Fashionable, American & Outsourced

Concerns:
The uniforms are made in China. Politicians are aghast. The American public is outraged. I understand why, but why now? The outsourcing was no secret when Lauren was first contracted to design the uniforms four years ago (his factories have been based in China for over 10 years) plus other uniform suppliers like Nike have factories abroad, so why is it a big deal now? The International Herald Tribune blog Rendezvous pointed out that this is an election year so political pandering could be at play, but maybe that is a good thing.

This outcry could be the push American manufacturing needs. Many election campaign products have already moved toward U.S. production. The 2014 Team USA uniforms will be made on American soil. Perhaps a U.S. manufacturing comeback really is on the horizon.

As professionals who sell uniforms, what are your thoughts? How big of a deal are outsourced U.S. uniforms? How would you have handled the sale or creation of these uniforms differently?