What do Anchor Hocking, Anna Sui, Indian Motorcycles and Slinky have in common? They’re still made here, in America, by workers who want to make things here. I don’t know how many things I’ve shopped for lately that don’t say “Made in USA,” but there are too many out there for my comfort.
I wanted to get a ceramic cup to hold my cup of tea at work. I couldn’t find one that wasn’t made in China. My favorite sweaters are made in China. So many clothes are assembled overseas, you’d think nobody knew how to sew in the U.S. nowadays. What ever happened to home economics in school?
I do (and have for years) wear shoes made in America: SAS. They come from Texas. The factory had a fire a few years ago, but instead of going overseas they rebuilt. If you go to www.sasshoes.com, click on the factory tour and watch a great video about making shoes the old-fashioned way: by hand with skills carefully honed by experience and attention to detail. That might be a talent most Americans seem to be lacking in an electronic age. Folks overseas, though, get their hands dirty, and they do it for a lower paycheck and a simpler lifestyle.
Living in New Jersey means we should have garden ripe produce. but everything in the store seems to be shipped from someplace else. I even wonder about the tomatoes. When you can’t find a “Joisey Tomat,” you know some things about being American have gone to pot (but not one from American made Anchor Hocking).
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