We're about halfway through the biggest retail crush of the year. It's a time of stress and overspending, and it can be hard to make thoughtful decisions when the crowds are overwhelming and the weather is so crappy that you'd rather stay in bed forever than go shopping... much less to the post office. (Ugh.)

That also makes it a fitting time to pick up Portland Made, the recently released book by Kelley Roy (full disclosure: I am quoted in the chapter that spotlights Portland's fashion industry). Founder of the ADX maker collective and the Portland Made Collective, and co-author of 2010's Cartopia: Portland's Food Cart Revolution, Roy has become a leader in championing the importance of returning to and nurturing the manufacture of goods domestically, and particularly in Portland, where rapid changes have at once made small business models a valuable part of the city's cultural capital, and have put their viability at risk—thanks to rising costs of living and the demand for close-in property, such as the riverside neighborhoods where much of the city's manufacturing infrastructure is located.

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