Made in China- do we care?

[Susan Otcenas]

Terry was sold at the end of last year. MOst (if not all) production is moving to Asia. Saddles included.

I should clarify this a little. A majority interest in the company was sold. The company relocated to Vermont (where the new majority owner lives) and some of the employees, though not all, relocated there as well.

If anyone is interested in reading about the same, the industry magazine Bicycle Retailer and Industry News did a few articles on the topic.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/...tail/2678.html

and this is an article about their bike distribution agreement with with ASI.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/...tail/3204.html

BTW, my inside sales person at Terry tells me that only some of the saddles are moving to Asia production. And that their apparel will still be largely built in the US. Most of our vendors outsource things like gloves and outerwear to Asia. I looked back at some of their apparel for 2009. Shorts & Tights were USA. Skorts/skirts were Honduras. Jerseys were USA. Gloves were Italy/Pakistan.

Hope that helps!

Susan

[redrhodie]

I love my Frye engineer boots, which are still made in the USA.

[Trek420]

I love my Frye engineer boots, which are still made in the USA.

Ooooh, boots

http://www.thefryecompany.com/Default.aspx

and with boots you need jeans

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=23285

[Grog]

I want my neighbors to have/keep their jobs too.

The government can not say "let's buy made in the good 'ol USA" or anywhere else if you live somewhere else. If they were to do so everyone screams "protectionism bad bad". But we can! I think we all agree wherever you are and whether you're blue, red, green or chartreuse that we need to keep jobs in the US or wherever we all are.

The hard geopolitical reality is that the reason why the American government can't say "let's buy Made in the USA" is because it pretty much imposes the same on others. A LOT of jobs in the USA depend on the export of American products and services in higher value-added areas (complex services, technological products, etc. not consumer goods). Americans disproportionately benefit from the anti-protectionist agreements they have signed with other countries, NAFTA for example. These countries don't necessarily prevent the American government from acting in a protectionist way: if an international court rules against the USA, they can simply ignore the ruling. Power is not distributed evenly on this planet.

Coming from a minority standpoint (Quebec, a French-language island in a very loudly English-speaking part of the world), I know that protecting certain areas for social, political, or cultural reasons has become extremely difficult. This is not so much a problem in the USA, but it is in other countries whose local industry cannot resist the massive investments and sometimes dumping of American products. The scale just can't compare.

As Susan pointed out, we can ask people to "Buy American" (or "Buy Canadian") all we want, most still won't. People would rather have more purchasing power than supporting local business. The fact that the real salaries of the middle class have not really increased in the last few years certainly does not help, to say nothing of those of the poor! On the other hand, I also know that people want their pension savings to increase in value, thus they want the corporations whose shares they own to make profits and distribute dividends. So corporations do what they have to do to attain that goal, including localizing their production where labour is cheap and regulation lax.

I do not necessarily agree (although I think it's not black and white) but I don't think it's going to change anytime soon.

[crazycanuck]

I recommend some of the Oxfam shop stuff...

Should you want a soccer ball or netball that's not made with slave labour...
http://www.oxfamshop.org.au/products/3123569/81615

The Oxfam shop I frequent sells shoes(not made in a factory w slave labour) but can't find them on the website.

Just a thought.

[KnottedYet]

The Oxfam shop I frequent sells shoes(not made in a factory w slave labour) but can't find them on the website.

Just a thought.

Also in the shoe mix:
Adbuster's "Blackspot" fair-trade shoes. Vegan, etc. Boots (designed by Fluevog) and sneakers: https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/blackspot

ETA: nowhere on the Frye website can I find any info about where their boots and shoes are made. Just a listing of the countries where they have employees (China, Mexico, US, etc.) If someone finds it, can you give me The Great Computer Illiterate Knot, a link?

ETA #2: Red Wing boots and shoes are made in Red Wing, Minnesota; but there's no info about where their off-shoot brands are made. http://www.redwingshoes.com/

ETA #3: Just looked through my shoes to see where they are made. (I'm home with a cold, and coughing too much to sleep, so I'm counting shoes... ooh, I know how to have fun!) 3 pair made in Portugal, 1 pair made in Thailand, 3 pair made in USA, 5 pair made in China, 1 pair made in Germany, 1 pair made in Italy.

[VeloVT]

you just made me curious about Frye. I checked inside my Frye harness boots and they do indeed have "made in the USA" stamped in them. Don't know if all their shoes are made here, but mine are.

[tulip]

Speaking of Quebec, my favorite panniers and cycling bags are made in Quebec at Arkel. Great stuff. www.arkel-od.com

[KnottedYet]

I love my Frye engineer boots, which are still made in the USA.

Are these what you have? http://www.thefryecompany.com/Produc...-77500BLK.aspx

I like these... and resole-able! And made in the USA. Hmmmmmm...

How many pairs of shoes does a person need? Is it like bikes, where the optimum quantity is "N + 1" where "N" is the number currently owned?

These are cool, too, and made in Minnesota: http://www.redwingshoes.com/productd...px?prodid=1078 Steel toes.

[shootingstar]

Another great place to buy stuff that is fair trade, no slave labour, some interesting stuff and money gets ploughed back into the local community:

Ten Thousand Villages
http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/cg...Us1&type=store Did you know they are Mennonite-based?

About 15 yrs. ago, yes I went with a friend to the Canadian national warehouse headquarters. She knew some people there. Located in Mennonite country just outside of Kitchener-Waterloo. At that time, the number of stores was still pretty small.

Now totally different...obviously a signal that there are alot more customers that truly want to buy from employers with ethical business practices/fair treatment of employees.

Note: When I said that I invested in Canadian companies..I meant buying their stock. Preferably stocks that provide dividends.

[OakLeaf]

Anyone got any suggestions for duck feet?

In athletic shoes, the only ones I've been able to find that even vaguely fit are Mizuno (and they've now discontinued my favorite shoe in Wide) - all made in China. I might give New Balance another try next round, that is, assuming I'm not ready for barefoot by then, which is a safe assumption.

In boots, I can't even begin to wear Red Wing (I even had a Red Wing salesman tell me that). I won't be in the market for boots any time soon since I just bought a pair of Lowa boots last year - not a great fit, but at least they stay on my feet and I can walk in them - partly because the salesguy told me they were made in Germany. Trusted him, didn't look at the label, got home and found they're made in Eastern Europe someplace, I forget where. They closed the Rocky Boot factory down the road from me several years ago, although they kept a retail outlet selling their made in China junk. Not that I could ever wear Rocky either, but still.

[KnottedYet]

My duck feet do well in Keen (China) Chaco (was USA, now China) Birkenstock (Germany) Ariat (China) and some Doc Marten (Thailand and Britain). Oh, and I forgot my hiking boots, which are Technica (Italy).

[OakLeaf]

Thanks Knot! I don't know why I've never tried on Doc Martens.

[redrhodie]

Yes Knot, those are the ones I have. They get better and better with every day of wear. If you click on any shoe on the Frye website, it will either have a "made in the USA" tag or not. Most don't, so I'm assuming those are made elsewhere. The engineers, the loggers, the harness boots and probably some of the western boots are still made here, but not much else. If the campus boots were, they'd be on my feet right now. That's such a dangerous website.

I got a pair of USA made New Balance last year, and at that time, there were only a few styles still made here. The ones I got are actually rather ugly, but at that point, I was really trying to buy only American. But, I just searched Zappos with "Made in USA" in the search box, and 23 styles of women's New Balance came up, and some were cute!

[OakLeaf]

And just while we were talking about this: Adbusters' 3/50 campaign.

Choose three local businesses you can't bear to see go under. Spend $50 a month between the three and help keep their doors open.

As long as at least one of the businesses is selling day-to-day necessities like food or hardware, $50 a month is do-able for most people.

My challenge: choose businesses besides my favorite local restaurants.