Why I Care About Where Products Are Made

I hope this is already very clear by now, but I focus on quality garments and the craft behind making good things that will last. That’s the main reason why I mostly talk about brands that have production in the EU, Japan, or the USA. Some will say that this is ignorant, and I can partially agree with that. But in this article, I will talk about why I decided to do so.

Most heritage brands started as small workshops, which either belonged to the family or were located somewhere very close locally. As the business grew, they started to employ local people, providing new opportunities and benefiting the whole community. Many of these businesses kept growing and became renowned brands; they expanded factories and employed so many people that many towns became completely dependent on these businesses.

Then, as times kept changing and worldwide connections became better, easier, and faster, many of these businesses realized they could considerably improve profit margins if they moved production to places where labor is much cheaper, even if they had to pay a lot to ship materials and products globally. This is why many local economies and communities were completely ruined. They developed a system dependent on those big businesses. For example, many towns had schools with programs that guaranteed jobs in those businesses, where people were educated and trained for needed positions. When these businesses left, the whole system became useless, and the community had to adapt and change, which usually takes years.

This seems completely normal in today’s society, where the majority cares only about profit and how to maximize it. How much more profit do these corporations want, and at what cost? I have a problem with that. Please don’t get me wrong; my most important personal value is growth, and I strive to be the best version of myself every day. But there is a fine line between optimization and evil. Talk about integrity.

I understand the basics of business, production, and sales, so yes, I also understand that you need to optimize operations to have the cash flow to pay all the employees and operating costs to keep the business running. Let’s put that aside for a moment and speak about something else. Let’s assume that their business is profitable. They have their workshop running and employ X number of people from their local community. They make enough money to pay all the monthly expenses, live comfortably, and take care of their family. The local community respects them and is thankful because they provide them with opportunities to take care of their own families. I don’t want to use the word luxury to keep it more modest. Probably we can say that most people in this position are in the top 5% of the world population in terms of income and financial security.

But these same people are often not satisfied with all that and want more, so they search for ways to lower production costs as much as they can. They start to compromise the quality of materials, the quality of the work, details, etc., to drive up profits. Most of the time, a big part of this involves moving production to parts of the world where physical labor is much cheaper. Unfortunately, this often means countries like China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, etc. In many of these countries, production is so much cheaper because labor is at the edge of slavery or, in some cases, even worse. These workers have almost no human rights, work long hours in bad conditions, and are paid close to nothing. All that so these companies can maximize profits. This is why I care about the production location.

There are some amazing brands and products coming from that part of the world, and for them, it is totally normal that they create everything in their local environment. There are great people everywhere around the world, and as long as they care about their craft and their local communities, I will always support them. There are many great facilities in these countries with excellent working conditions and top-notch equipment. But I still have a problem with most of these big brands that moved all of their production to another part of the world only because it’s so much cheaper. Many of these brands could have their production in their local environment at the cost of smaller profits, but in most cases, we are still talking millions in profits. But that’s not enough for them. So they spend a lot of money on business trips to factories and to ship all that product from the other side of the world, just to make more money. When we consider that more than half of all environmental pollution comes from industrial activities, it makes me sick to think what most of them are doing just to make more money.

Our life on this planet is limited, so I don’t understand people who have everything but still desire more at the cost of other people’s well-being. That is why I will always support smaller brands that prioritize the quality of their product, take pride in their history and craft, and care about their workers and local communities. I am probably a bit naive because I romanticize the idea that the way to happiness is to give when you can. Most of these brands understand their history, which is why they give back to the people who helped them become the brand they are today. And I hope that now you can understand why I prioritize some brands and will continue to do so as I firmly believe in these values. Alexander Hamilton said, “Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”