WHERE THINGS ARE MADE

WHERE THINGS ARE MADE

Have you been going into retail stores and looking at the labels to see where the product is made? I expect the answer to be yes.

Chances are you have been doing it for some time.

I am in the textile business and almost daily I receive an online copy of Sporting Goods Business, and each issue has a report pertaining to the effect of tariffs on products coming into the country. The company most often commented on is Nike since it is to the best of my knowledge the largest finished product textile company in the country, with sales of $40 billion. They at Nike estimate this year they will pay $1.5 billion in tariff fees. Those fees will be passed on to consumers with higher prices for the merchandise purchased.

The same actions will be taken by every importer in the country of every product, not only textile products regardless of country of origin.

The purpose of increasing the tariffs is to encourage the importers to buy from USA companies. Do any exist making the products currently imported? When it comes to the textile industry the answer is almost no.

Years ago Gert Boyle CEO of Columbia Sportswear was interviewed and asked about manufacturing her outerwear in the USA and she said she would like to, but a lot would have taken place before that could happen.

She said she would need a sewing factory complete with sewing operators, cutters, a sewing machine mechanic, inspectors working the floor moving components from station to station, need I go on!

Then you would need the textile mills to produce the fabrics needed to make the garments. Weaving plants, dyeing and finishing plants, etc.

In short, the sewing [manufacturing] facilities as well as the textile mills no longer exist in the USA. So Columbia Sportswear gets all their garments made in Asia.

No telling how many products you see in retail stores are made in Asia.

When these tariffs were executed did, they think the importers were going to find production here immediately, did they ever think [do they] that manufacturing could be built overnight. It would take years, and then you will need employees, i.e. sewing operators. I personally gave up looking for sewing operators.

I am not a shopper any longer except for food and it is small quantities since I buy them for me, but I hear from the people who work at Wiggy’s that they are very conscious of costs. This is a microcosm of the rest of the country, I am sure.

If these tariffs stay in place for a long time, I can only imagine sales decline which ultimately means less product being imported and less tariffs [taxes] being collected.

In the scheme of things the economy is adversely affected and not in a good way.

As I said before Wiggy’s has always been a buyer of its components from domestic suppliers and I hope that continues.