100% American Made

A friend forwarded this from Fox Small Business on February 20, 2012.

 Aaron Sullivan of Titan Homes LLC on building a house from scratch from materials only made in America. I searched their site, but can’t find anything about how they plan to use all American made materials, where the materials will come from, what sort of materials they plan to use, or how much more this will cost.

Small and Local Businesses

We love small, local businesses. Sure, Wal-Mart and Amazon started out as such, but they’re no longer small or local despite the number of people they employ.

What I love about local businesses is that 64¢ of every dollar spent at a local business (non-chain) stays in the community.

This creates a better community with greater services, including schools, which makes for better students, which helps America as a whole.

So support your local businesses! Franchises fall into this ‘local’ category, since they’re usually owned by someone local and the money stays in the community. However, as much as I love to shop at some of the larger department stores (Macy’s, Lowes, etc.) those tax dollars you spend aren’t going to your community.

Buy American? Buy local?

A short reminder that many small businesses also support the American economy:

Small business supports the local economy, with up to 64¢ of every dollar spent staying within the community. How does this help our buy American campaign? The more money spent in the local economy as opposed to going to a large box coorporation helps employ more locals, who will then spend more money in the local economy, who will then create more jobs, and the cirlce continues.

As for the buy American, many small local businesses sell Made in America merchandise. Places such as Harley Davidson often have American made items displayed. Plus Harley Davidson is a franchise, which means it’s really a small, locally owned business.

Fashion week and Made in America

Saw this lovely article this morning: Mirror, Mirror: American designers are waving the flag.

New York Fashion Week starts Thursday, and it appears the runways will be popping with a fashion flair that’s unmistakably all-American…

But there is something more: I believe it’s signaling that high fashion is beginning to focus on where clothes are made as much as what the clothes look like.

The words made in America are as important as the aesthetic.

I love that last line! Made in America is as important as the clothing itself. More and more people are starting to realize that!

For one thing, American-made clothing has a smaller carbon footprint. So, at a time when we are all going green, it’s considered much more environmentally friendly.

And designers trying to break into the business are realizing the costs of sourcing and manufacturing overseas. Why not go to Fourth Street for fabric, find a pattern-maker in South Philly, and have the stuff made in North Philly, like in the old days?

Which leads us to the biggest motivation: saving American jobs. The last five years have been hard economically, and part of the angst is because of the death of American jobs.

New York wasn’t the only manufacturing capital. At one time, Philadelphia was a leader in men’s tailoring.

Americans want to work, and that means making clothing.

According to Cotton Inc., a trade organization that tracks the attitudes of shoppers, 56 percent of consumers say buying clothing made in America is important to them.

Americans do want to work, and that’s something we all have to work toward. Putting Americans to work starts a cycle that keeps Americans at work, helps the environment, and makes our schools better. Who wouldn’t want that?

 

Another article I’ve read on this: ‘Made in America’ advocate Nanette Lepore debuts her Spring 2012 collection at New York Fashion Week

Cold medicine

It’s the middle of winter and we’re also in the middle of the cold season.  How many of you have already been sick? Yeah, me, too.

While many of us take over the counter medicines to relieve the symptoms of our ailments many more of us need to turn to our doctors for help.  It should be no surprise that most Americans, more than 3 out of 4, trust drugs Made in America.  And why wouldn’t we; America has the toughest regulations in the world when it comes to drugs. 

However, it may be a surprise that even our drugs are being made overseas at a growing rate; China and India lead the way in this category. 

This is one of the hardest occurrences’ facing us if we want to Support America, however, like anything else we can make a difference.  When at your pharmacy, request that the brand you’re receiving is Made in America (I checked and you can make this request), and if you want to take it a step further, contact the leading manufactures of medicine and express your opinion about the importance of American made medicine. 

If you think this article was useful and someone you know would benefit from it, please pass along our link and lets Support America together.

Where does our food come from?

You may have read recent headlines about a scare with orange juice.  The Food and Drug Administration issued a recall in January of a specific type of Orange that is being imported from Brazil.  The fact that we import oranges isn’t that surprising to me, in fact 26% of all our oranges are imported.  What scares me is that only 2% of all imported food, yes all of it, is inspected by the FDA.

 Another example is that we, as Americans, import 100% of our limes.  I couldn’t believe it either, but we do.  And of that, only 2% are inspected; however, if the food is produced in America for American consumption, there is nearly 100% chance that at least one agency is checking it.

We as a nation consume more than we can produce, but in an effort to Support America we need to make an effort to look where the product we’re buying is from.  Recently I went to a convenience store to buy a bottle of orange juice; to my surprise the main brands, Tropicana and Minute Maid, were made from imported oranges.  I had to search for a few minutes, but ultimately found that the store brand was made in America with American ingredients. As is Florida’s Natural, which is also a co-op.  It only took a minute but at least I can say that I Supported America. 

If you think this article was useful and someone you know would benefit from it, please pass along our link and let’s keep Supporting America.

FYI, this USDA site is a helpful link for food information and recalls.

Underwear

It’s the time of year to think about keeping warm while outside. And while Under Armour is a huge company (most major sports teams wear their product) there are other options that are not made in China, South America, or Mexico. However I do applaude Under Armour for sharing this information on their site. Most companies don’t.

These options are no more expensive, no less in quality, but are made in America. Wickers: Underwear for Anywhere is one such company. They make thermals for cold weather, but also a wide variety of other products, such as flame retardant and night sweats underwear.

Snowblowers-where is yours made?

As the calendar moves to February, we are in the midst of winter.  There are snow storms everyday throughout the country; and as Americans we buy snow blowers to help us cope with them.  Not only do most snow blowers do a great job, but they’re fun to use. 

As with everything, some are made in America and some are NOT.  If you go to Lowe’s or Home Depot you’ll find several different brands, but you have to be careful about where they’re made.  For example, Husqvarna is a very popular brand that has made huge inroads in the snow blower market, but they’re headquarters is located in Stockholm. Their site isn’t the best and I can’t find whether their products are maufactured in America or not.

It was difficult to find a snow blower made in America, but we did it.  I have a few brands that proudly boast the ‘Made in the USA’ label: Ariens, Honda, Troy Built and Craftsman make the short list. 

Yes, Honda, a Japanese company actually manufactures their snow blowers here in America; they have plants in North Carolina and Georgia.    Ariens HQ is in Wisconsin (appropriate for snow blowers), Craftsman makes theirs in Valley City Ohio and Troy Built is manufactured in Cleveland Ohio. 

Keep this in mind if you’re in the market for a new snow blower.  As always, check the manufacturing label before you buy and let’s keep SUPPORTING AMERICA.  If you like this article and think someone else would benefit from it, please pass along the link.

Household Appliances

These everyday items are probably the one thing that we as Americans take for granted more than anything else.  Dishwashers, ovens, microwaves, washers/dryers etc; when they break or wear out, we immediately start shopping around for a replacement; and I have one simple question. 

Are any appliances still made or assembled in America?  YES!

But like everything else we discuss here, you have to take a few extra steps to find it.  Most of the main stream names in the appliance arena have, at least some, of their products made in America. 

Much to my surprise, none of them actively advertise it on their respective web sites. 

Whirlpool, for example, is one of the world leaders in appliances. (I proudly own a Whirlpool refrigerator/freezer and on the information label it clearly states that it’s a product of America).   Headquartered in Michigan, they have manufacturing facilities throughout the Midwest, places like, Fort Smith Arkansas, Amana, Iowa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Cleveland Tennessee and several cities in Ohio. 

 I’m currently contacting the company to inquire why they don’t actively promote Made in America, when I find out, I’ll pass it along.

 In the mean time,  when you shop for new appliances, take an extra second and look at the information label located on the inside of the door.  Let’s support our manufacturing jobs and Support America.  If you like this article, or think someone else would benefit from it, please pass along our link.

One simple change and big oil companies

We all know renewable energy is the future, but until then, until it’s in place and until those green energies are cost effective, we have oil. So let’s talk about BIG oil companies now and how we can Support America buy buying our everyday gas from American companies.

When your gas light comes on, you probably do what I do, pull over to the nearest gas station and start pumping.  But many times there are competing stations across the street from one another; are they both American owned and operated, or is one foreign owned?  Sometimes you have no choice and have to fill up, but if you do have a choice, wouldn’t it be nice to know you’re supporting America in the process. 

It’s no secret that we, as Americans, import vast amounts of oil every day from overseas; countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait , Canada and even Venezuela, to name a few.  We can’t stop that part of the process, although tens of thousands of Americans have jobs as a result of that.  But on a local level, we can chose were to buy gas and help our own country in the process.  For example, for years now, there has been email’s circulating about how Citgo is a Venezuelan company and we should boycott them.  Well, it’s true; it turns out Citgo is a U.S. Incorporated,  Venezuela owned refiner known as Petroleos’ De Venezuela. 

That’s not supporting America; many of the bigger names that we’re familiar with however, are; companies like Sunoco, Exxon, Chevron to name a few, here’s a complete list.

We’re still, as a country, going to import millions of barrels of oil every day, but we can do our part to help our local economy by choosing to fill up at stations owned by American companies.  Let’s keep Supporting America.