Yeah, I didn’t understand the whole “don’t want to support your lifestyle” thing. This isn’t a Go-fund-me. Jack isn’t asking for charity. He’s offering a product in exchange for a price. Either you feel like his writing is worth the price or you don’t. If one day the guy who cuts my lawn pulled up in a truck that was nicer than mine I wouldn’t refuse to pay him because I “don’t want to support his lifestyle” (I might consider going in to landscaping instead of what I do now though). I’m assuming his particular objection is more political than anything.
The guy who re-did my privacy fence pulled up in a customized 1-ton, crew cab, long bed, 4WD diesel with custom paint, jacked up, big tires, etc. Must have had $100k invested in that truck. Had company logo on it, so probably tax deductible. I had a 15 year old Ford Ranger in my driveway. Yup, I thought about going into fencing myself.
My relatively brief time as a corporate executive convinced me of one thing: if the average American could see how these people lived and thought, nobody would buy ANYTHING from ANYWHERE.
There's a horrifying human being at the end of pretty much every transaction in America. At least here at Avoidable Contact Forever(tm) you know that the horrifying human being in question loves and values you!
If God wasn't capable of the most terrible things He wouldn't be God. See Isaiah 45:7. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." KJV
It's interesting that all the modern Christian translations are uncomfortable with the word "evil" and substitute weakened euphemisms, like "calamity", but the original Hebrew is "rah", which indeed translates to bad or evil.
We'd like to believe that it's the cream and not the scum that rises to the top, but the Pareto and Peter principles apply to corporate (and government) managers and executives too.
Some years ago I found myself sitting in a chair in a Red Wing shoe store. My attention was focused on the lovely young girl with a Basque accent who was bringing out lineman’s boots for me to try on. I already knew I was a size 10, but she was really lovely.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather older gentleman on his knees by the front door with a razor scraper. He was removing the decals from the door that said “Made in USA.” I said that I hoped he was putting a bigger sticker on. Ruefully, he admitted that Red Wing would no longer make enough boots here for the sticker to be displayed.
He assured me that they would continue to make lineman’s boots both here and in China.
Damn, posted that by accident, here’s the rest. The American made boots that I was trying on were something like 249.00. The Chinese version they also had in stock were around 225.00. Just imagine the margin on those Chinese boots.
They killed their brand for me that day though. They didn’t get any margin at all on the 10 pairs of boots I’d have bought from them over the last 20 years.
I bought a pair of composite toe Thorogoods two years ago (on company dime) specifically because they were both American AND Union made in Wisconsin, and as it turns out, were also fantastically comfortable right out the box, durable, waterproof, and looked good with a little American flag lapel held in on the lower laces. A year later (2021) I needed a new pair and I tried to get the exact same model number, same size same color. Price was up a bit, and what showed up, while still decent, was nowhere as nice looking, or as comfortable. Still made in USA, but now a smaller little American flag tag on the side of the boot. The old pair was so immensely comfortable and lightweight that I actually did three day backpacking trips in them. More recently, I used them to kick my asshole neighbor's German Shepard in the ribs when it ran out of his yard, to great result.
From what I've heard, gtem is underselling the situation a bit here. It wasn't about the line, it was about the vulnerability of who was on the other side of that line.
I think how you imagine that story ending without the kick is dependant on what you think in general of your neighbors throughout your life.
For example where I am, that story, without the kick, ends with "and it wouldn't stop licking the ice cream off my kids face" or something. But that is because we got a bunch of friendly people, who have raised friendly dogs, and it isn't unheard of to find someone else's dog laying in your kitchen if you forget to close the screen door.
I have also lived around assholes. They have asshole dogs who are there because they want to look tough, and just like the assholes, aren't well adjusted and sociable. Then the story ends with animal control disposing of the dog, and whatever bad thing made that happen.
My take is no matter how well mannered and sociable a dog might be (with how this one ran in at full speed and knocked my dog over, I suspect not well), IMO you can't just have a large dog roaming around with small children out and about. I'm the owner of two larger dogs who are great with my boy, friendly with strangers, etc, but if one of mine ran up to a stranger and the stranger booted them, I would totally understand. That's my biggest issue with fellow dog owners. They have a rather warped perception of "oh haha don't worry he's friendly" when a big dog runs up and starts sniffing a toddler's face. That's simply a BIG liability. One that I'm not going to expose my family to.
I have two GSDs and I would absolutely understand if someone shot or otherwise harmed one of them charging at full speed.
One is a hair north of 100lb and he looks the business even though he is a coward at heart. The other is right sized and, while blind and old, still looks intimidating if the hackles go up and the ears flat.
My late father was a veterinarian. He routinely muzzled dogs during examinations. Clients would say, "Oh, you don't have to muzzle him, he never bites." My dad would reply, "There's no such thing as a dog that doesn't bite. I'm poking and proding and possibly causing it pain and dogs have only one response to that."
The one time he didn't muzzle a patient, the German shepard opened up his hand.
I saw kicking a 90lb german shepard that had bolted at full speed and knocked my old Airedale with a torn ACL to the ground as the most expedient resolution in the split second I had to react. But forget dogs, I have a 3yr old son, our other neighbors likewise have a 4 year old boy. The old fart and his dog have been a known issue for some years now (and his dogs before that one had actually bitten a kid in the neighborhood some years prior). After his dog ran whimpering away I walked over and told the guy that if it ever ran at my son that he'd be picking that german shepherd up off the street.
Jack, do you know of an accurate American made tire pressure gauge? I have 6 Chinese-made ones that all disagree with each other. I thought Longacre racing gauges were made in the US but it turns out the Longacre gauge I bought was made in Taiwan. It's better than the mainland Chinese ones though.
I was wondering if there's enough room in the engine compartment and backbone frame of the Elan for a battery pack and then I realized that there's no way to electrify a car that lightweight without dramatically affecting its character.
I absolutely agree that people who lower standards in a profession don't have any right to whine when someone else does it to them and undercuts them. I see it all too often in the engineering business as well.
I've never understood your obsession with the MUST BE MADE IN AMERICA AT ANY COST (I completely agree with the human cost of not doing so), but you lay out a pretty good sequence of events of how things came to be today. For me, the answer is bluntly economics - wage arbitration, and MOST importantly (and I'm not a climate nut) environmental arbitration. That Iphone STILL produces tremendous environmental damage, it just happens to those little people over in China, so out of mind!!!
The future will be some mix of quality stuff re-shored and what you predict here. I for one am always on the lookout for someone in some niche (belts are an example) who has figured out how to be price competitive locally, and completely switch my shopping accordingly. For the rest of the 'stuff' I tend to be agnostic, with a particular contempt for Amazon.
EDIT: I am thoroughly fascinated with Sears and that era, and wouldn't mind returning to it, in some form. I'm also astonished how that good and diverse a company (GE is another that comes to mind) was destroyed.
My new affordable re-shored item are blue jeans from All American Clothing. $65 a pair, nice heavy denim from US cotton, sewn in the US. The looms unfortunately moved overseas after the last NC based operation closed up shop some time around 2017(?). I'll admit these things do seem to wear somewhat quickly but I guess I made my peace with that. They do some nice cheap nicely fitting t-shirts as well.
Partially right, anyway. Example: Malden Mills shut down in New England because the union and the owner could not agree to wages that allowed the mill to stay in business. The owner was motivated to keep the business and employees in New England and literally begged the union leadership to work with him. (Malden Mills was the originator of Polar Fleece.)
I’ve been buying Dearborn Denim since Jack highlighted them a few years ago. The owner was trying to set up a denim mill in the US, but I think the last couple of years has screwed up those plans.
Sears invented online marketing more than a century before it became practical, only instead of the internet it used the U.S. mail service. If any company should have been positioned to succeed in the internet age, it was Sears. They could have had online ordering with store pickups 20 years ago.
I would LOVE to be able to order a house kit like they used to sell, especially with today's tech. Those kit houses were also QUALITY, from what I hear.
*30 years ago. Sears shut down the catalog operation in......1993. All they had to do was come up with some kind of secure payment system and they would have beaten Amazon to the punch by at least 5 years.
I'll finish the rest of this piece, but thanks for putting into words the essence of Bradley Brownell:
"Isn’t this about as hypocritical as “Fat Brad” Brownell, the “founder” of Sadwood Radwood, spending a decade whining about capitalists on a more-or-less daily basis then using an unearned windfall to IMMEDIATELY become a fourth-rate wanna-be Cleveland slum lord, with no more shame in the process than a dog displays while licking its own rectum?" I always found it hilarious that such an obvious status seeker would put in his byline on Jalopnik something like "Lover of all things janky and eclectic" at the end of another piece on a Koenigsegg transmission. His personality suits his current endeavor, I pray for the tenants.
I'm a habitual Harbor Freight shopper, I'd say 75% of my tools are from there at the moment. There's some stuff there that's just a waste of money like their electrical tape, but certain cheap stuff like my set of picks, is one of my most used tools and they work fine. My jack and jackstands, likewise HF. On the flip side, last year I paid $40 for a pair of Japanese made "Vamplier" pliers and man I SWEAR by those things. Have grabbed on and loosened many a an old JIS phillips head screw stripped out by some other bozo that didn't have the correct JIS pattern phillips bits.
This is an interesting way to think of things and I agree that if we’re just going to be buying disposable crap anyway, there is little appeal to spending more for a brand name.
There are a few bright spots in American manufacturing and I feel like the troubles of the past 2-3 years have shown a few companies that there are benefits to keeping things closer to home. The company I work for (in the aerospace industry) had a plant in Mexico up till mid 2020 when a massive fire in the plant next door caused considerable damage to our plant. The company decided that rather than rebuilding in Mexico, it was easier to build more capacity here in Utah. There had been problems with managing that plant in the past I guess, and there were some problems with the Mexican government trying to shut the plant down during the batflu lockdowns which required a call from the US state dept to fix (they had to explain that the plant was producing parts for critical military hardware). I’m addition to moving all the production that was in Mexico to Utah, there have been so many supply-chain disruptions that we have been insourcing every part and process we possibly can, even if it means making tiny bolts or mixing epoxy in house. If there’s any good to come out of the batflu it may be showing people how fragile supply chains are.
They were parts that are shared in common between military applications and commercial applications so there wasn’t much security risk and Mexico is technically an “ally” but yeah, not real smart. The real problem is the logistics of making parts in Utah and sending them to Mexico to be built into assemblies and then sending them back to Utah to be assembled into finished products. Just a lot of extra steps that, in the long run, probably didn’t save any money.
If Mexico were truly an ally, it wouldn't be using our country as a dumping ground for its rural poor, poor who were made that way by longstanding defects in Mexico's society they inhereted from Spain.
The world would be an immeasurably better place today if the entirety of the Americas had been colonized solely by England.
Good Lord, why is the US military fielding small arms from HK and SIG? Why were we even considering an Airbus tanker? Or Chinese pharmaceuticals?
The quality of said things, while top-notch, doesn't matter. Everything that our military uses, from toothpaste to aircraft carriers, should be made here by American companies.
This is quite literally a matter of national security.
I'll bite. With few exceptions the firearms used by the US military that are SIG or HK, or for that matter Beretta are all manufactured in the USA, by SIG, USA and so forth. In the case of SIG, and perhaps others I don't keep up on this very carefully, a non trivial amount of product design and development for the US market occurs here as well. The US subsidiaries allow these companies to compete without handicap as foreign companies and avoid import restrictions. It isn't so bad.
My eyes turn misty and my legs shaky when I remember the assault on our sacred democracy.
Yet my heart is glad knowing our brave Congress turned the tide with a light cavalry charge from the very halls that form the heart of the country to disperse the rabble.
I pray that when you receive this I am still alive. When the Red Hats invaded the holiest of holies, our democracy's (TM) Capitol, I feared that I would never see your smiling face again, but for the moment the forces of good have prevailed against the sons of darkness.
I have that same floor jack, bought it recently because my very expensive Sears floor jack shattered a couple of years ago (bad casting) and I was in the process of moving, so I held off.
The truth is damn near Everything at Harbor Freight, can be bought for MORE money in one of the box stores. They're all made in the EXACT SAME PLANT - just the ones with the American labels have some added gizmos, paint colors AND WORSE QUALITY.
I'm serious about the quality being worse. I've SEEN it! I bought a band saw from Lowes, it had issues, I returned it, got one exactly like it from harbor freight for half the price and it was of superior quality. Not to say it's perfect, because it isn't - but it's better than what Lowes is selling for twice the price.
You seen this in a LOT of stuff. Harbor Freight does try to sell a 'decent' product - I have a motorcycle lift that's 20 years old from them and it still works like a champ. We used to have a list of HF products that were like 'these are fine as they come', 'these need some work and will be better than anything else on the market' and 'these you use until they break - then throw away and replace'.
Yeah, it sucks that we got these morons who off-shored everything because of their belief in the 'free trade' myth. Now we make nothing, wages have been stale for DECADES and China can (and has in the past) shut us down on multiple products. They also have Zero problems with putting poison in our foodstuffs and killing our pets or our children (both of these events HAVE happened and MORE than once - yet our government won't do anything to stop it).
It won't last of course, eventually when the famine hits and the country collapses we'll all just starve to death in the cold because we won't have the money to buy any of what we need, regardless of where it comes from. I do wonder if we're the first country in history that will be destroyed because the populace repeatedly voted people who hated them and wanted them dead into office.
Years ago, my dad went out to a battery factory as part of his job as a career counselor. He was one of those guys the company hired to teach the laid-off how to write resumes and ace job interviews. They gave him a tour of the factory floor, and the same identical batteries rolled down the assembly line to a guy who slapped "DieHard," "Exide," etc. stickers on them.
The tendency in any industry is always toward monopoly, largely because of a desire to cut costs. It's quite disgusting, the lengths to which large corporations will go to save five cents a ton on raw materials.
How do you feel about the merits of “fake” midcentury modern furniture? Who really owns those iconic midcentury modern pieces - Knoll and Herman Miller? As we have discussed, the “fake” Noguchi tables are reputed to be sturdier than the “real” ones. My Chicago boss had an office furnished with real stuff, but his decorator recommended substituting a fake Noguchi table.
This is tricky -- and as you know, I am "committed" in this case because I ordered an Eames Lounge Chair from Herman Miller a month ago.
All the designers are long dead, and I am not aware that any of them left children who continue on in the family tradition, so I care very little about who "owns" the copyright. Knoll wants twelve grand for a polished stainless Barcelona chair, which is absurdity beyond even the Eames Lounge price. You can buy a USA-made motorcycle for less than twelve grand.
There's also the fact that both Knoll and Herman Miller are wokestestricians of the first order.
If I could find a USA factory knocking their stuff off, I'd write them a check tomorrow. As it is, if I want the chair I use every day at work to be made by people enjoying a reasonable standard of living in my home country, I don't have any choice.
Floyd Detroit appears to have a decent Knoll sofa knockoff for $2-3k per section as opposed to Knoll's $8k.
Some of the Chinese knockoffs are pretty good. Check Craigslist and marketplace as well.
I paid $100 for a used display model knockoff Saarinen table. The fake marble surface has some small scuffs, and not sure if I'd have paid the $1000 original price for it, but it's hard to imagine paying knoll 8k for a table.
I don't have an entirely firm grasp on it but it seems to me that the patent system which was once a great strength to the US now prevents the knock offs from being done in house as competition to the overseas versions because the BRAND will absolutely prosecute anyone here and win.
I bought a few “real” pieces 5-6 years ago. Barcelona Chair and Ottoman, Noguchi Table, Eileen Gray Side Table.
As anyone who has read From Bauhaus to Our House will know, you really need TWO Barcelona Chairs … which verges on $20K even with the current “sale” they are running.
I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair, it is the most amazing chair ever made. I can sit it in all day, sometime 12 hours, never feeling achy or tired. After 7 years of sitting in it, it has not aged a day. It is worth every penny - it's a testament of making a product that is not crap, and needs to be replaced every few years. What a concept!
It is the birthright of an investment banker to have an Aeron chair for in-office work. The only downside is that the mesh on the seat will degrade the finish on a fine pair of wool trousers. I once worked for a guy who cultivated a client list in London so that he could attend his fittings on Savile Row. He sat on a towel to protect the ass and thighs of his pants.
It is the same for large-firm lawyers. I have an Aeron in my office that I happen to know was used by a substantially overweight former partner for upward of a decade. It is none the worse for wear and it is exceedingly comfortable.
But I don't live in a city where anyone worries about wool trousers. In fact, the last time I showed up for a meeting in a (quite ordinary) navy suit, I was roundly mocked for it.
There are also many independent furniture makers out there making interesting items, like this maker in Knoxville. https://northcoastmodern.com/
Room & Board from Minnesota also sources almost all of their furniture in the US and will actually tell you who the maker is. They regularly feature their US makers in advertisements.
One of the best ways to buy MCM furniture is to go through a restoration shop to buy restored original items. A family member has had great service and results from this place.
As I was growing up in the 70s and 80s my parents were very into modern furniture and Barcelona Chairs were the holy grail of furniture but they were either horribly expensive or cheaply made knockoffs. Fast forward to around 1997 or so when I saw that the local PBS station had a lot of 3 Knoll Barcelona chairs on their televised auction one night that been donated by a company that had them in their lobby for a number of years. I called my mother and she turned on the auction and bid on them. This was pre-internet bidding so they would briefly update the bids and my mother kept calling and upping her bid. When they did the recap and announced the winners of the lots the hosts said that bidding on the Barcelona chairs was very spirited and announced that my mother was the winning bidder. They still have them and are still in beautiful condition.
Good piece, Jack. I routinely purchase Made-In-USA products and always tell checkout clerks that I was pleased to find said product. Despite the higher prices required in the trickle down economics of it all, I like my middle class neighbors to keep up with the Jones'. Life hack: I rarely have to repair or replace US-built items. Am I "crazy" for paying that much? You tell me.
My hierarchy of purchase origins are similar to yours, but the pinnacle of my pyramid is held by vintage American products. I take great pride in scouring estate sales, eBay, or even garage sales for these gems. I recently scored a vintage three-hole punch and paper cutter which were both made prior to the Hencho en Mexico-era. While this method seldom works when in a pinch, I try to find these old beauties below Harbor Freight prices. The next goal is to source a couple of vintage breaker bars crafted prior to the '69 Mets. Who am I kidding...I'd settle for the '86 Mets.
I'm quite fond of my expanding collection of Griswold cast iron. I enjoy finding saveable pieces and bringing them back to life. They're lighter and their glass smooth surface is so much nicer to cook on than the current day sandpaper finish. Same for antique American axes. The refinishing, rehandling and sharpening of an old axe is a nice way to spend a Saturday. And don't get me started on my current Wilton bullet vise obsession.
I'll be revisiting this for a reread and longer comment but, in the meantime, know that you are striking the chord which twangs in my heart every time I look at one of my child's board books and see "printed in China" or buy a fucking garage hook from Park Tool thinking they are still made in America only to be totally disappointed in pissing away money on something made thousands of miles away!
I also want to say I did buy my wife that Urban Survival Gear pen (Ti) on your recommendation for an everyday bombproof, childproof pen and she quite likes it.
I have to agree with a lot of this. The caveat: sometimes the big box stores will run a good enough sale to warrant going there, and lately Harbor Freight has been increasing prices and reducing selection on their cheaper brands - to push you upmarket.
I get the point Jack, but you're a bulwark. I was so ashamed to say on this site that the dress shirts I purchased were made in China, precisely because I believe in your all-or-nothing policy. I have been attempting to do the same thing on a much smaller budget, but more important to me is the mindset behind it. I was speaking to a woman today in my office, and we were discussing tax policy. She kept looking for financial reasons to explain decisions, when very obviously there was no business case. It was all about pushing the agenda of policy makers. At this point, institutions like IRS, Apple and China are well beyond any concern about money. It's about changing the way we live so that we're under control. It seems the purpose of a brand could at this point very easily revert to the previous intention with a signature on a piece of legislation.
" The minute you think your product doesn’t deserve to be made in country where your mirror-glass offices are located, you’ve become nothing but an importer."
Your general point is valid but don't diminish the role of import-export, Art Vandelay notwithstanding. Importers can play an important role in business and technical innovation, introducing existing products to new markets. Would the Marshall amplifier had been made if Jim Marshall didn't start importing Fender Bassmans to the UK? How about Gene Kornblum and Yairi and Matsumoku made guitars? Then there's Superscope and Sony.
What's interesting about the whole offshoring/contract manufacturing is that for much of the industrial age successful companies built foreign subsidiaries and factories rather than exporting product. Sometimes they'd contract with local assemblers but often they preferred wholly owned subsidiaries. Ford's first international plant was across the Detroit River in Walkerville (now Windsor), Ontario in 1904, just a year after FoMoCo was incorporated. The auto industry still does that, with BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai/Kia and probably others operating plants in North America. I think it was Isaac Singer who first figured out that manufacturing in foreign markets made more sense than exporting sewing machines.
Yes I learned while there that their mentality is that since they consider themselves the world's master race, all IP made by others automatically belongs to them. They don't consider it stealing. They are proud people, and also want to make the best stuff too. One of my clients started sourcing basic machined parts, like couplers, shafts, and brackets, and was astounded at the quality they got. But it was inconsistent, later we learned when they got busy they just outsourced the production to a local shop down the road and then shipped them the off spec stuff. The valve manufacturers, who now largely source large machined castings there, had to fly in inspectors to watch what they were doing. It might be better now with younger management. They CAN make quality but you can't trust their morality. They have no problems with a bait and switch in the middle of a supply order. Things are changing though as they realise they can lose orders to Vietnam and Thailand.
The younger generation (under 40) who largely run things do have higher standards, they want to beat the west at everything. They don't want to be the world's sweat shop - they want their Starbucks and Audi's too.
Makes sense. They have command of the world now. It's time to start acting like it, right? And one way to do it would be to call Biden's bluff about Taiwan.
Taiwan Semiconductor makes 70% of the worlds top chips. They guard this tech closely and do not want the Chinese to have it. THIS is the world's biggest chess piece. China takes it and it's over for us.
But another thought about your (excellent) article - we are also seeing the rapid commoditization of simple work objects like tools and small appliances where a brand is no longer needed, you are correct in that Harbor Freight Tools IS the future. Without the burden of a brand they can source good stuff and sell it under their meaningless brands.
It's possible that the Han Chinese are the most racist, supremacist culture on the planet.
There's a book by Paul Midler, orginally from Flint, Michigan, who has made his living as a go-between helping American firms hook up with Chinese manufacturers. The book is called Poorly Made in China. Essentially, he says that if your Chinese supplier can figure out a way to cut quality in persuit of lower costs, they will. He has another book, What's Wrong With China. I've often wondered why he still does business there.
If you haven't heard of them, you have now. Literally everything from the materials, prints, designs, and production is all US made. The man is a one man wrecking crew in pursuit of an all american made company.
Just released their new hunting line too. Had no idea that NO ONE makes camo in the USA anymore. All the major brands are all printed overseas. Well, not anymore!
That said, I fear that I am the enemy. We outsourced a few years ago when our owner sold the factories. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
THANK YOU for posting this. Had never heard of them. My 12-year-old is a grappler, and I am pleasantly surprised to learn that Origin makes a Gi that'll be great for him!
Edit: just read that Jocko Willink is a founder. That explains both the MIUSA and the Jiu-Jitsu gear!
Yeah, I didn’t understand the whole “don’t want to support your lifestyle” thing. This isn’t a Go-fund-me. Jack isn’t asking for charity. He’s offering a product in exchange for a price. Either you feel like his writing is worth the price or you don’t. If one day the guy who cuts my lawn pulled up in a truck that was nicer than mine I wouldn’t refuse to pay him because I “don’t want to support his lifestyle” (I might consider going in to landscaping instead of what I do now though). I’m assuming his particular objection is more political than anything.
The guy who re-did my privacy fence pulled up in a customized 1-ton, crew cab, long bed, 4WD diesel with custom paint, jacked up, big tires, etc. Must have had $100k invested in that truck. Had company logo on it, so probably tax deductible. I had a 15 year old Ford Ranger in my driveway. Yup, I thought about going into fencing myself.
My relatively brief time as a corporate executive convinced me of one thing: if the average American could see how these people lived and thought, nobody would buy ANYTHING from ANYWHERE.
There's a horrifying human being at the end of pretty much every transaction in America. At least here at Avoidable Contact Forever(tm) you know that the horrifying human being in question loves and values you!
If God wasn't capable of the most terrible things He wouldn't be God. See Isaiah 45:7. "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." KJV
It's interesting that all the modern Christian translations are uncomfortable with the word "evil" and substitute weakened euphemisms, like "calamity", but the original Hebrew is "rah", which indeed translates to bad or evil.
We'd like to believe that it's the cream and not the scum that rises to the top, but the Pareto and Peter principles apply to corporate (and government) managers and executives too.
DENALI TOOLS!
Some years ago I found myself sitting in a chair in a Red Wing shoe store. My attention was focused on the lovely young girl with a Basque accent who was bringing out lineman’s boots for me to try on. I already knew I was a size 10, but she was really lovely.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a rather older gentleman on his knees by the front door with a razor scraper. He was removing the decals from the door that said “Made in USA.” I said that I hoped he was putting a bigger sticker on. Ruefully, he admitted that Red Wing would no longer make enough boots here for the sticker to be displayed.
He assured me that they would continue to make lineman’s boots both here and in China.
Damn, posted that by accident, here’s the rest. The American made boots that I was trying on were something like 249.00. The Chinese version they also had in stock were around 225.00. Just imagine the margin on those Chinese boots.
They killed their brand for me that day though. They didn’t get any margin at all on the 10 pairs of boots I’d have bought from them over the last 20 years.
I bought a pair of composite toe Thorogoods two years ago (on company dime) specifically because they were both American AND Union made in Wisconsin, and as it turns out, were also fantastically comfortable right out the box, durable, waterproof, and looked good with a little American flag lapel held in on the lower laces. A year later (2021) I needed a new pair and I tried to get the exact same model number, same size same color. Price was up a bit, and what showed up, while still decent, was nowhere as nice looking, or as comfortable. Still made in USA, but now a smaller little American flag tag on the side of the boot. The old pair was so immensely comfortable and lightweight that I actually did three day backpacking trips in them. More recently, I used them to kick my asshole neighbor's German Shepard in the ribs when it ran out of his yard, to great result.
I don't think kicking a dog that ran across an imaginary line is a very nice thing to do.
From what I've heard, gtem is underselling the situation a bit here. It wasn't about the line, it was about the vulnerability of who was on the other side of that line.
Gtem is a hero for saving lost & confused Joe Biden from Major.
i hope gtem's neighbor is more understanding than john mcafee.
https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/belize-murder-victim-confronted-john-mcafee-dogs/story?id=17717178
I think how you imagine that story ending without the kick is dependant on what you think in general of your neighbors throughout your life.
For example where I am, that story, without the kick, ends with "and it wouldn't stop licking the ice cream off my kids face" or something. But that is because we got a bunch of friendly people, who have raised friendly dogs, and it isn't unheard of to find someone else's dog laying in your kitchen if you forget to close the screen door.
I have also lived around assholes. They have asshole dogs who are there because they want to look tough, and just like the assholes, aren't well adjusted and sociable. Then the story ends with animal control disposing of the dog, and whatever bad thing made that happen.
My take is no matter how well mannered and sociable a dog might be (with how this one ran in at full speed and knocked my dog over, I suspect not well), IMO you can't just have a large dog roaming around with small children out and about. I'm the owner of two larger dogs who are great with my boy, friendly with strangers, etc, but if one of mine ran up to a stranger and the stranger booted them, I would totally understand. That's my biggest issue with fellow dog owners. They have a rather warped perception of "oh haha don't worry he's friendly" when a big dog runs up and starts sniffing a toddler's face. That's simply a BIG liability. One that I'm not going to expose my family to.
I have two GSDs and I would absolutely understand if someone shot or otherwise harmed one of them charging at full speed.
One is a hair north of 100lb and he looks the business even though he is a coward at heart. The other is right sized and, while blind and old, still looks intimidating if the hackles go up and the ears flat.
My late father was a veterinarian. He routinely muzzled dogs during examinations. Clients would say, "Oh, you don't have to muzzle him, he never bites." My dad would reply, "There's no such thing as a dog that doesn't bite. I'm poking and proding and possibly causing it pain and dogs have only one response to that."
The one time he didn't muzzle a patient, the German shepard opened up his hand.
I saw kicking a 90lb german shepard that had bolted at full speed and knocked my old Airedale with a torn ACL to the ground as the most expedient resolution in the split second I had to react. But forget dogs, I have a 3yr old son, our other neighbors likewise have a 4 year old boy. The old fart and his dog have been a known issue for some years now (and his dogs before that one had actually bitten a kid in the neighborhood some years prior). After his dog ran whimpering away I walked over and told the guy that if it ever ran at my son that he'd be picking that german shepherd up off the street.
I've owned 3 pairs of thorogoods as work and personal boots an I'm still on the fence. I might step up to the next level.
Jack, do you know of an accurate American made tire pressure gauge? I have 6 Chinese-made ones that all disagree with each other. I thought Longacre racing gauges were made in the US but it turns out the Longacre gauge I bought was made in Taiwan. It's better than the mainland Chinese ones though.
Have you checked out PCL? They still have a factory in Sheffield but I’m not sure if their cheaper inflators are made there anymore
" spending a decade whining about capitalists on a more-or-less daily basis "
If I was dictator, I'd condemn every self-professed leftist car enthusiast to only be allowed to drive vintage Trabants.
Doesn't he willingly drive a Nissan Leaf? Seems like punishment enough to me.
He also made a big stink (probably literally) about buying one of those retarded Harley "Livewire" bikes.
All the power of our XS1100s, at ten times the price, minus the range, but SONS OF ELECTRIC ANARCHY!
I was wondering if there's enough room in the engine compartment and backbone frame of the Elan for a battery pack and then I realized that there's no way to electrify a car that lightweight without dramatically affecting its character.
I absolutely agree that people who lower standards in a profession don't have any right to whine when someone else does it to them and undercuts them. I see it all too often in the engineering business as well.
I've never understood your obsession with the MUST BE MADE IN AMERICA AT ANY COST (I completely agree with the human cost of not doing so), but you lay out a pretty good sequence of events of how things came to be today. For me, the answer is bluntly economics - wage arbitration, and MOST importantly (and I'm not a climate nut) environmental arbitration. That Iphone STILL produces tremendous environmental damage, it just happens to those little people over in China, so out of mind!!!
The future will be some mix of quality stuff re-shored and what you predict here. I for one am always on the lookout for someone in some niche (belts are an example) who has figured out how to be price competitive locally, and completely switch my shopping accordingly. For the rest of the 'stuff' I tend to be agnostic, with a particular contempt for Amazon.
EDIT: I am thoroughly fascinated with Sears and that era, and wouldn't mind returning to it, in some form. I'm also astonished how that good and diverse a company (GE is another that comes to mind) was destroyed.
My new affordable re-shored item are blue jeans from All American Clothing. $65 a pair, nice heavy denim from US cotton, sewn in the US. The looms unfortunately moved overseas after the last NC based operation closed up shop some time around 2017(?). I'll admit these things do seem to wear somewhat quickly but I guess I made my peace with that. They do some nice cheap nicely fitting t-shirts as well.
You know I never thought of it that way but you're right.
Partially right, anyway. Example: Malden Mills shut down in New England because the union and the owner could not agree to wages that allowed the mill to stay in business. The owner was motivated to keep the business and employees in New England and literally begged the union leadership to work with him. (Malden Mills was the originator of Polar Fleece.)
I’ve been buying Dearborn Denim since Jack highlighted them a few years ago. The owner was trying to set up a denim mill in the US, but I think the last couple of years has screwed up those plans.
Sears invented online marketing more than a century before it became practical, only instead of the internet it used the U.S. mail service. If any company should have been positioned to succeed in the internet age, it was Sears. They could have had online ordering with store pickups 20 years ago.
I would LOVE to be able to order a house kit like they used to sell, especially with today's tech. Those kit houses were also QUALITY, from what I hear.
my friends step mom has lived in one for decades. great house.
*30 years ago. Sears shut down the catalog operation in......1993. All they had to do was come up with some kind of secure payment system and they would have beaten Amazon to the punch by at least 5 years.
And they even owned Discover that could have handled that part.
Before they started Discover, the Sears Card was one way Americans established credit.
Heck....Sears had it's own Prodigy dialup network before the Internet was a thing for us 8-bit home computer types.
I'll finish the rest of this piece, but thanks for putting into words the essence of Bradley Brownell:
"Isn’t this about as hypocritical as “Fat Brad” Brownell, the “founder” of Sadwood Radwood, spending a decade whining about capitalists on a more-or-less daily basis then using an unearned windfall to IMMEDIATELY become a fourth-rate wanna-be Cleveland slum lord, with no more shame in the process than a dog displays while licking its own rectum?" I always found it hilarious that such an obvious status seeker would put in his byline on Jalopnik something like "Lover of all things janky and eclectic" at the end of another piece on a Koenigsegg transmission. His personality suits his current endeavor, I pray for the tenants.
The most succinct thing to say about that fellow is, "imagine the smell."
I'm a habitual Harbor Freight shopper, I'd say 75% of my tools are from there at the moment. There's some stuff there that's just a waste of money like their electrical tape, but certain cheap stuff like my set of picks, is one of my most used tools and they work fine. My jack and jackstands, likewise HF. On the flip side, last year I paid $40 for a pair of Japanese made "Vamplier" pliers and man I SWEAR by those things. Have grabbed on and loosened many a an old JIS phillips head screw stripped out by some other bozo that didn't have the correct JIS pattern phillips bits.
Yes, a set of Vampliers is a necessity--vicious grip on them!
This is an interesting way to think of things and I agree that if we’re just going to be buying disposable crap anyway, there is little appeal to spending more for a brand name.
There are a few bright spots in American manufacturing and I feel like the troubles of the past 2-3 years have shown a few companies that there are benefits to keeping things closer to home. The company I work for (in the aerospace industry) had a plant in Mexico up till mid 2020 when a massive fire in the plant next door caused considerable damage to our plant. The company decided that rather than rebuilding in Mexico, it was easier to build more capacity here in Utah. There had been problems with managing that plant in the past I guess, and there were some problems with the Mexican government trying to shut the plant down during the batflu lockdowns which required a call from the US state dept to fix (they had to explain that the plant was producing parts for critical military hardware). I’m addition to moving all the production that was in Mexico to Utah, there have been so many supply-chain disruptions that we have been insourcing every part and process we possibly can, even if it means making tiny bolts or mixing epoxy in house. If there’s any good to come out of the batflu it may be showing people how fragile supply chains are.
How about making life critical pharmaceuticals in China?
They were parts that are shared in common between military applications and commercial applications so there wasn’t much security risk and Mexico is technically an “ally” but yeah, not real smart. The real problem is the logistics of making parts in Utah and sending them to Mexico to be built into assemblies and then sending them back to Utah to be assembled into finished products. Just a lot of extra steps that, in the long run, probably didn’t save any money.
If Mexico were truly an ally, it wouldn't be using our country as a dumping ground for its rural poor, poor who were made that way by longstanding defects in Mexico's society they inhereted from Spain.
The world would be an immeasurably better place today if the entirety of the Americas had been colonized solely by England.
If Mexican elites allowed the growth of a middle class that might alleviate both our border issue and their drug cartel issue.
Good Lord, why is the US military fielding small arms from HK and SIG? Why were we even considering an Airbus tanker? Or Chinese pharmaceuticals?
The quality of said things, while top-notch, doesn't matter. Everything that our military uses, from toothpaste to aircraft carriers, should be made here by American companies.
This is quite literally a matter of national security.
I'll bite. With few exceptions the firearms used by the US military that are SIG or HK, or for that matter Beretta are all manufactured in the USA, by SIG, USA and so forth. In the case of SIG, and perhaps others I don't keep up on this very carefully, a non trivial amount of product design and development for the US market occurs here as well. The US subsidiaries allow these companies to compete without handicap as foreign companies and avoid import restrictions. It isn't so bad.
It doesn't matter if the guns are MADE here, they're not being made here by OUR companies.
Building them in an enemy's territory is doubly so.
Sir, the only enemy this country has is Jan 6 denialism.
My eyes turn misty and my legs shaky when I remember the assault on our sacred democracy.
Yet my heart is glad knowing our brave Congress turned the tide with a light cavalry charge from the very halls that form the heart of the country to disperse the rabble.
(Cue mandolin playing Ashoken Farewell)
Dearest Penelope,
I pray that when you receive this I am still alive. When the Red Hats invaded the holiest of holies, our democracy's (TM) Capitol, I feared that I would never see your smiling face again, but for the moment the forces of good have prevailed against the sons of darkness.
With best wishes, your fiance,
Edgar
I know at least one electronics company that has reshored PCB assembly to local firms.
I have that same floor jack, bought it recently because my very expensive Sears floor jack shattered a couple of years ago (bad casting) and I was in the process of moving, so I held off.
The truth is damn near Everything at Harbor Freight, can be bought for MORE money in one of the box stores. They're all made in the EXACT SAME PLANT - just the ones with the American labels have some added gizmos, paint colors AND WORSE QUALITY.
I'm serious about the quality being worse. I've SEEN it! I bought a band saw from Lowes, it had issues, I returned it, got one exactly like it from harbor freight for half the price and it was of superior quality. Not to say it's perfect, because it isn't - but it's better than what Lowes is selling for twice the price.
You seen this in a LOT of stuff. Harbor Freight does try to sell a 'decent' product - I have a motorcycle lift that's 20 years old from them and it still works like a champ. We used to have a list of HF products that were like 'these are fine as they come', 'these need some work and will be better than anything else on the market' and 'these you use until they break - then throw away and replace'.
Yeah, it sucks that we got these morons who off-shored everything because of their belief in the 'free trade' myth. Now we make nothing, wages have been stale for DECADES and China can (and has in the past) shut us down on multiple products. They also have Zero problems with putting poison in our foodstuffs and killing our pets or our children (both of these events HAVE happened and MORE than once - yet our government won't do anything to stop it).
It won't last of course, eventually when the famine hits and the country collapses we'll all just starve to death in the cold because we won't have the money to buy any of what we need, regardless of where it comes from. I do wonder if we're the first country in history that will be destroyed because the populace repeatedly voted people who hated them and wanted them dead into office.
Years ago, my dad went out to a battery factory as part of his job as a career counselor. He was one of those guys the company hired to teach the laid-off how to write resumes and ace job interviews. They gave him a tour of the factory floor, and the same identical batteries rolled down the assembly line to a guy who slapped "DieHard," "Exide," etc. stickers on them.
Supposedly there are only two factories that make high temp brake fluid, so whether your can says Willwood or Hawk or Stoptech it's all the same.
The tendency in any industry is always toward monopoly, largely because of a desire to cut costs. It's quite disgusting, the lengths to which large corporations will go to save five cents a ton on raw materials.
I’ve also been told of only two major battery producers...another item heading towards triplicate pricing as of late...ugh.
Jack,
How do you feel about the merits of “fake” midcentury modern furniture? Who really owns those iconic midcentury modern pieces - Knoll and Herman Miller? As we have discussed, the “fake” Noguchi tables are reputed to be sturdier than the “real” ones. My Chicago boss had an office furnished with real stuff, but his decorator recommended substituting a fake Noguchi table.
Also this: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Curve-of-Value-Added-Stages-in-the-Apparel-Global-Value-Chain_fig2_281845193
This is tricky -- and as you know, I am "committed" in this case because I ordered an Eames Lounge Chair from Herman Miller a month ago.
All the designers are long dead, and I am not aware that any of them left children who continue on in the family tradition, so I care very little about who "owns" the copyright. Knoll wants twelve grand for a polished stainless Barcelona chair, which is absurdity beyond even the Eames Lounge price. You can buy a USA-made motorcycle for less than twelve grand.
There's also the fact that both Knoll and Herman Miller are wokestestricians of the first order.
If I could find a USA factory knocking their stuff off, I'd write them a check tomorrow. As it is, if I want the chair I use every day at work to be made by people enjoying a reasonable standard of living in my home country, I don't have any choice.
Floyd Detroit appears to have a decent Knoll sofa knockoff for $2-3k per section as opposed to Knoll's $8k.
I wish I had purchased an Eames instead. I don’t have room for both.
Some of the Chinese knockoffs are pretty good. Check Craigslist and marketplace as well.
I paid $100 for a used display model knockoff Saarinen table. The fake marble surface has some small scuffs, and not sure if I'd have paid the $1000 original price for it, but it's hard to imagine paying knoll 8k for a table.
I don't have an entirely firm grasp on it but it seems to me that the patent system which was once a great strength to the US now prevents the knock offs from being done in house as competition to the overseas versions because the BRAND will absolutely prosecute anyone here and win.
I bought a few “real” pieces 5-6 years ago. Barcelona Chair and Ottoman, Noguchi Table, Eileen Gray Side Table.
As anyone who has read From Bauhaus to Our House will know, you really need TWO Barcelona Chairs … which verges on $20K even with the current “sale” they are running.
I have a Herman Miller Aeron chair, it is the most amazing chair ever made. I can sit it in all day, sometime 12 hours, never feeling achy or tired. After 7 years of sitting in it, it has not aged a day. It is worth every penny - it's a testament of making a product that is not crap, and needs to be replaced every few years. What a concept!
It is the birthright of an investment banker to have an Aeron chair for in-office work. The only downside is that the mesh on the seat will degrade the finish on a fine pair of wool trousers. I once worked for a guy who cultivated a client list in London so that he could attend his fittings on Savile Row. He sat on a towel to protect the ass and thighs of his pants.
It is the same for large-firm lawyers. I have an Aeron in my office that I happen to know was used by a substantially overweight former partner for upward of a decade. It is none the worse for wear and it is exceedingly comfortable.
But I don't live in a city where anyone worries about wool trousers. In fact, the last time I showed up for a meeting in a (quite ordinary) navy suit, I was roundly mocked for it.
Here is a US furniture maker with some great looking MCM knock-offs. https://westcoastmodernla.com/
There are also many independent furniture makers out there making interesting items, like this maker in Knoxville. https://northcoastmodern.com/
Room & Board from Minnesota also sources almost all of their furniture in the US and will actually tell you who the maker is. They regularly feature their US makers in advertisements.
One of the best ways to buy MCM furniture is to go through a restoration shop to buy restored original items. A family member has had great service and results from this place.
https://midcenturywarehouse.com/
Second Room & Board; I have furniture from them and would purchase again.
As I was growing up in the 70s and 80s my parents were very into modern furniture and Barcelona Chairs were the holy grail of furniture but they were either horribly expensive or cheaply made knockoffs. Fast forward to around 1997 or so when I saw that the local PBS station had a lot of 3 Knoll Barcelona chairs on their televised auction one night that been donated by a company that had them in their lobby for a number of years. I called my mother and she turned on the auction and bid on them. This was pre-internet bidding so they would briefly update the bids and my mother kept calling and upping her bid. When they did the recap and announced the winners of the lots the hosts said that bidding on the Barcelona chairs was very spirited and announced that my mother was the winning bidder. They still have them and are still in beautiful condition.
Good piece, Jack. I routinely purchase Made-In-USA products and always tell checkout clerks that I was pleased to find said product. Despite the higher prices required in the trickle down economics of it all, I like my middle class neighbors to keep up with the Jones'. Life hack: I rarely have to repair or replace US-built items. Am I "crazy" for paying that much? You tell me.
My hierarchy of purchase origins are similar to yours, but the pinnacle of my pyramid is held by vintage American products. I take great pride in scouring estate sales, eBay, or even garage sales for these gems. I recently scored a vintage three-hole punch and paper cutter which were both made prior to the Hencho en Mexico-era. While this method seldom works when in a pinch, I try to find these old beauties below Harbor Freight prices. The next goal is to source a couple of vintage breaker bars crafted prior to the '69 Mets. Who am I kidding...I'd settle for the '86 Mets.
I'm quite fond of my expanding collection of Griswold cast iron. I enjoy finding saveable pieces and bringing them back to life. They're lighter and their glass smooth surface is so much nicer to cook on than the current day sandpaper finish. Same for antique American axes. The refinishing, rehandling and sharpening of an old axe is a nice way to spend a Saturday. And don't get me started on my current Wilton bullet vise obsession.
I'll be revisiting this for a reread and longer comment but, in the meantime, know that you are striking the chord which twangs in my heart every time I look at one of my child's board books and see "printed in China" or buy a fucking garage hook from Park Tool thinking they are still made in America only to be totally disappointed in pissing away money on something made thousands of miles away!
I also want to say I did buy my wife that Urban Survival Gear pen (Ti) on your recommendation for an everyday bombproof, childproof pen and she quite likes it.
Kelvin at USG is killin' it as the kids say. I have the new one with the Mokuti parts and it's astounding.
I have to agree with a lot of this. The caveat: sometimes the big box stores will run a good enough sale to warrant going there, and lately Harbor Freight has been increasing prices and reducing selection on their cheaper brands - to push you upmarket.
I get the point Jack, but you're a bulwark. I was so ashamed to say on this site that the dress shirts I purchased were made in China, precisely because I believe in your all-or-nothing policy. I have been attempting to do the same thing on a much smaller budget, but more important to me is the mindset behind it. I was speaking to a woman today in my office, and we were discussing tax policy. She kept looking for financial reasons to explain decisions, when very obviously there was no business case. It was all about pushing the agenda of policy makers. At this point, institutions like IRS, Apple and China are well beyond any concern about money. It's about changing the way we live so that we're under control. It seems the purpose of a brand could at this point very easily revert to the previous intention with a signature on a piece of legislation.
" The minute you think your product doesn’t deserve to be made in country where your mirror-glass offices are located, you’ve become nothing but an importer."
Your general point is valid but don't diminish the role of import-export, Art Vandelay notwithstanding. Importers can play an important role in business and technical innovation, introducing existing products to new markets. Would the Marshall amplifier had been made if Jim Marshall didn't start importing Fender Bassmans to the UK? How about Gene Kornblum and Yairi and Matsumoku made guitars? Then there's Superscope and Sony.
What's interesting about the whole offshoring/contract manufacturing is that for much of the industrial age successful companies built foreign subsidiaries and factories rather than exporting product. Sometimes they'd contract with local assemblers but often they preferred wholly owned subsidiaries. Ford's first international plant was across the Detroit River in Walkerville (now Windsor), Ontario in 1904, just a year after FoMoCo was incorporated. The auto industry still does that, with BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai/Kia and probably others operating plants in North America. I think it was Isaac Singer who first figured out that manufacturing in foreign markets made more sense than exporting sewing machines.
Thus the brilliance of China in requiring the joint venture, essentially acquiring ownership of the world's IP and the world's production resources!
Yes I learned while there that their mentality is that since they consider themselves the world's master race, all IP made by others automatically belongs to them. They don't consider it stealing. They are proud people, and also want to make the best stuff too. One of my clients started sourcing basic machined parts, like couplers, shafts, and brackets, and was astounded at the quality they got. But it was inconsistent, later we learned when they got busy they just outsourced the production to a local shop down the road and then shipped them the off spec stuff. The valve manufacturers, who now largely source large machined castings there, had to fly in inspectors to watch what they were doing. It might be better now with younger management. They CAN make quality but you can't trust their morality. They have no problems with a bait and switch in the middle of a supply order. Things are changing though as they realise they can lose orders to Vietnam and Thailand.
The younger generation (under 40) who largely run things do have higher standards, they want to beat the west at everything. They don't want to be the world's sweat shop - they want their Starbucks and Audi's too.
Makes sense. They have command of the world now. It's time to start acting like it, right? And one way to do it would be to call Biden's bluff about Taiwan.
Taiwan Semiconductor makes 70% of the worlds top chips. They guard this tech closely and do not want the Chinese to have it. THIS is the world's biggest chess piece. China takes it and it's over for us.
But another thought about your (excellent) article - we are also seeing the rapid commoditization of simple work objects like tools and small appliances where a brand is no longer needed, you are correct in that Harbor Freight Tools IS the future. Without the burden of a brand they can source good stuff and sell it under their meaningless brands.
there's a common saying in chinese that translates as "good enough to get paid."
Cha bu duo?
I read somewhere that cultures that respect craftsman produce good products. America, Germany and Japan, for example.
Cultures like China don't respect builders and makers, they fawn over individuals with power: Warlords, bureaucrats and company bosses.
You mean, like we do in 2022?
Maybe I should've mentioned the greatest hallmark of broken societies:
Teenage YouTube Billionaires.
It's possible that the Han Chinese are the most racist, supremacist culture on the planet.
There's a book by Paul Midler, orginally from Flint, Michigan, who has made his living as a go-between helping American firms hook up with Chinese manufacturers. The book is called Poorly Made in China. Essentially, he says that if your Chinese supplier can figure out a way to cut quality in persuit of lower costs, they will. He has another book, What's Wrong With China. I've often wondered why he still does business there.
Two words:
Origin Maine
If you haven't heard of them, you have now. Literally everything from the materials, prints, designs, and production is all US made. The man is a one man wrecking crew in pursuit of an all american made company.
Just released their new hunting line too. Had no idea that NO ONE makes camo in the USA anymore. All the major brands are all printed overseas. Well, not anymore!
That said, I fear that I am the enemy. We outsourced a few years ago when our owner sold the factories. It's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
Oh well. Hopefully it comes sooner than later.
Have shorts and jeans from them. They are ridiculously nice.
I was going to mention origin....
THANK YOU for posting this. Had never heard of them. My 12-year-old is a grappler, and I am pleasantly surprised to learn that Origin makes a Gi that'll be great for him!
Edit: just read that Jocko Willink is a founder. That explains both the MIUSA and the Jiu-Jitsu gear!