Free trade is great as long as one can be assured of a relatively civil world. Reagan’s “evil empire,” Russia, hardly had squat to trade with the outside world, except for some bottles of okay vodka. That’s not true for the new bully on the block, China.
Letting your domestic capability fall inert is a domestic security risk. Might there be a time when the former shirtmakers are wanted back? Ooops, they’re all flipping burgers now. There are boutique American-made shops to be sure, but I don’t think they’d be up to outfitting an army.
I wouldn’t worry about clothes when the next big war will be the last one over in days at best.
Any war requiring mass conscription requiring large amounts of clothing would be unlikely. But we could rapidly create factories to make it. It isn’t like building missiles or bombers.
I do agree that Free Trade must be tempered by LEGITIMATE defense needs, however, and historically we have limited the advanced technology and weaponry other nations are allowed to buy. Urkel is probably giving away the store on a massive scale which is where some of his warchest is coming from.