""Made in the USA' a dying phrase?" Newsday asks.
"Made in the USA" a dying phrase? (Newsday.com)
With America's textile industry shrinking, factories must develop new niches to survive" BY LAUREN WEBER, NEWSDAY STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Excerpt: January 31,2005 "CHERAW, S.C. - The spinning frames at the Cheraw Yarn Mills still hum 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The mint-green machines still turn out more than 4 million pounds of thread each month, destined for bras made by Vanity Fair, home furnishings covered with Richloom fabrics and the Soffe-brand cheerleading shorts worn by American girls everywhere.
The mill, in this tiny South Carolina town, is one of the last survivors of a U.S. industry that's been decimated over the past 10 years by apparel makers' quest for cheap materials and cheap labor overseas. Now, at the dawn of 2005, this 87-year-old company faces its greatest challenge yet.
Jan. 1 marked the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Agreement, the 30-year-old trade contract that set up a quota system regulating the flow of imported textiles and clothing into the United States, the world's single largest apparel market. Now that the agreement has expired, a huge additional segment of the apparel industry - from yarn-making to the cutting, sewing and finishing of garments - is expected to stream into China as though drawn by a magnet.
"We're very small. We're in one location, with no debt and a loyal workforce with very little turnover," said Malloy Evans, president of the mills and a descendant of the founder. "But even with all the advantages we have, we've got our backs up against the wall, and we'll be hard-pressed to get through the next five years."
The trade contract's expiration has the domestic textile industry bracing for the fight of its life and crafting alliances with former foes, including UNITE (the Union of Needletrades, Textiles and Industrial Employees), and companies in developing countries that the industry still competes with, from Lesotho and Indonesia to Morocco and Turkey. These parties have banded together to try preserve jobs and profits in their own countries.
The most recent version of the textile contract was brokered in 1994 by the newly formed World Trade Organization. It planned the phase-out of the quotas over 10 years, a process designed to protect the textile industries in the United States, Europe and small developing nations, from an influx of imports made by cheaper but better-positioned nations such as India or South Korea." (Go to article to continue.)
Commentary
A long article describing a "big" problem in this country.
Was browsing yesterday in a Macy's, and every label in the teen and young womens department read "Made in Vietnam, China, India, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, etc., and I remember thinking to myself that "Americans wouldn't know good quality fabrics, workmanship or design if they saw it," because we've lived with cheap foreign manufactured clothing and good for so long.
The first piece I pulled off the rack was the "Made in Vietnam" item and I thought of the War and how the guys who died over there in Vietnam would be turning over in their graves if they knew it had come to some shirt that was marked down twice to $12.99. I've long thought that "money talks" and eventually any and all world conflicts involving America will end up in American money paying for the inexpensive goods manufactured by the long ago (twenty-five years tops) enemy.
I guess what really bothered me yesterday was that we are paying our hard earned dollars for product that at best is generic in fabric, style and quality workmanship. Often it is defective in parts or pieces that are suppose to match or fit or be put together. It is frustrating to find that there is "no competition" to buy from, to get the quality one was accustom to or expects.
We are becoming a shoddy living and dressed nation,always looking for the affordable, but having to do with the cheap. I am very thankful and glad that the powers that be in this country are not outsourcing and handing over our military's needs to these "other nations of manufacturers" for then we would then surely be a great nation no more. GFMC
With America's textile industry shrinking, factories must develop new niches to survive" BY LAUREN WEBER, NEWSDAY STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Excerpt: January 31,2005 "CHERAW, S.C. - The spinning frames at the Cheraw Yarn Mills still hum 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The mint-green machines still turn out more than 4 million pounds of thread each month, destined for bras made by Vanity Fair, home furnishings covered with Richloom fabrics and the Soffe-brand cheerleading shorts worn by American girls everywhere.
The mill, in this tiny South Carolina town, is one of the last survivors of a U.S. industry that's been decimated over the past 10 years by apparel makers' quest for cheap materials and cheap labor overseas. Now, at the dawn of 2005, this 87-year-old company faces its greatest challenge yet.
Jan. 1 marked the expiration of the Multi-Fiber Agreement, the 30-year-old trade contract that set up a quota system regulating the flow of imported textiles and clothing into the United States, the world's single largest apparel market. Now that the agreement has expired, a huge additional segment of the apparel industry - from yarn-making to the cutting, sewing and finishing of garments - is expected to stream into China as though drawn by a magnet.
"We're very small. We're in one location, with no debt and a loyal workforce with very little turnover," said Malloy Evans, president of the mills and a descendant of the founder. "But even with all the advantages we have, we've got our backs up against the wall, and we'll be hard-pressed to get through the next five years."
The trade contract's expiration has the domestic textile industry bracing for the fight of its life and crafting alliances with former foes, including UNITE (the Union of Needletrades, Textiles and Industrial Employees), and companies in developing countries that the industry still competes with, from Lesotho and Indonesia to Morocco and Turkey. These parties have banded together to try preserve jobs and profits in their own countries.
The most recent version of the textile contract was brokered in 1994 by the newly formed World Trade Organization. It planned the phase-out of the quotas over 10 years, a process designed to protect the textile industries in the United States, Europe and small developing nations, from an influx of imports made by cheaper but better-positioned nations such as India or South Korea." (Go to article to continue.)
Commentary
A long article describing a "big" problem in this country.
Was browsing yesterday in a Macy's, and every label in the teen and young womens department read "Made in Vietnam, China, India, Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, etc., and I remember thinking to myself that "Americans wouldn't know good quality fabrics, workmanship or design if they saw it," because we've lived with cheap foreign manufactured clothing and good for so long.
The first piece I pulled off the rack was the "Made in Vietnam" item and I thought of the War and how the guys who died over there in Vietnam would be turning over in their graves if they knew it had come to some shirt that was marked down twice to $12.99. I've long thought that "money talks" and eventually any and all world conflicts involving America will end up in American money paying for the inexpensive goods manufactured by the long ago (twenty-five years tops) enemy.
I guess what really bothered me yesterday was that we are paying our hard earned dollars for product that at best is generic in fabric, style and quality workmanship. Often it is defective in parts or pieces that are suppose to match or fit or be put together. It is frustrating to find that there is "no competition" to buy from, to get the quality one was accustom to or expects.
We are becoming a shoddy living and dressed nation,always looking for the affordable, but having to do with the cheap. I am very thankful and glad that the powers that be in this country are not outsourcing and handing over our military's needs to these "other nations of manufacturers" for then we would then surely be a great nation no more. GFMC
posted by Gabrielle Flora Marie Cusumano | 8:56 AM
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