Reply #56: Something of an urban legend, in fact; it applies to garments almost [View All]

exclusively. Hard goods that state that they are manufactured in the US are, because of the cost to ship hard goods compared to softlines. (You can get a lot more shirts in a cargo container than you can pots and pans for the same end price, and the islands do not have the power or minerals infrastructure to support any metals or plastics industries. Also, since they depend on tourism for 50% or more of their income, meavy manufacturing is economically a loser.)

Regarding the Marshall Islands: From http://pacific.unfpa.org/Countries/mh.htm



You may be thinking of the Northern Mariana Islands, which are a US territory. However, according to wikipedia, "the lifting of World Trade Organisation restrictions on Chinese imports to the United States has put the Commonwealth-based trade under severe pressure, leading to a number of factory closures." The Marianas' primary manufacturing was in the area of clothing, rather than other goods, and most of those were for companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Penney's, Sears and Kohl's.

The citizens of the Marianas are US citizens, by the way. They do not vote in Presidential elections, though.

Yes, Delay has been rotten when it comes to the Marianas, but at this point, Chinese imports are impacting production in the Marianas far more than any other factor. The Marianas have a minimum wage that is about $1.50 higher than the minimum wage paid in Thailand, much of China's garment manufacturing, Pakistan or Vietnam, and working conditions are better than in most of Southeast Asia (though that's not saying much.) (Not that I'm defending the actions of Delay or how this territory has been handled.)

That all said, however, Champion's production facilities are in North Carolina. There's a pretty high incidence of white lung among people in the area from the ginning, spinning and knitting process.

On Edit: The Surefit facilities are in Pennsylvania, too. Some jobs are still US.