Are you ready to buy American-made for the holidays?
By Laura Clawson
Friday Nov 27, 2015 · 8:01 AM PST
Why buy American? There are lots of reasons—but let’s start off by saying jingoism is a bad reason to buy American. We should always, always support better wages and working conditions for people not just in the U.S. but around the world, and buying things made here shouldn’t mean anything different. But there are still good reasons to buy stuff from here. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing:
Americans will spend $720 on average for holiday gifts this year. But if each of us spent just $64 on American-made goods this season, we could create 200,000 new jobs, right here in the United States!
You may not be spending the average or anywhere close to it. You may not be able to find U.S.-made versions of what you’re looking for. American-made doesn’t always mean great labor practices, and imported doesn’t always mean terrible labor practices. But supporting American manufacturing—especially American union manufacturing, when you can—is worth a shot, to support jobs and the economy here and to push back on the global race to the bottom in however tiny and personal a way, (And make no mistake, it is a small and personal act, even if it’s worth doing.
There are a number of resources for finding U.S.-made and union-made gift ideas, from basic to quirky, budget to high-end. And not just gifts. Labor 411 is one good source for information about what products are union made, and that includes foods, including chocolate and alcohol, you could serve at your holiday meal. You could also serve your holiday meal on union-made dishes like Fiesta or Bennington Potters.
Okay, so you're not as food-obsessed as some of us. You're looking for games for the kids. You're in luck: How about Candyland, Operation, Risk, Pictionary, or Scrabble?
But maybe you want to go a little more quirky and adult in your gift-giving. You’ll want to check out the Alliance for American Manufacturing’s gift guide, which gives one or two manufacturers in every state in the country. Alabama to Alaska takes you from environmentally friendly paper goods to knives based on Eskimo design. Want belts, wallets, and purses made from recycled bike inner tubes? Washington’s Alchemy Goods has you covered. Yarns, blankets, and more from a woman-owned company? Check out Wyoming’s Mountain Meadow Wool. Vintage-inspired lingerie? This list has that, too, in Missouri’s Sassy Chassis.
Of course, if you’re thinking small and close to home, don’t forget the Kos Katalogue. (I will never not suggest a Pootie Pad [scroll down] for the cat in your life.) Closer to home in the strict geographic sense, you’ll probably find a holiday craft fair in a town near you. The point is, U.S.-made goods aren’t as easy to find as the first thing you see on the shelf in the first store you walk into, but they’re still out there, and if you start to make a habit of finding them, you’ll find it gets easier. And at holiday time, the search can even be fun.
By Laura Clawson
Friday Nov 27, 2015 · 8:01 AM PST
Why buy American? There are lots of reasons—but let’s start off by saying jingoism is a bad reason to buy American. We should always, always support better wages and working conditions for people not just in the U.S. but around the world, and buying things made here shouldn’t mean anything different. But there are still good reasons to buy stuff from here. According to the Alliance for American Manufacturing:
Americans will spend $720 on average for holiday gifts this year. But if each of us spent just $64 on American-made goods this season, we could create 200,000 new jobs, right here in the United States!
You may not be spending the average or anywhere close to it. You may not be able to find U.S.-made versions of what you’re looking for. American-made doesn’t always mean great labor practices, and imported doesn’t always mean terrible labor practices. But supporting American manufacturing—especially American union manufacturing, when you can—is worth a shot, to support jobs and the economy here and to push back on the global race to the bottom in however tiny and personal a way, (And make no mistake, it is a small and personal act, even if it’s worth doing.
There are a number of resources for finding U.S.-made and union-made gift ideas, from basic to quirky, budget to high-end. And not just gifts. Labor 411 is one good source for information about what products are union made, and that includes foods, including chocolate and alcohol, you could serve at your holiday meal. You could also serve your holiday meal on union-made dishes like Fiesta or Bennington Potters.
Okay, so you're not as food-obsessed as some of us. You're looking for games for the kids. You're in luck: How about Candyland, Operation, Risk, Pictionary, or Scrabble?
But maybe you want to go a little more quirky and adult in your gift-giving. You’ll want to check out the Alliance for American Manufacturing’s gift guide, which gives one or two manufacturers in every state in the country. Alabama to Alaska takes you from environmentally friendly paper goods to knives based on Eskimo design. Want belts, wallets, and purses made from recycled bike inner tubes? Washington’s Alchemy Goods has you covered. Yarns, blankets, and more from a woman-owned company? Check out Wyoming’s Mountain Meadow Wool. Vintage-inspired lingerie? This list has that, too, in Missouri’s Sassy Chassis.
Of course, if you’re thinking small and close to home, don’t forget the Kos Katalogue. (I will never not suggest a Pootie Pad [scroll down] for the cat in your life.) Closer to home in the strict geographic sense, you’ll probably find a holiday craft fair in a town near you. The point is, U.S.-made goods aren’t as easy to find as the first thing you see on the shelf in the first store you walk into, but they’re still out there, and if you start to make a habit of finding them, you’ll find it gets easier. And at holiday time, the search can even be fun.
