Boy Scout Uniform Shirt no longer made in China

[NealOnWheels]

My local Scout Shop has been out of Adult Medium shirts for a while now. I picked one up yesterday as soon as the shelves were restocked. When I got home the tag caught my attention. It did not say "Made in China". Unfortuneately it said "Made in Bangledesh".

 

They must be shopping around for the best price.

[perdidochas]

That sounds like an improvement to me.

[BadenP]

Neal

 

Any country where there are sweatshops exploiting their workers seems to be the National Supply Divisions intent. I think though you will find most are still being made in China the leader in sweatshops and exploited labor.

[OldGreyEagle]

Not that what follows makes it right, but I challenge anyone to walk into an LLBean store and find a shirt made in the USA

 

Again doesnt make the BSA right, but they are following the industry

[eaglescout1996]

OGE is right, sadly, that's the industry standard....although you can walk into a Brooks Brothers and pick up a 100% cotton Oxford Cloth button down made not too far from national supply in North Carolina.

 

And when they're on "sale", I can pick them up cheaper from Brooks than a new long sleeve Centennial Supplex shirt.

 

Again, sadly though, those are some of the few shirts from Brooks still manufactured in the USA.

[lone77wulf]

I was working for at a scout shop when the shirts first went from being made in the US to overseas (Vietnam and China if I remember right). The company making them at the time went out of business and the BSA began shopping the contract out. Apparently in approaching every uniform manufacturer they could find, none would take on the contract. That's when the switch occured. Some of the reasons given were that they were unable to provide in the quantities the BSA wanted, and others said they did not want to work with the material that was used on the shirts.

 

Same thing occured with the Callimus knives. Company went out of business, the BSA shopped around, this time they found Case willing to make them, but no one would pay the price that Case/BSA charged.

 

Unfortunately the BSA can only get items from companies that are out there already, and the tide is changing to overseas production. Wish it wasn't this way, and it makes an interesting illustration for when I teach American Labor Merit Badge.

 

 

[Jeffrey H]

The clothing manufacturing industy in the USA is very limited and not many options. The labor unions pretty much priced themselves out of the market. At the end of the day, people will always vote with their pocketbook and the US clothing industry lost.

 

I'm still wearing the old shirts that are made in the USA. They are not wearing out and I don't have a reason to replace them. Besides, I like them better in terms of style than the new ones. I don't care for the sleeve "cigarette" pocket and the velcro fasteners. The "Boy Scouts of America" lettering above the pocket is cheap quality. I've already seen letters coming off of shirts.

[eisely]

Shifting patterns of trade are driven in large part by cost differences. I do not automatically blame the labor unions. The fact is simply that the US is a high wage country, both in unionized industries and non unionized industries. Much of that wage differential is explained by differences in labor productivity. One reason that American workers get paid more is that they generally are more productive than foreign workers.

 

However, when producing something is more labor intensive, and the skill level required is not very high compared to other industries, and the technology is universally available; the high wage country will be more likely to import the products produced by industries that fit this description. So it is with clothing in general. As long as other opportunities are available for the US workers that are displaced by imports, I for one do not weep at the loss of jobs in industries where we are not competitive.

[ScoutMythBuster]

Sometimes American Made is not only cheaper but is of better quality. Check this website out. http://www.inquiry.net/uniforms/bdu.htm

 

 

[evmori]

George Harrison did a concert for that country!

[UCEagle72]

I was on active duty when the first BDUs were issued.

 

Man, I loved those things, especially since you were not allowed to iron them (due to the dies in the fabric to "hide you" from night vision) -- having come from the old Army fatigues that we starched and bloused in our boots -- these were heaven!

 

[SSScout]

If the US had an all-inclusive protective tariff system, or "closed" it's borders to all imports, and depended only on stuff made within it's borders, what would happen? Except for rare earth elements that come from nowhere else but outside the US, could the various industries survive/exist on a self feeding economy? I think for the most part, it could.

After all, what drove the overseas outsourcing? The desire to lower costs to increase profits. It has often been said that if the true cost of things was considered, the consumer society we live in would be a whole lot different.

If it is CHEAPER to build a shirt/car/baseball glove/refrigerator/compass outside the US AND carry it here over several thousand miles (and cover the insurance losses when the ship sinks, etc.) than it is to build it here, and railroad it to the KMart center, what must be the result? The philosophy that drives the industries involved does not require them to insist that the out of country factories pay their workers a living wage or provide health care. Only to pay what the workers will accept. How did the union movement start? When the workers began to insist that they be paid a living wage and work in safe places, among other things.

Hershey and Ford did well to realize that their workers needed to be able to afford the cars and candy they were making. Go to Scranton PA and see the exhibits about the coal mine workers that created the wealth of the 19th century. "Norma Rae" comes to mind.

It is all tied together.

 

It would be interesting to find out if BSA did any research to discover what sort of factories produce the uniform parts, or if they just asked, "make us 5,000 of these" and accepted what the wholesaler provided.

[BadenP]

SS Scout

 

Well said and very true. It is too bad the so called economic experts and government officials in this country don't get it, and neither do the leaders of industry. the old adage you get what you pay for is very appropiate with BSA going to third world countries for all of their needs. Why do you think Airbus is subsidized, to make it competitive and able to underbid Boeing and other companies.

[ricardo]

YOu have it all wrong. No Tariff is needed, only the will of the people. Recognize that it takes the same labor here to produce the same volume of product there: Boy Scout shirts. OK. It takes the same equipment, the same consumption of energy, etc.

 

Do the math: Lets assume a shirt maker anywhere with the same tools will make 200 shirts per day. In China, the cost is $0.80 per day. In the US the labor is about $120/day. In addition, additional costs for better accommodations, insurance will run about $80/day. Double that for overhead costs of the company. The differential per shirt is then $2.00 Dollars. And think of the Cotton mill jobs that would be gained!

 

Are the Boy Scouts of America not willing to pay $2.00 per shirt more for products made in the United States of America. This is just and example of our declining nationalistic spirit in the United States of America. Shame on the Scouts... Companies do not send work offshore, the population does with their buying habits.

[pchadbo]

"How did the union movement start? When the workers began to insist that they be paid a living wage and work in safe places, among other things"

 

Cool send the AFL-CIO to China!!

That'll teach those Chinese a lesson!!

 

:-)

 

"Shame on the Scouts... Companies do not send work offshore, the population does with their buying habits."

True but with a monopoly on the sourcing, i.e. only BSA supply, how can the pepople vote with their dollars?

This needs to come from BSA

(This message has been edited by pchadbo)