Sunday, October 19, 2008

Where do I find Made in USA products?

Now that the whole country is starting to grasp the seriousness of shipping all of our work and money overseas, many of us are renewing our efforts to try to buy 'Made in the USA' products. The issue is that they are rather hard to find. I went into Nordstroms a few months ago and asked if any of the gloves or belts were Made in USA and they actually laughed out loud at me. It was sad.

Nonetheless, I have been working hard to buy Made in USA. It is hard. Here is what I've found, in no particular order.

Where and how to find merchandise online:
  • MadeinUSAforever.com.
    I've had good luck with this site; I've ordered several baby items and been pleased with them. The Founder, Todd Lipscomb, is quite dedicated to supporting Made in USA products and he's doing a lot to bring new products to the site every month.
  • Still Made in the USA. I've had good luck with this site, too. I've found several companies that I've actually ordered from, from this site.
  • MadeinUSA.org and MadeinUSA.com. I haven't had much luck with either of these sites, but they do exist, and I'm sure that someone will find them useful.
A bunch of retailers carry some Made in USA items; you just need to look for them. Here are some recent ones that I've stumbled across and bought from:
  • Whole Foods actually has a small section of clothes and baby items, many of which are Made in USA. They also try to buy a lot of local produce, which is of course great.
  • Crate & Barrel actually has a decent amount of Made in USA items; you can do a site search for "USA" and find them
  • I was at Babies-R-Us today and was actually able to find several Made in USA items. Some bubbles, some socks (Miniwear brand, made by Gerber for Babies-R-Us, $4.99 for a 6-pack), and some bibs (Bumkins brand, $5.99 for a single bib).

Some of my favorite USA vendors:

My next big dilemma will be buying a new car.

My 1994 Nissan Sentra won't last forever. I have been very happy with it, but I'd like to buy a car from a United States manufacturer. But when I track down all the features I want, it always seems to be a foreign car. Also, I keep hearing things like "It's better to buy a Honda. They are made in US plants, now." and "Saturns are actually using Honda engines, now." I am hoping that by the time my car dies, I will have had sufficient time to research what exactly is going on in this industry, and that a US car will up to spec.

1 comment:

Matthew - whybuymadeinusa.com said...

My website is dedicated to helping people find "Made In USA" products. Check it out: whybuymadeinusa.com

Make this Christmas a "Made In USA" Christmas.