Posted on 08/31/2007 8:35:58 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
Gail Simons of Edina remembers when the leather signature tag dangling from the strap on her Coach handbag said "Made in the U.S.A." But as she digs to find her car keys, she'll have to dig deeper still to find the "Made in China" label. Nearly all of Coach's handbags, including pricier bags costing more than $800, are manufactured in the country whose exports of toys and food have recently been the subject of safety scandals.
Coach is hardly alone. A random check of clothing racks at some of the Twin Cities' finest clothiers easily produced garment after garment made in China -- a Dana Buchman jacket for $500 at Macy's, a St. John Couture dress for $1,145 at Saks, and a $595 men's Armani corduroy sport coat at Neiman Marcus (Corduroy Armani? Now there's an oxymoron).
It's no surprise that much of the clothing we buy is made by cheap labor in China. Many luxury brands are contemplating building factories in China, if they don't already have them there. In fact, 50 percent of the world's textiles are produced there, from top-designer wear to dollar-store duds. Exporting is continuing at a rapid pace, a 43 percent increase in the past year, despite trade limits, according to the Office of Textiles and Apparel in the U.S. Department of Commerce......
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
What idiot would buy a purse costing $800? It probably cost $5 to make in China and $5 to ship it here.
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