Made in America
Some consumers--and firms--prefer homemade goods
Roger Simmermaker makes exceptions for toys. The Orlando, Fla., father of two and author of How Americans Can Buy American eschews United Kingdom-based Dunkin' Donuts for Winston-Salem's Krispy Kremes and drives a Michigan-made Lincoln Town Car. "If Heinz Ketchup were ever bought by a foreign firm, I don't know what I'd do," he says. Nonetheless, Simmermaker says he realizes that in a global economy he can't always buy American and admits he sometimes yields to his children's pleas for, say, video games made by foreign companies.
In an election-year dominated by talk of lost jobs, overseas outsourcing, and a huge trade deficit, anecdotal evidence suggests that a growing number of Americans like Simmermaker are seeking out homemade goods. Simmermaker's book lists more than 16,000 products made in America. He says interest in the topic started to soar after Sept. 11, 2001, and his howto buyamerican.com Web site now gets 10,000 visitors a month. More than 35,000 people read the monthly newsletter of the Buy America Campaign, a watchdog group in Florence, Ala., founded in the wake of local textile factory closings in 2001. And halfway through its first season, the Travel Channel's Made in America series, which shows Crayola crayons coming to life in Easton, Pa., and Sikorsky helicopters being made in Stratford, Conn., has emerged as the network's newest hit. "Our timing is clearly right," says Vice President Rick Rodriguez.
Which isn't to say that determining what "American made" means is simple. Although the Federal Trade Commission requires that any product bearing a "Made in U.S.A." label be "all or virtually all" manufactured in the United States, global ironies abound. Japanese giant Toyota assembles Camrys in Georgetown, Ky., while last year American icon Levi Strauss shuttered its last domestic plant in favor of cheaper foreign locales. Add the complexity of products and determining country of origin gets tougher, says Frank Vargo, National Association of Manufacturers economist. Many components are made overseas, then shipped to the United States for assembly.
Some retailers, in fact, say that keeping production stateside boosts efficiency and thus the bottom line. Others argue that the small but growing U.S.-made market boasts a ferociously loyal fan base, including many unions. And some retailers say manufacturing domestically lets them command a premium for American-made goods. Still, for many consumers, the allure of an American-made item reflects a sense of history, loyalty, and identity that just can't be shipped in from overseas. Says Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson, which has made high-end musical instruments in the United States since 1902: "It's like, would you buy a Chinese Mercedes?" Following are stories of three firms that deliberately make particular goods in the United States and why they do so.
Fender
The company that in 1954 invented the Stratocaster electric guitar, played by legends like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, has recently seen the popularity of its American-made instruments soar. That's a far cry from 1987, when demand for low-cost, mass-produced guitars prompted the firm to open a plant in Ensenada, Mexico. For several years, that factory provided some 60 percent of the firm's sales, with the rest coming from a Corona, Calif., facility that makes pricier models. By introducing guitars like the American Deluxe series--which replicate the sassy shape of classic 1950s models--and capitalizing on the Stratocaster's 50th anniversary this year, Fender expects to see sales from the Corona plant eclipse Ensenada's in 2004. Considering that the Corona-made guitars sell for about an average $800 morethan the Ensenada models, that's a real boon to Fender. "The spirit of rock-and-roll is U.S.A.," says marketing vice president Richard McDonald. "Many of our overseas markets don't even want our catalog translated, because then it becomes less American."
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