As a brand that prides itself on delivering products made whole heartedly on American turf, we decided to dig a little deeper behind the “Made in U.S.A.” tags.
Below are excerpts from an article by the Gentleman’s Gazette, describing reasons why American-made products are often preferred over their international competitors.
“Made In The USA – But What Does It Mean?”
There are a number of aspects that speak in favor of manufacturing things in the US, namely ethics, employee safety, protection of the environment, quality, and investment into the American economy. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Ethics
I think it is absolutely desirable to produce things under humane conditions, and by far and away manufacturing in the US ensures that certain standards are maintained; people earn minimum wages and are not blatantly exploited and they are entitled to work in a safe environment. However, there are other countries, like Germany, France, and Sweden, where these minimum standards are even higher and people are further protected. That’s not to say that ethical production standards cannot be established and rigorously monitored in China or Vietnam. So, overall things can be produced ethically in other countries too, but it is of course easier to control in the US.
Environmental Protection – Carbon Footprint
Another aspect of manufacturing things locally is the protection of the environment, especially the carbon footprint. If US manufacturing would use raw materials from the US, there would be less importing and shipping of goods from other parts of the world, and the carbon footprint would be lower.
Quality
One of the aspects mentioned in the previous section was quality. Personally, quality is almost always the single most important factor to me, given that the products were made under humane conditions. Before you ask for the price, look for quality, because without knowing the quality there is no price low enough that would justify buying the product.
Investing in the Domestic Economy
Part of the benefit we derive from shopping locally is the knowledge that our money is going back into the economy we participate in. This is absolutely a benefit of buying American produced clothing and accessories. Despite the origin of the inputs, producers must set up workshops, buy from other local retailers, pay taxes, and hire employees, which are all desirable economic investments – assuming that they aren’t taking of the aforementioned shortcuts. In an ideal setting, the money involved in operating such a business would circulate between American consumers, suppliers, and the business itself, producing a maximum domestic benefit. Unfortunately, few American businesses can operate in that way, but the symbolic gesture of buying American-produced products still results in some local benefit.
