By Gresham Harkless Jr.
Communities are everywhere. They are interest based, community based, location based and even social-economically grounded. The point is there is common thread that brings people together whether it is offline or even online. That common thread could be startup entrepreneurs or mid-sized CEOs or even mompreneurs. Either way, we at CEO Blog Nation tried to highlight the different communities within the entrepreneur and business owner world. One of these is USA Made Products. Thanks to our sponsor USAMadeforSale.com, who explained what Made in the USA meant to them, we decided to ask a few entrepreneurs what USA Made means to them.
Placing Value in our Neighborhoods, Friends, Family & Communities
“…USA Made means placing value in our neighborhoods, friends, family, and our communities near and far. It means knowing that the purchases you make go straight back into our economy for the better. It means knowing that you may have helped put food on the table for a family or paid their bills for the next month. It means taking care of your own while still buying a product which is beautiful and dependable. America is an amazing country with a population ready to help rebuild. Buying USA Made products is the right way to get our country back on the right track. With every USA Made purchase your local economy is infused with money. You’re helping not only the craftsman of the product, but a whole string of other people along the way.USA Made means you’re committed to rejuvenating your community from the ground up. It also means you value the quality of what you purchase and want something uniquely made instead of cheaply manufactured. You care about how the project gets from A to Z…”
Most Items Made in the USA
I work in the apparel industry. I help apparel brands develop their products and market them. I also have a small handmade boutique which does some of these handmade pop-up markets. In terms of both industries (the handmade and the apparel industry) the definition that I come across used most of the time is that Made in USA means that MOST of the item and the materials that make up the item are Made in the USA. In the US for apparel we have this yarn forward definition where you have to count it from where the yarns were made and go from that point forward in the development process. If most of those materials- including the final cutting and sewing of the garment is done in the USA, then you can advertise it as Made in USA. Another related trend that I am seeing in the apparel industry is where they are taking the Apple approach and marketing their products as Designed in USA although they may be made somewhere else, say India or Bangladesh or China.
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