing boats. Since then, the style has been adopted by a mess of brands, from Ralph Lauren to Bonobos.