Hallo!
For discussion...
Is it "important" that an item or gear or article of clothing be made in the USA?
On a friend's table is a Confederate Widget (let's make them trousers) purchased from Vendor Vick, a well known "authentic" maker of clothing, and priced accordingly. The trousers fit the Triad Litmus Test of period raw materials, period patterns, and period methods of construction (as set by the eye in the end result). They are great trousers in all ways.
However, still attached the waistband is a label that reads:
Vendor Vick (not really, used here for sake of discussion)
Fabric - USA Origin
Assembled - Indonesia
Hand Finishing - USA
Disclaimer: Not that the Pakistani, Chinese, or Indonesians are not capable of very fine and exacting work. Or that these trousers are not first rate. Etc., etc.
However...
1. Should we be happy that an entreprenneur has added another quality source for Widgets?
2. Should we hold it against Vendor Vick that he can expand the measily profit margin on his product line by utilizing cheaper labor in developing or foreign countries?
3. Should we feel that we assume that Vendor Vick is, himself, bloodying his fingers and working them to the bone, and straining his eyes to sew for us because he makes no mention of "Assembly - Indonesia Hand Finishing - USA" on his web site or ads?
4. Or should we feel "deceived" or "cheated" in some way?
5. Or it doesn't matter as long as the product, in this case trousers, are quality wares?
6. Or the label was just a prank put there by a friend or paranoid-schizophrenic competitor trying to sabotgage Vendor Vick's business for being in competition with his own, etc, etc.?
7. Or should be worried or suspicious the next time we visit S & G Vendor and go through the "ready made" racks of "market retail" plus 20% clothing and gear whose tags no longer carry a maker's name (because they are made in a foreign country)?
I have no dog in the fight, even if there is or were to be, one. Just curious whether a quality item is just a quality item, period...
Curt
For discussion...
Is it "important" that an item or gear or article of clothing be made in the USA?
On a friend's table is a Confederate Widget (let's make them trousers) purchased from Vendor Vick, a well known "authentic" maker of clothing, and priced accordingly. The trousers fit the Triad Litmus Test of period raw materials, period patterns, and period methods of construction (as set by the eye in the end result). They are great trousers in all ways.
However, still attached the waistband is a label that reads:
Vendor Vick (not really, used here for sake of discussion)
Fabric - USA Origin
Assembled - Indonesia
Hand Finishing - USA
Disclaimer: Not that the Pakistani, Chinese, or Indonesians are not capable of very fine and exacting work. Or that these trousers are not first rate. Etc., etc.
However...
1. Should we be happy that an entreprenneur has added another quality source for Widgets?
2. Should we hold it against Vendor Vick that he can expand the measily profit margin on his product line by utilizing cheaper labor in developing or foreign countries?
3. Should we feel that we assume that Vendor Vick is, himself, bloodying his fingers and working them to the bone, and straining his eyes to sew for us because he makes no mention of "Assembly - Indonesia Hand Finishing - USA" on his web site or ads?
4. Or should we feel "deceived" or "cheated" in some way?
5. Or it doesn't matter as long as the product, in this case trousers, are quality wares?
6. Or the label was just a prank put there by a friend or paranoid-schizophrenic competitor trying to sabotgage Vendor Vick's business for being in competition with his own, etc, etc.?
7. Or should be worried or suspicious the next time we visit S & G Vendor and go through the "ready made" racks of "market retail" plus 20% clothing and gear whose tags no longer carry a maker's name (because they are made in a foreign country)?
I have no dog in the fight, even if there is or were to be, one. Just curious whether a quality item is just a quality item, period...
Curt
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