Last year, the amazing Scarlet told me she’d embarked on a mission not to buy goods with a Made in China tag. We’ve had a lot of discussion on this fact and the prevalence of overseas manufacturing in our everyday existence.  I think her decision and the reasons behind buying local and made in the US are amazing.  She’s been able to lead a mostly China-free existence as well as banning items from sweatshop-labor countries, which isn’t easy with the amount of consumer goods that do come from overseas.

About her ban on these goods, she said:

So I have several reasons for not buying Chinese. 

#1.) I prefer to support our own economy whenever possible.  When that’s not possible, I at least like to support the economies of countries whose policies, both foreign and domestic, are not completely abhorrent.  (Example: When a label says Made in America instead of USA, or Marianas Islands USA, be highly suspect.  The Marianas Islands are home to some of the worst slave labor around.)

#2.) I prefer to spend more on quality goods that will last me years if not decades, rather than cheap throw-away crap.  It’s easier and more environmentally friendly, and probably even less expensive over the long-term.

#3.) I think it’s scary that China basically owns us with the amount of debt we owe them, as well as nearly everything we use on a regular basis being made there.  It seems like an insidious completely visible, but somehow not alarming (to most) take-over.

#4.) It can be fucking dangerous to buy Chinese.  From lead paint, to radioactive material, to melamine… in products designed to be used by you and your family.

And it is kind of alarming – with the amount of imports we receive from China, “The Treasury Department estimates that our debt to China is approximately $776.4 billion, having grown more than $240 billion in the last year. That is more than $10,000 in debt for the average American working family.”  (From Defeat The Debt)

She loaned me Sara Bongiorni’s A Year Without ‘Made In China’, which documented one year in the life of journalist, Bongiorni’s China-less family. Bongiorni, in the beginning of the book, noted just how much of their household was produced in China. Finding this frightening, she put a ban on buying goods made in China for an entire year, as an experiment to see if it could be done. The book is fairly amusing, and at times a little maddening – and the point strikes a chord with anyone living in this recession-economy.

The statistical numbers aren’t very telling; the US still makes $2.50 for every $1 of goods produced in China.  However anything of lower value – including a LARGE percentage of consumer goods – is generally outsourced overseas (to places that aren’t just China), where products can be made for a lower cost.

The New York Times notes, “U.S. companies have shifted toward high-end manufacturing as the production of low-value goods has moved overseas. This has resulted in lower prices for shoppers and higher profits for companies.”  For example, LPB Web reports that, “Nearly 80% of all toys sold in the U.S. are made in China.”  (And an interesting note: LPB Web, in the same report, notes that,  “Sixty percent of all consumer goods recalled in 2007, came from China”.)

It seems frightening that our entire material existence is produced outside our borders – anybody who does a quick scan of their surroundings might find that a large portion of goods within reach were made in China.  A quick survey of my desk right now showed that 60% was made in China, while 20% was made elsewhere (the other 20% was unidentifiable).

39th and Broadway featured a great post on the Label of Origin, and voiced a common concern about products from overseas:

“Most products at the local mall or certainly at mass retailers are made in China. The working conditions in these factories are often sub-par, the wages are sub-standard, and the exploitation of women and even children is not uncommon. Since many of our readers and the far greater majority of shoppers are women, the plight of the women who sew your clothes should, at the very least, cross your mind enough for you to make the effort to read the label of origin.”

It’s true that China’s human rights record is less than admirable, but also that their employment of Capitalism in the production sector has raised the working standards in many factories.  It’s true that children may be subjected to work long ours in factories overseas – a practice our country employed when we were still a budding industrial nation, but working in those conditions most likely keeps those children and sometimes their families out of far worse conditions: prostitution, destitution, starvation, or death.  It’s true that wages are lower, but wages are indicated by the size of a country’s GDP, and as China’s GDP rises (and it’s wealth expands), people are being paid more.  It’s frightening, though, when – as Bongiorni’s husband found out – a blooming industrial nation is poised to overrun markets in multiple countries because of the size of their human capital.

It’s true, any economist will tell you, trade promotes wealth and a higher standard of living for everyone – look how much CHEAP CRAP we’re able to buy (and re-buy when it breaks) because of the trade we do with China.  To an economist, that is a higher standard of living.  We have more “wealth” and more access to goods.  That’s not necessarily a good thing though, considering the piles and piles of waste that are created every year (not to mention the burden – Check out this article on Waste Couture) as people donate worthless and broken used goods to places like Goodwill.

“…there’s an interesting article about the tyranny of cheap crap that we, as a people, are accustomed to living under. Why do we buy a coat every year instead of one high quality coat that will last many years? Why do we buy crappy kitchen knives that go dull and become dangerous? Do we enjoy shopping so much that we’re content to keep rebuying the same stuff?” -The Consumerist

That article from MSN Money, that the Consumerist quotes, makes a statement on Americans’ inability to determine the quality of the items they’re buying:

The difference between my mother’s generation and my own hangs in that closet. In a relatively short amount of time, experts have watched our nation swap the practice of investing in quality, long-lasting merchandise for the consumption of large quantities of mass-produced, highly designed merchandise.

…Part of the issue is in the market itself, with the spread of mass production and wide availability of consumer credit. But consumers are also less knowledgeable, explains Paco Underhill, president and CEO of market research consultancy Envirosell and author of “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.”

Americans in their 20s and 30s are now at least one generation removed from the era of homemade clothing and hand-crafted wood furniture, Underhill says. “In the 1950s, 90% of homes had sewing machines, which means women knew something about how clothes were put together. They could look at something in the store and tell if was of good construction or crappy construction,” he says. “In my office, I don’t know anyone who has bought a custom suit. They don’t know the difference between off-the-rack and custom.”

Implementing a ban on goods Made in China (and in Scarlet’s case, made in poor human rights conditions) made both Bongiorni and Scarlet take a closer look at their spending habits, and what they could truly do without.  If nothing else, simply checking the labels made them more aware of just how many goods that we take for granted come from outside our country’s own resources.  It also highlighted the things they bought, sort of thoughtlessly, that they didn’t need.

About the improvement in spending habits, Scarlet said,

I’ve found that I buy a lot less now.  If I see that it’s made in China, and I am able to walk away from it and not buy it, I didn’t need it in the first place.  I was considering all the things I’ve not bought over that past couple years or so, and you know what?  I can’t remember what a single one of them was.  I don’t feel at all like I’m sacrificing quality of life buy avoiding Chinese goods if I can.

I’ll admit to adding a couple Chinese made goods to my collection of belongings recently.  I bought a pair of Chinese made shoes for my Halloween costume, because I didn’t want to buy an expensive pair of shoes that I was planning on painting with acrylic paint.  I bought a couple packs of Chinese earring backs after losing 3 earrings this year.   My iPhone, which I got for Christmas to replace my old, broken phone, was assembled in China.  I love my iPhone, and doubt it’d be easy to find a non-Chinese cell phone anyway.  Still though, 3 items in a year ain’t bad!

Also, I’ve realized that I don’t love our own country’s foreign and domestic policies, but I live here, so I’d like to see our country and those living within it become prosperous and successful.

The idea of conscious consumerism isn’t new, and it’s not a difficult task.  As 39th and Broadway mentioned, it’s easy to check the tags and to think about where that item came from, and the conditions under which it was made.

“We do it when we select wine, we check where our fish come from, we consider it when we buy a car, we notice it in our movies, we are now acutely aware of it when buying children’s toys, we debate it with our elected officials, so why not with our apparel? Of course not everything in your closet will be made domestically, but the simple act of checking the label and being aware before you make a purchase can subtly change the buying process.”

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An aside, the same is made for being “eco-conscious”. A little research will go a long way!!

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After reading Bongiorni’s book, and hearing Scarlet’s story, I told myself that this year would be a good year to buy locally and domestically (it reduces the environmental impact of shipping costs and waste), when possible.  I feel like it’s a good decision, because I’ll at least take the step towards conscious consumerism by knowing where things come from.  I’m not anti-China by any means.  I know that if I want to replace my coffee maker, there’s a high probability I won’t find one that was made in our own borders.  I just want to buy quality goods without the idea of sweatshop labor on my conscience.  I do look at garment quality to try and avoid buying stuff I’ll have to re-buy in the future.  There’s a lot to consider, to be a conscious consumer – the trick is to make it habit.

What’s your method of conscious shopping??

I want to send a big “THANK YOU!!” to Scarlet for enlightening me, to Wendy Brandes for having long conversations on the prevalence of overseas manufacturing, and to 39th and Broadway for hitting the nail on the head.  You guys rock!

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