MADE IN CHINA - Page 4

Made in CHina or not, proper care with your suits or clothes also plays a role in the durability of your clothes - just my two cents.

Most of the time, if the piece is made in a country with respectable manufacturing standards, then the online listing for the piece will name that country, because that is a selling point that the seller will want to use to tempt the people to buy the piece.

Conversely, sellers realize that if the piece is made in a country with manufacturing standards of ill-repute, saying so will repel people from buying it; hence in that case, they will omit naming the country of origin in its listing.

In other words, a good guideline is to never buy a piece that does not name its country of origin in its listing. If the country of origin is not named, then most likely that is because that country is an undesirable one in terms of purchasing garments made there.

Made in Italy is to Made in China as A Tailor is to an Alterationist (to make up a word)

What I like about this thread is that it reveals how fashion forward, oh excuse me, style conscious individuals tend to be highly unpatriotic. Let's be frank here, since we are talking more or less about "luxury" products made in China, how a product is made should have more than an emotional impact on the purchasing price.

Concerning luxury products, regardless of manufacturing origin, there seem to be people in three camps:

1. Those who oppose expensive Chinese goods: yuppies
2. Those who don't give a shit: moneyed class
3. Those who care but not enough to give a shit: everyone else

I traverse between 1 and 3 but never 2. The reason is that I earn every cent I make and I want the best quality for the amount I pay.

Well, it depends on the product, but I'd say that the level of duplicity in origin marketing is just as bad on the Western side. I've recently seen a resurgence of "made in Europe" --sketchy Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian minds at work here. So made in China is like a beacon of authenticity for me...I know it was made by Chinese people. Made in USA, depending on the product, means made by Chinese, Blacks, Whites, Mexicans, etc. I looked at the sauce labels in a Chinese restaurant the other day and to my surprise everything was US made. I really don't know how to feel about it since this necessarily implies that my Chinese dish uses American components.

I don't mean to call you out, but your statement is contradictory to me. If you want the best quality for the amount you pay, you shouldn't give a shit where it's made as long you're getting the best "bang" for your buck.

No it's not contradictory because it depends on the product. If we're talking about Chinese made cashmere scarf, then I am at 3 since I know if it's hard to find similar article made in England and I am willing to pay the high price even though it's Chinese made just for convenience. If we're talking about dress shoes, I won't even consider anything made in China since there are just way too many options. Of course, I still want the best quality for the lowest price point but convenience is a big factor too. And this brings me to another comment I made earlier about increasing Chinese share of luxury market and the decline of suppliers of similar goods in the West This is inevitable and the big retailers (BB, Abercrombie, Neiman, etc.) already realize this since they're fighting a price war and a perception war, esp. as they enter emerging markets. How long do you think those small scale operations sock makers in Italy and England are going to last? I'd like to think that the lowered expectations to quality in the US implies that the price will stay high but the attention to craftsmanship will decline. Caiman crocodile handbags made in Columbia at Neiman Marcus is now a luxury? The product looks and feels third-world to me in the hands. In Japan, this is not possible, and mfgs. to this day still ship their highest quality works to Japan. Just look at the Loro Piana stuff at US stores vs. those in Tokyo stores and you'll see a noticeable difference in construction.

...and nouveau riche Chinese,,,, unless it has the Apple logo.

LOL, this is such a big FAIL, it's not even funny...

 

1. Bulgaria has long had a well-known textile/garment manufacturing sector, probably because of its relations with the West during the Cold War. I would personally buy a garment made in Bulgaria over one made in Sweden any day of the week.

2. Made in China a beacon of authenticity?!? The most counterfeit products are made in China, duh!

3. Blacks/Whites/Mexican?!? What does the race have anything to do with it? Made in Russia could also mean it was made by many different races, including Asians in the east or Arabs in the south.

4. The sauce at the Chinese restaurant was made in the US? Maybe they know something about Chinese-made sauce we don't :)

 

Overall, you should probably try not to discuss any foreign issues.

Do we have some hidden racial bias here? Why TF are you throwing race into this discussion as if it were relevant?

Do you realize how many different races are native to China?
Edited by Patek - 2/8/12 at 4:09pm

There's 56 officially recognised races native to China actually. Where I am, things are made in China by mostly Mongols.

I'm kind of surprised no one has yet mentioned the "Made in US" prison labor stuff. That's not minimum wage....

I think prison labor stuff would be minimum wage or better (with some "room and board" deductions). See the "Prison Blues" jeans website. Much prison labor goes into making goods that do not compete with the private sector, or go into U.S. Government GSA catalogs.

The question is not

"Is China technically capable of producing a quality garment/product?" ...because the answer is yes.

The questions is

" Can I trust a business culture that will seek to undermine long term consumer confidence by inserting...."

- melamine in baby formula
- antifreeze in toothpaste
- phosphorus in glow in the dark pork chops
- sodium nitrite and urea into beans sprouts to make them shinier at the vegetable stand
- fertilizers that cause watermelons to explode on tabletops
- scavenging used cooking oil from the floor drains beneath restaurants to resell and reuse in 1 in 10 restaurant meals
- a completely fake chain of apple stores

and the list goes on and on and on....

Wearing what I thought was a nice MIC sweater. I figure if what you all say is true, i shouldn't worry too much about the origin.

Well, I have a small hole in the shoulder where the seams have come undone. This has never happened in any other of my MII sweaters, which is my go-to locale.

Oh well, at least I'm progressive.