Results tagged “manufacturing”

Yes, indeedy, change is coming to the US of A and people, you'd better believe it! If Sen. Nancy Jacobs, Sen. Barry Glassman and Del. Wayne Norman, three Harford County, Maryland Republicans, have their way, it is soon going to be ILLEGAL to sell an American or Maryland flag made outside the country (ie., China), and all flags displayed on state property must be manufactured in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Said Sen. Nancy Jacobs to the Baltimore Examiner: "It just seems rather unpatriotic to be buying flags made in China... It's important to a lot of people. Basically, I'm happy that this starts the conversation on buying American." She proposed the general prohibition because she was asked to by "a good friend of mine who happens to be a union leader and who believes very strongly in buying American products." According to the Flag Manufacturers Association of America, the US imports about $5 million worth of flags each year, mostly from China. The association boasts of a wonderful programme that certifies that every step of the flag-making process -- fiber, dyeing, weaving, sewing, staff-making -- is completed in the US so that bored inmates at the Maryland Correctional Enterprises have something to do. Addendum: Adam Minter of Shanghai Scrap writes in to inform us that as of late 2007, it's been illegal to sell Chinese-made US flags in Minnesota. Here's what he wrote last year.

Danwei directed us to the embedded six-month old video of a short local NBC News piece on a Chinese-made three-wheel "car" available from a dealer in Webster, New York (it's actually available in several places in the U.S., like Michigan). The Webster dealer (we think this is his MySpace page ... yes, MySpace) claims women love the Wildfire WF650-C. The jury is still out on that one.

Ramadan, Islam's holiest season has just begun, and as Muslims around the world begin a month-long period of prayer and fasting, manufacturers across the Middle East have little reason to smile as they find themselves edged out with increasing numbers of Chinese producers flooding their markets with products that are cheaper and better than their own. Adding salt to injury is the fact that many of these products are symbols of their own cultural and history. Gulf News reports that made-in-China Ramadan lanterns are all the rage now, much to the chagrin of traditional Egyptian craftsmen:

Since walking into the vocation of lantern-making more than 30 years ago, Ahmad Abdul Gafour has been attached to Ramadan.

Continue reading "Chinese manufacturers kill producers of Ramadan lanterns and keffiyeh's in the Mid East"