Continuing our “Made In The USA” series of posts, here’s a great way to spend a couple hundred bucks on some towels.
The only manufacturer of towels remaining in the United States, to my knowledge, is 1888 Mills. They don’t have much interest in selling to retail customers, but they do have a small inventory available through Amazon. A website called “Towels By Gus” has a wider selection, but they’re pretty expensive. I picked up a couple of organic cotton “bath sheets”, which are fundamentally beach-sized bath towels, for $44.99 each.
The good news is that my forty-five-dollar towels appear to be just about bulletproof.
If you can live with regular-sized towels, perhaps because you are not as disgracefully oversized as I am, you can get a pair of them from Amazon for $37.99. It’s worth the money; not only will you be supporting American manufacturing, you’ll have a decent towel. And remember, a hoopy frood always knows where his towel is.
Amazing that a number of towels I bought 10 or 15 years ago from Fieldcrest and other mainstream brands were all made in the US.
The only other company I know of making (non-specialty) towels in the US at this point is Brahms Mount, in Maine, but you’d better be prepared to drop stupid money to go that route.
The one on amazon is made in africa. “Towels by Gus” has difficult navigation, and nothing resembling a bath sheet or “1888”. Where were you able to purchase them?
It’s made here, from African cotton.
TBG link:
http://www.towelsbygus.com/collections/american-made-towels-hotel-collection-organic-cotton-bath-towel/products/hotel-collection-organic-cotton-bath-towel
I don’t see why so many things are not made here anymore .
I know ‘ it’s complicated ‘ but there’s so much that is made , if you take the time to seek it out .
-Nate
Because of cost and the short term thinking for profits. It’s expensive to pay a living wage to an american, when you can pay an Asian person far less and automate the process. Though some manufacturing is starting to comeback.
Many people do not associate luxury and American which is a shame.
Well Will ;
Germany and indeed most of Europe has far higher wages than America and strong unions , their workers get better health care cheaper and longer paid vacations etc.
So I doubt it’s all that expe$ive to pay American Blue Collar Workers a decent living wage….
Most of my current job is a buyer for tools and supplies , I always strive to find American made products because they typically last longer and work better , this $aves Dollars in the long run .
Try to find an American made pistol grip hose nozzle ~ Champion was the last one and they shifted to China two years ago , my usage has zoomed off the charts….
Simple light bulbs ~ all Chinese , even Wagner brand .
This drives me nuts .
Wigwam makes socks in America that are damn good ~ they couldn’t be bothered to send me the ones I ordered but even the thin black dress socks they shipped instead of the heavy cushion sole (! $$ !) Book socks I paid for , are wearing very well although they make my feet hurt .
-Nate
American-made sprayers from Ohio: http://triconsprayers.com/
THANK YOU WILL ! .
I have been looking and found nothing .
I’m bound by my contracts but have asked my Primary Vendor to look into getting these .
-Nate
because back in the day, one company thought “Hey, if we outsource manufacturing to China/Vietnam/Thailand/whatever, we can lower our prices and still make x% more profit.”
then we dutifully ambled our double-wide asses down the aisles of Wal*Mart and bought the cheapest thing because it was the cheapest. After that, the rest of the industry had to outsource just to compete.
US companies moving offshore IS MOSTLY ABOUT AVOIDING TAXES, with the lower costs of labor a much smaller part of the business decision. This is especially true for high profit companies with a big patent portfolio (pharmaceuticals) or companies with a razor and razor blade business model (lose money on the razor and make money on the razor blades). If you make the high profit part off shore, you can pay little to no US taxes.
This is why/how it works:
If you make goods in the US, 100% of the profits on making those goods is taxed at the US corporate tax rate (whether you sell them in the US or sell them overseas). So US corporations make their goods outside of the US and are only taxed on the amount of profits that they make from selling products in the US (US revenue MINUS US costs).
And there are likely ways to make the amount of revenue that a corporation has to claim for selling products in the US artificially low.
For example, these “US” corporations are structured into an “offshore division” and a “US division.”
The “offshore division” can sell a product made offshore to the US division for a reasonably high price.
This keeps the biggest part of the revenue in the offshore division….. where it is not taxed at US rates or AT ALL.
When the US division then sells the product to a store, it tries to make just enough to cover all the US division expenses, and not make much profit. The idea is to not pay any taxes but bring enough revenue into the country to cover all the US R&D, Marketing, and sales expenditures. Again, the idea is to keep all the profit made “accounted for” in the offshore division and not have to claim any of it in the US.
Why do corporations keep the high profit in the offshore facility? Because many of these corporations have settled in 0% tax rate countries like Singapore, Ireland, etc. If you visit, you can lots of US corporate manufacturing facilities…..often lining the same street (as in outside Leixlip, Ireland) where pharmaceuticals, Intel and other US corporations reside.
Europe doesn’t have this problem because they tax companies on revenue (value added taxes) and NOT on profits. It is far more difficult to hide from paying taxes with this form of taxes.
Bath towels are a commodity that can be manuctured cheaper elsewhere. I have no problem with buying non-US made goods that aren’t made in oppressed countries such as fascist China. I will gladly buy anything made in Korea or Taiwan, for example.
I would rather have SE Asia make our towels and Mexico assemble our electronics forcing US workforce to seeks markeable skillsets to support globally and locally competitive industies.
Global division of labor, no?
Because all 300 million people in the US are college grad “knowledge workers” and there are no blue-collar or working poor here anymore!
Of course that would be a silly assumption and is not a requisite for a competitive economy.
Redefine Blue Collar if you will. A worker with skill sets of operating machinery at a textile factory can aquire skills to support modern tech industries. Every person entering the labor pool in the US these days can be assumed to be proficient at operating a computer and supporting a variety of industies that require that skillset.
Aerospace, chemicals, oil and gas, foundries, ship building, medical equipment…all require skilled blue collar workers. Much better for individual and national wealth building than making towels - leave that to the developing world.
A huge percentage of those jobs are automated. Often the only humans involved are inspectors, and in some factories very low-wage jobs packaging the finished product. Have you ever been on a brewery tour? Other than packaging and shipping there is nobody there.
The premise is this: technological progress will replace people with automation or replace high skilled worker with lower skilled workers. That’s great, because now human capital can be reallocated to where it can be productive in other areas.
Do you want to get rid of ATMs, self checkout lanes, e-commerce?
Here’s a famous anecdote about the great Milton Friedman:
Milton recalled traveling to an Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that, instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand. This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.”
An advanced country like US needs workers who can build with diesel-powered backhoes and front loaders - you’re suggesting we bring back the shovels.
Hey car guys — buy these US Made Car Ramps on Amazon for only $39.98 — I was pleasantly surprised we can compete with Asia to make these at home. Go USA!
” and there are no blue-collar or working poor here anymore! ”
I beg to differ ~
I’m a *very* highly skilled Journeyman Mechanic plus I have other skill sets and I’m Blue Collar and poor ~
Luckily I grew up with nothing and learned to live within my means , this is a trait not valued in America any more .
-Nate
What’s the definition of ‘poor’ these days anyway?
Vic ;
Truly I don’t know .
I’m a Blue Collar guy who worked my @$$ off to afford a crappy little house where I raised my Son who’s now doing far better than I ever could .
I hope to die here eventually .
This to me , makes me not poor .
Looking at my annual income , you’d think I need food stamps but I get by just fine thankyouverymuch .
Most Blue Collar folks are no longer able to buy anything like a house , a rusted out single wide trailer in the Desert , doesn’t count in my book .
_ALL_ condos (ugh) are now “! LUXURY ! ” and wildly overpriced anywhere in Southern California where I am living .
FWIW , I’m not really poor as I only skip meals when I want and I get to drive the car(s) I want too .
I know and live near , so many who will ride the bus and live in a small apartment their entire miserable lives , that’s a sad thing in America .
-Nate
Nate, you’re my hero - working your ass off is something that is no longer being promoted as the way to build wealth. I bet you’ve worked harder, smarted and made better decisions with your money over the decades to afford you a “crappy little house”, which is still worth a small fortune in California — congratulations, you’ve earned it.
As for people in seemingly hopeless situations I’d say that this is still a land of opportunity that allows motivated individuals to succeed. No one has to stay is a middle-of-nowhere Small-town, USA with double-digit unemployment rates or work a dead-end 9-5 job. Move! Move to East coast, move to West coast, move anywhere there are better opportunities. My family moved halfway across the world to seek wealth in the US - which, I assure you is way more challenging that packing a u-haul and heading down the Interstate for 10-20 hours.
Obviously, such moves become more difficult as one ages and the wall street takes a big dump all over you.
Thanx Vic ;
I’m not sure your hero worship would survive you actually meeting me but yes , I have what I have because I’ve been hard at work since I was 8 Y.O. and headed off on my own like a dumbshit .
The funny thing is how many folks told me ” you really need to leverage the equity in your house ” back before the market imploded ~ why the hell would I re mortgage the place I plan to die in ?! .
Some folks cannot think beyond to - day .
I greatly thank the judge who , in early 1970 told me I could either leave Ma. or spend several more years behind bars , he suggested California and off I went .
Had I stayed I’d prolly own a crummy garage or tow company by now and be married to Rosie Perez . at the time I’da thought that was haven .
-Nate