The new global demand for Made in USA

March 18, 2013 by Leave a comment

salt lake tribune

By Francisco J. Sanchez

There’s no doubt about it: Doing business in America is changing. And businesses with even the most loyal customers are finding that their customers are changing, too. In an increasingly global marketplace, business owners across the United States are realizing that their next major customer may no longer come from across town, but beyond our borders.

While news of American exports may not capture the headlines as government shutdowns and political impasses do, the proof is in the thousands of regional businesses that are witnessing its value firsthand.

Not only did U.S. exports outpace the growth of imports in 2012 for the first time since 2007, exports have helped support creation of more than 6 million private sector jobs during the past 35 months. So how does this relate to the business climate here in Salt Lake City? Simple: Our nation’s success with exports has in part been driven by business owners in the Beehive State.

Take, for example, Albion Minerals of Clearfield. One year ago, the company participated in a trade mission to Vietnam that was organized by a collaboration of public and private sector groups, including the state government, the U.S. Commercial Service of Utah, and our strategic partner Zions Bank. The company has since opened a distribution center in Vietnam in a $100,000 deal and expects to see profits grow.

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Hotels bet guests will favor furnishings made in USA

March 15, 2013 by Leave a comment

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Montague Furniture

By:Barbara Delollis USA Today

When you walk into a hotel in the U.S. today, you’ll see many items – chairs, draperies, lamps – that were made in China, Vietnam, Malaysia or elsewhere overseas.

But that’s gradually changing, hotel designers and furniture makers tell Hotel Check-In.

There’s a small but growing trend among hotels to buy more items from local, regional or U.S. vendors.

Hotel owners, developers and designers are increasingly deciding it’s worth it, even if they pay a little extra for a U.S. product.

Why? There’s time and risk involved with ordering items from overseas, plus showcasing locally made goods can give the hotel a patriotic or community-minded spin.

Examples:

  • The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis recently finished a $25 million revamp that used “Made in America” as its central theme. More than three-quarters of the items purchased for the renovation came from the USA, says designer Michael Suomi of New York-based Stonehill & Taylor. The guest bathroom counter tops, for instance, feature granite quarried locally and purchased from a century-old Minnesota company.
  • The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation, in Greensboro, Ga., is in the midst of redecorating to give guests a lighter, more modern look with many U.S.-made products, says Megan Ybarra of the Dallas-based interior design firm Duncan Miller Ullman. The hotel found wall coverings from Kentucky, guestroom carpet from Georgia, and a Texas metalwork firm was hired to custom-make the metal branches that form the base of guestroom ottomans, she says.
  • The InterContinental Chicago’s 477-room renovation emphasizes locally-sourced materials and furniture, says Dan Egan, the hotel’s sales and marketing director. Guest rooms contain drapery from Union, Ill., headboards from Jasper, Ind., wall covering from York, Penn., and room signage in hallways from McCook, Ill.
  • Montague, a 20-year-old guestroom furniture maker, last April invested in its first-ever factory – and it’s located in North Carolina, says Misty Delbridge, who runs the company’s U.S. division. It made sense, because hotel owners are increasingly seeking products made here and the factory was in danger of closing down, she says. A Hilton hotel in Texas, for instance, is having the company prepare two model rooms for a renovation – one outfitted with furnishings made in Vietnam and the other with furnishings made in the U.S., she says. Montague still has about 70% of its products produced in China and Malaysia.

No. 1 priority: Put heads in beds

Another factor driving the growth in U.S.-sourced products is hotels’ rush to renovate in as small a window as possible so that rooms can stay filled with paying customers, says Delbridge. It’s especially true in New York City, where some hotels can be sold out or almost sold out most nights of the year.

“If the cost (to purchase U.S.-made furniture) is 10% higher and the hotel can gain revenue back in six to eight weeks, they’re all about it because then they could have a ‘Made in America’ story and gain revenue,” Delbridge says. “These companies wouldn’t do it just for the story. There’s got to be an advantage in it for them.”

Hotel renovations are faster paced than building new hotels from scratch, notes Ybarra, who worked on the Ritz-Carlton Lodge project. It typically takes about 18 months to renovate a hotel, which since the recession has been the most common activity among hoteliers, vs. about three years to build a new one, she says.

“Our clients are willing to pay an extra dollar or two to not have the hassle of waiting,” Ybarra says. There’s also the risk of complications, she says, citing long waits at U.S. Customs and a time when pirates took over containers filled with items for a Turks and Caicos hotel.

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It’s Cool Again to be ‘Made in America’

February 18, 2013 by 1 Comment

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Advertising Age the new emerging market

Domestic Goods Are All the Rage — But Are They Good for the Bottom Line?

By:  Published: February 18, 2013

Not since the 1970s has “Made in America” been such a hot way to market your product.

On one end is Walmart‘s promise to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made merchandise over the next decade; on the other are designers touting investments in New York’s shrinking garment district as a way to justify higher prices.

At the Financial Times’ New York Conference last month, Brunswick Group executive Susan Gilchrist said that Made in America is “not just about the PR opportunities. Purely from an economic view, China is losing its cost advantage.”

In 2001, the average hourly wage in China was 58¢, according to data from the Boston Consulting Group. By 2015, it will be $6. Combine that with the high productivity of American manufacturers and low energy costs, and the cost gap will close for most categories of goods to just 7% by 2015.

It’s making more business sense to manufacture in the U.S. But does it make marketing sense as the focus of a brand’s message?

In a September survey of more than 1,000 Americans by the Boston Consulting Group, more than 80% said they preferred U.S.-made goods, and that they would pay more for said goods. The same questions were asked of 1,000 Chinese consumers: 47% prefer Made in America.

Yet actions and sentiment are two different things: It often comes down to quality vs. a deal. When American-made goods deliver both, it works. “Consumers are starting to make a different tradeoff,” says Harold Sirkin, senior partner and managing director at BCG and author of the study. “Retailers are able to sell goods at a slight premium, but not too much.”

The push has support from celebrities such as Martha Stewart and Jay-Z. And American manufacturing is the raison d’etre of year-old ad agency Made Movement.

“Made in America will succeed for the same reason organic has succeeded,” said Dave Schiff, a founder of the shop. “Just like people didn’t want to eat food that was poisoning them, they want to live in a better economic climate.”

Made in America is nothing new for some brands. New Balance, American Apparel, Red Wing and Pendleton have been producing in the U.S. for years.

Others are making a push to sell more U.S.-made products. Apple recently announced it would bring some Mac production back to the U.S. And apparel brands like Club Monaco have launched lines and products marketed specifically as “Made in the USA.”

Walmart, meanwhile, sells more than $400 billion of goods each year, so some analysts say its commitment is meaningless when it comes to the bottom line. But Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said that two-thirds of its products are “made here, sourced here, or grown here.” Most of that, of course, is food — Walmart is the nation’s largest grocer. This new batch of funds will help create jobs in areas where Walmart typically spends overseas, such as apparel, sporting equipment and furniture.

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Source: http://adage.com/article/news/cool-made-america/239846/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage

To learn more about Made in USA Certification: http://www.USA-C.com

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China Passes U.S. to Become World’s Biggest Trading Nation

February 10, 2013 by 2 Comments

Bloomberg News

China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest trading nation last year as measured by the sum of exports and imports of goods, a milestone in the Asian nation’s challenge to the U.S. dominance in global commerce that emerged after the end of World War II.
U.S. exports and imports of goods last year totaled $3.82 trillion, the U.S. Commerce Department said last week. China’s customs administration reported last month that the country’s total trade in goods in 2012 amounted to $3.87 trillion.

China’s increasing influence threatens to disrupt regional trading blocs as it becomes the most important commercial partner for countries including Germany, which will export twice as much to China by the end of the decade as it does to neighboring France, said Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Jim O’Neill.

“For so many countries around the world, China is becoming rapidly the most important bilateral trade partner,” O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs’s asset management division and the economist who bound Brazil to Russia, India and China to form the BRIC investing strategy, said in a telephone interview. “At this kind of pace by the end of the decade many European countries will be doing more individual trade with China than with bilateral partners in Europe.”

When taking into account services, U.S. total trade amounted to $4.93 trillion in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The U.S. recorded a surplus in services of $195.3 billion last year and a goods deficit of more than $700 billion, according to BEA figures. China’s 2012 trade surplus, measured in goods, totaled $231.1 billion.

The U.S. economy is also double the size of China’s, according to the World Bank. In 2011, the U.S. gross domestic product reached $15 trillion while China’s totaled $7.3 trillion. China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported Jan. 18 that the country’s nominal gross domestic product in 2012 totaled 51.93 trillion yuan ($8.3 trillion).

“It is remarkable that an economy that is only a fraction of the size of the U.S. economy has a larger trading volume,” Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, said in an e-mail. “The surpassing of the U.S. is not because of a substantially undervalued currency that has led to an export boom,” said Lardy, noting that Chinese imports have grown more rapidly than exports since 2007.

The U.S. emerged as the preeminent trading power following World War II as it spearheaded the creation of the global trade and financial architecture and the U.K. began dismantling its colonial empire. China began focusing on trade and foreign investment to boost its economy after decades of isolation under Chairman Mao Zedong. Economic growth averaged 9.9 percent a year from 1978 through 2012.

China became the world’s biggest exporter in 2009, while the U.S. remains the biggest importer, taking in $2.28 trillion in goods last year compared with China’s $1.82 trillion of imports. HSBC Holdings Plc forecast last year that China would overtake the U.S. as the top trading nation by 2016.

China was last considered the leading economy during the height of the Qing dynasty. The difference is that in the 18th century, the Qing Empire — unlike rising Britain — didn’t focus on trade. The Emperor Qianlong told King George III in a 1793 letter that “we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and I have no use for your country’s manufactures.”

While China is the biggest energy user, has the world’s biggest new car market and the largest foreign currency reserves, a significant portion of China’s trade involves importing raw materials and parts to be assembled into finished products and re-exported, an activity that provides “only modest value added,” Eswar Prasad, a former International Monetary Fund official who is now a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said in an e-mail.

Last month China’s trade expanded more than estimated, with exports rising 25 percent from a year earlier and imports increasing 28.8 percent, government data released yesterday showed. China’s trade figures in January and February are distorted by the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that fell in January of last year and started yesterday.
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Woolrich counts on ‘Made in the USA’ product strategy

January 31, 2013 by 1 Comment

woolrich

How refreshing.

How bold.

That’s our initial reaction to the announcement last week by Nicholas Brayton, president of Woolrich Inc., that the over 180-year-old company headquartered in the quaint village of Woolrich since 1830 plans to introduce a 100-percent, American-made apparel collection this coming fall.

Not that Woolrich hasn’t done this before.

But if ever there was a time when American consumers need to rally around a company that has decided to bring some of its overseas apparel manufacturing back home, it is now.

In a letter to all of Woolrich’s customers, vendors and employees, Brayton announced Woolrich also will:

- Increase the yardage of wool produced in the woolen mill in Woolrich by 50 percent this year.

- Increase the firm’s American-made product offerings by 2015, ensuring that more than 50 percent of Woolrich woolen garments “proudly include American made wool.”

“In the coming months, for Woolrich to set and accomplish these goals, it’s going to take more than a company commitment. It’s going to take support from our loyal customers as well,” he said.

Details, we’re told, will be forthcoming as The Express has asked for a direct sit-down with Mr. Brayton to discuss and then report Woolrich’s ambitious plans so far as the privately held company is willing to reveal them.

Dear readers, if you missed Mr. Brayton’s letter published here last week, his words should be revealing and, honestly, quite profound to you in an age when many U.S.-based manufacturing companies have their products made on foreign land to reduce costs.

That has, over the past several decades, taken jobs from Americans.

Woolrich has been no exception.

Faced with a tough sales environment and working to cut costs to remain (as Mr. Brayton said) “relevant, competitive and solvent,” Woolrich has, in recent months, reduced its employee numbers and moved its design team from its local headquarters to the fashion capital of New York City.

Licensing its brand and various products has been a lifeline created with its licensing partner, the Italian firm of WP Lavori. Federal contracts to provide apparel and blankets to the U.S. military also have played a key role.

It’s a darn shame Americans aren’t more loyal to “Made in the U.S.A.” products.

They profess they are, but when they walk into a store, well, the sale of imported products show otherwise.

“In today’s world, the hard reality is that making things here is hard to do,” Mr. Brayton said.

Bringing more wool to the local mill should breathe new life into the longest, continuously running woolen mill in the U.S., which has been operating with a skeleton crew.

Among other things, Woolrich must ramp up marketing of its American-made apparel line of men’s and women’s outerwear and, perhaps, sportswear – something that can be very costly.

It should be a risk worth taking.

The “Original Outdoor Clothing Company” has among the most famous brands in the world, born when John Rich traveled from camp to camp in a mule cart during the great logging era of Central Pennsylvania to sell woolen fabric to loggers and their wives to make clothing.

Woolrich Inc, the “iconic American institution with a heritage that spans over 180 years,” is proudly “eager to begin writing the next chapter of the American manufacturing story.”

 

Made in USA Certified Inc.

MADE IN USA CERTIFIED LOGO

 

source:http://www.lockhaven.com/page/content.detail/id/543349/Woolrich-counts-on–Made-in-the-USA–product-strategy.html?nav=5004

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Made in U.S.A. supplier summit coming soon

January 24, 2013 by 1 Comment

Retailing Today Magazine

January 17, 2013 | By Mike Troy

The first indication that something big was brewing with Walmart on the domestic sourcing front came last week.

That’s when Walmart announced internally at that SVP of home, Michelle Gloeckler, would assume additional responsibilities for a new U.S. sourcing and manufacturing initiative. Reporting to Gloeckler is Greg Hall who was named vp of U.S. sourcing and manufacturing after previously serving as vp of marketing for Walmart.com.

For complete article Source: http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/made-usa-supplier-summit-coming-soon

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Made in America, Again

January 23, 2013 by Leave a comment

Why Manufacturing Will Return to the U.S.

By:Harold L. Sirkin, Michael Zinser, and Douglas Hohner

Made in America

 

For more than a decade, deciding where to build a manufacturing plant to supply the world was simple for many companies. With its seemingly limitless supply of low-cost labor and an enormous, rapidly developing domestic market, an artificially low currency, and significant government incentives to attract foreign investment, China was the clear choice.

Now, however, a combination of economic forces is fast eroding China’s cost advantage as an export platform for the North American market. Meanwhile, the U.S., with an increasingly flexible workforce and a resilient corporate sector, is becoming more attractive as a place to manufacture many goods consumed on this continent. An analysis by The Boston Consulting Group concludes that, by sometime around 2015—for many goods destined for North American consumers—manufacturing in some parts of the U.S. will be just as economical as manufacturing in China. The key reasons for this shift include the following:

  • Wage and benefit increases of 15 to 20 percent per year at the average Chinese factory will slash China’s labor-cost advantage over low-cost states in the U.S., from 55 percent today to 39 percent in 2015, when adjusted for the higher productivity of U.S. workers. Because labor accounts for a small portion of a product’s manufacturing costs, the savings gained from outsourcing to China will drop to single digits for many products.
  • For many goods, when transportation, duties, supply chain risks, industrial real estate, and other costs are fully accounted for, the cost savings of manufacturing in China rather than in some U.S. states will become minimal within the next five years.
  • Automation and other measures to improve productivity in China won’t be enough to preserve the country’s cost advantage. Indeed, they will undercut the primary attraction of outsourcing to China—access to low-cost labor.
  • Given rising income levels in China and the rest of developing Asia, demand for goods in the region will increase rapidly. Multinational companies are likely to devote more of their capacity in China to serving the domestic Chinese as well as the larger Asian market, and to bring some production work for the North American market back to the U.S.
  • Manufacturing of some goods will shift from China to nations with lower labor costs, such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico. But these nations’ ability to absorb the higher-end manufacturing that would otherwise go to China will be limited by inadequate infrastructure, skilled workers, scale, and domestic supply networks, as well as by political and intellectual-property risks. Low worker productivity, corruption, and the risk to personal safety are added concerns in some countries.

This reallocation of global manufacturing is in its very early phases. It will vary dramatically from industry to industry, depending on labor content, transportation costs, China’s competitive strengths, and the strategic needs of individual companies. But we believe that it will become more pronounced over the next five years, especially as companies face decisions about where to add future capacity. While China will remain an important manufacturing platform for Asia and Europe, the U.S. will become increasingly attractive for the production of many goods sold to consumers in North America.

This report, the first in a series, examines the economic trends that point to a U.S. manufacturing renaissance. It also explores the strategic implications of the shifting cost equation for companies engaged in global sourcing.

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USapparel.com is for SALE!

January 23, 2013 by Leave a comment

USAPPAREL.com

USAPPAREL.com

The U.S. apparel market is soaring to new heights with a clear resurgence of the American textile and garment industry.

Now for the 1st time in many years USapparel.com is for sale. A great opportunity for a large retailer or american manufacturer to obtain a high profile domain name.

Great marketing opportunity as the brand is well positioned for the #MadeinUSA movement in apparel. Recently, Walmart announced a $5 Billion commitment over the next 10 years to domestic sourcing. This is a great opportunity for one American brand.

USAPPAREL.COM DOMAIN FOR SALE

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Bids Starting @ $500,000 USD

Quote: USapparel.com is the single most powerful domain name in defining a category, USA manufactured apparel, which is surging in America.  Americans want products made at home and US manufacturing is responding.  USapparel.com represents a multi-billion dollar industry which is only getting bigger.  USapparel.com tell consumers that you support American Made clothing.

Andrew Rosener Founder Media Options

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FLOTUS, First Daughters wear ‘Made in USA’ designers on Inauguration Day

January 22, 2013 by Leave a comment

First lady Micehlle Obama arrives on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, for the Presidential Barack Obama’s ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th Presidential Inauguration. (AP Photo/Win McNamee, Pool)
POSTED: Monday, January 21, 2013, 10:36 AM
Esther Lee, Philly.com

On the Roy G. Biv scale, the Obama family dominated the color spectrum in blues, indigos and violets Monday morning.

First Lady Michelle Obama stunned in a custom-designed, navy Thom Browne jacquard dress and coat, while her daughters dazzled in bright purple ensembles on Inauguration Day.

Thom Browne, a relatively obscure New York-based designer who grew up in Allentown, generated a tremendous amount of buzz within the realm of fashion and beyond after FLOTUS stepped out in his designs Monday. Although Browne, the brother of Pa. State Senator Pat Browne, is recognized largely for his contributions to menswear, the designer launched his womenswear line in 2011. Evidently, the President’s wife wearing his creation on Inauguration Day is a significant step forward in the women’s department for the designer. The two initially met at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum awards in July 2012. Michelle Obama has since worn Thom Browne items to mark other public events.

The designer told the New York Times‘ Eric Wilson, “It’s one of those moments when I just can’t believe that happened.” The Today show’s Savannah Guthrie admitted she did not know who Browne was, although fans of the First Lady’s style will be well-acquainted with him soon.

As for the inspiration behind the outfit? Her coat – specifically the fabric – was created based on a man’s silk tie. Browne, who debuted his menswear line in Paris this weekend, told CNN‘s Alina Cho that he chose dark blue for the First Lady because he was “mindful POTUS might also wear navy.” Largely recognized for his menswear collections, Browne discovered that the First Lady had worn his designs Inauguration Day thirty minutes after viewers first spotted the Obama family at 9 a.m. The Inauguration went down one day after Browne caused fashion ripples in Paris where he debuted his Fall/Winter menswear line.

A fan of preppy American label J.Crew, FLOTUS linked the brand into her ensemble with her belt and shoes as she walked into St. John’s Church for a service earlier that morning. Regarding Obama’s use of the belt layered over the coat, J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons told WWD, “It looks great. I hope Thom is alright with it.” The source of her lush, leather clover gloves were also a product of J.Crew – in good company with Italian luxury brand Portolano. As of Monday afternoon, the Valentina patent pumps werestill in stock on jcrew.com. The exact pair of gloves were nowhere to be found on the brand’s website, although interested buyers are recommended to scour auction websites like eBay.

She paired the outfit with a necklace by Cathy Waterman, while her cardigan was designed by another American designer – Reed Krakoff – whose creations she selected for Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony. The First Lady later swapped into boots later that morning, which were also designed by Krakoff according to a White House official.

Meanwhile, “Rosebud” Malia also wore an outfit from J.Crew, while her sister Sasha, Secret Service code named “Radiance,” wore a dress and coat from Kate Spade. Deborah Lloyd, creative director of Kate Spade New York told AP, “[Sasha] epitomizes the youthful optimism and colorful spirit of the brand. We are so proud to have been a part of this historic moment.” Lyons shared with Wilson that Malia’s coat was off the rack. Her buttons were customized for the affair. “You can see how the girls have grown up in the four years, and they’re still so alive and vibrant, but more sophisticated,” Lyons shared enthusiastically with the same media outlet.

As for their father, the President stepped outdoors in a blue tie, white shirt and dark suit, beneath the exact same Brooks Brothers overcoat he wore when he took the oath in 2009, WWD reports. Four years ago, the First Lady wore a sparkly yellow coat and dress by Isabel Toledo. Michelle Obama is a champion of consciously and thoughtfully selecting American designers to help raise their profiles.

Known for repeating outfits, she is unable to recycle this gem of a dress and coat. Her complete ensemble, including the accompanying accessories, will go to the National Archives.

Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/hautehouse_row/FLOTUS-First-Daughters-wear-Made-in-USA-designers-on-Inauguration-Day.html

Made in USA Certified Inc.

MADE IN USA CERTIFIED LOGO

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Made in USA makes comeback as a marketing tool

January 22, 2013 by 1 Comment

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Oliver St. John, USA TODAY10:11p.m. EST January 21, 2013

It’s becoming downright American to make stuff in America.

Small manufacturers, craftsmen and retailers are marketing the Made-in-USA tag to score do-gooder points with consumers for employing stateside, says Margarita Mendoza, founder of the Made in America Movement, a lobbying organization for small manufacturers.

It’s working: Over 80% of Americans are willing to pay more for Made-in-USA products, 93% of whom say it’s because they want to keep jobs in the USA, according to a survey released in November by Boston Consulting Group. In ultra-partisan times, it’s one of the few issues both Democrats and Republicans agree on.

When considering similar products made in the U.S. vs. China, the average American is willing to pay up to 60% more for U.S.-made wooden baby toys, 30% more for U.S.-made mobile phones and 19% more for U.S.-made gas ranges, the survey says.

Now Wal-Mart wants a piece of the action. The behemoth, embroiled over the past year with worker protests and foreign bribery investigations, pledged recently to source $50 billion of products in the U.S. over the next 10 years, says Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove. They’re not alone. Mendoza says both Caterpillar and 3M have also made efforts to source more in the U.S.

“Regardless if this is a PR ploy or not, it doesn’t matter. A lot more people will look for the Made-in-USA tag,” she says, adding that, considering Wal-Mart’s size, $5 billion a year is only “a drop in the bucket,” for the retailer whose 2012 sales reached almost $444 billion.

Kyle Rancourt says his American-made shoe company, Rancourt & Co., hit it big as concern over U.S. jobs mounted when the recession hit in 2009. But he says he lies awake at night worrying if Made-in-USA is just a passing fad.

“It’s inevitable that times will change,” Rancourt says. “But I am still holding out hope that this has become a core value of our country.”

Mendoza says that if buying American turns out to be a passing fad, the country is in trouble.

“If they don’t understand the economic factor, we need to pull on their heartstrings,” she says. “The thought of having a country like China taking over, that alone is bone-chilling.”

But do folks care enough about U.S. manufacturing jobs to permanently change the way they shop? David Aaker, vice chairman of brand consulting firm Prophet, says the companies that get the most credit for being American, such as Apple and Cisco, don’t even source products in the U.S.

“I don’t think it matters unless it becomes visible,” Aaker says. “The most common way for that is if something bad happens, like if Nike gets some press about conditions in factories overseas.”

But Rancourt says his customers believe foreign-made shoes lack the soul of their American counterparts.

“There’s hundreds if not thousands of workers working on those factories. They do one specific job, maybe put an eyelet into a specific place,” he says. “They don’t have an idea or concept of a finished product and how that should look.”

 

Just watch out for phony Made-in-USA claims. It’s illegal to claim a product is U.S.-made unless both the product and all it’s components are sourced in the U.S. Even products that could imply a phony country of origin with a flag or country outline are verboten. Julia Solomon Ensor, enforcement lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission, says the FTC gets “several complaints each month about potentially deceptive ‘Made-in-the-USA’ claims.”

It sets a bad example. Mendoza says the U.S. needs to let kids know it’s OK to work in manufacturing. “Not all children are going to grow up to be dentists, and lawyers, and investment bankers.”

 

 

 

Source:http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/01/21/made-in-usa-trend/1785539/

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