The Problem with Cheaper Clothes Made in China

Some years back, it was not until someone pointed it out to me that I noticed that there were practically NO clothes, even high end ones, that still had tags in them saying "Made in U.S.A." ( Pendleton Shirts from out in Oregon seemed to have held on somehow, and my cousin and his wife in the far Northwest suburbs of Chicago seek out and seem to find American made products)...

Traditionally well made clothes, such as a parka I got from Lands End once, looked great for a while and then I noticed that after only a year or so the ZIPPER began to stick and disconnect...
I took it in to a dry cleaner/tailor and they told me forget it, they used to replace zippers but it had become so expensive that they suggested I just get a new parka.

Have checked with friends, and yes, this lousy zipper problem is widespread even on clothing from High End Stores ( such as Eddie Bauer). Lousy plastic zippers!

Some of my clothes made in China, like all wool Woolrich sweaters, seem to holding up just fine and seem like they will last for a long,  long time, just as American made ones used to in the Good Old Days..

The last product I saw that boasted it was made in the U.S.A. was on a Infomercial that they run in the wee hours of the a.m. on the local CBS station here, where the mustachioed middle aged man who invented the "miracle" comfy and durable (they claim) "MyPillow" made a point that it was made here.. of course, "made" may just mean assembled here, like some Japanese cars whose parts were actually crafted in Japan and then assembled at some plant in Alabama or somewhere where local authorities had given them a big tax incentive to get the jobs moved in ( and where there was no chance of union organizers making any headway).

Oh, for the days of those sturdy metal zippers....!!