Made in China- do we care?

[arielmoon]

So I am trying to be more conscious of where things are made and I want to put my dollars in the right place.

I am shopping for a vented riding vest and I cant seem to find one that isnt made in China. I love the PI whisper vest but I sure would like to find something made in the good old USA.

How important is it and does it really make a difference in the scheme of things to avoid things made in China.

I am putting this in the cycling area because my thoughts are on cycling gear and apparel.

[Bike Chick]

Buying American made supports American jobs........I try to do it when I can but, unfortunately, we don't always have the choice.

[Veronica]

I try to buy American, but it's hard with clothes. I actively try to avoid China made, but again it's hard. I don't have anything against the Chinese really, it's cheap, poorly made crap I don't like.

Veronica

[GLC1968]

I always try to buy american made goods - or even locally made ones if possible...but it's certainly not always practical.

I think that for me, 'made in China' is part of the decision-making process. If I see that label and it's an item I can do without, then I skip it. Similarly, if I have two equally qualified items from which to choose and one is made in China, I'll pick the other one. I am willing to pay more for items made in the US, but the option isn't always there, so we have to do the best we can with what we have available to us.

[ridebikeme]

I agree with all of you, adn try to buy products either personally or for the shop that are produced here in the US. But as all of you know, it's very difficult.

Louis Garneau tends to make their own clothing here in the US or Canada, and I try and support them as much as possible. Giordana has great quality clothing as well... I think most of theirs come from Italy. At any rate, hope this helps...

Now, I wish that I were able to buy bikse that were made here as well... I was able to a few years ago, but not any more

[tulip]

Now, I wish that I were able to buy bikse that were made here as well... I was able to a few years ago, but not any more

Sure there are! But you have to be willing to pay the price to support US workers. There are small shops, and smaller shops. Terry (some of theirs are made by Waterford), Waterford, Bike Friday, and a whole host of small framebuilders.

When we put your money where our mouth is, we often have to put more money there, or take it away from some other budget category.

Arialmoon, I don't know about a vest for you. For winter riding gear, I tend to go to Goodwill for my layers (old cashemere sweaters make the best cycling layers for really cold riding), but cycling specific clothing is rarely available there. So I do what I can to buy the best quality, and only buy what I really need (an ongoing process).

[Susan Otcenas]

Terry (some of theirs are made by Waterford),

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

[VeloVT]

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

Is Selle Italia no longer going to make their saddles? It's interesting, the new Terry saddle, the FLX, looks almost identical except for the graphics to the Selle Italia SLK.

http://www.terrybicycles.com/pages/t...lx-saddle.html

[bmccasland]

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

Aw man. another one bites the dust.

[ridebikeme]

Well, after looking at a bunch of Louis Garneau jerseys today.. I was very disturbed. The last few that came in were indeed made in China AGH!!! NO wonder the fit continually changes with this company.:

[deeaimond]

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

Yeah, I realised that when they were having their 'moving' sale last year end. a rep told me...

adding to the note, even other south east asian economies suffered with the rise of china. when i was young, there was a viable garment manufacturing industry here, many home-makers made extra money by taking home consignments of sewing. as well as local garment factories. now these jobs are all gone. just a few left. most of our manufacturing industry was lost to other asian countries.... even as an asian country, we're no longer viable. we're too expensive!!

all in all, its pretty scary.

With the american financial crises, i think it got worse coz the small american companies can't get financing and have to close, even if they had good business....

[smilingcat]

Mainland China is easy to blame. It's not just the Chinese with xenophobic mentality, we do too. When a big European company takes over an American, not too much complaint. When an Asian company does the same, fears are raised.

Now as for buying American read the following

Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Island

just a quick exerpt:

Recently, substantial attention has been drawn to the methods used by CNMI factory employers to reach these sky-rocketing export dollars.61 Manufacturers on Saipan have been sharply criticized for horrific working conditions,62 failure to pay wages owed to employees,63 forcing female workers to have abortions,64 and refusing to allow workers to attend religious services.65

And the garments manufactured there can proudly AND legally afix Made in America/USA.

In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a group of islands which the U.S. acquired after World War II and which became a U.S. territory by popular vote in 1976, the Asian garment industry has set up shop.7 Owners of factories there enjoy duty-free exports to the U.S. and can claim that their products have been “Made in the U.S.A.,” creating consumer confidence that the workers who produced them are protected by U.S. labor law.8

This time, I did manage to get my source and the reference.

Very sad and very scary...

[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.

[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.