i've never seen a high quality leather product from mexico, except for their boxing gloves, which are the world's finest. as someone stated in the thread about cole haan, they are a label, not a maker. the cole haan shoes that say "made in mexico" most likely come from one of the many factories that churn out shoes for domestic consumption. these are of inferior quality because there is no demand for a high quality mexican-made shoe. mexicans are label whores like pretty much everyone else. if they are rich, they buy prada, gucci, or dolce & gabbana. if they are poor they settle for a domestic brand. i think this is more an issue of who actually makes the shoe (and the standards to which they choose to make them) rather than where it is made. there was a thread a little while back concerning thomas pink shirts now being made in morroco and whether or not this would affect quality. like i said before, making a quality shirt is not difficult at all if you give people the proper materials. assuming you're using good cotton and good sewing machines, there is no reason a high quality shirt cannot be made in morroco. there's no reason, for example, that edward green shoes could not be made in california, even though california does not have a tradition of fine shoemaking. we would only need the right materials, tools, and training, just like edward green's current employees were given.
