[Vision2020] FYI: Danner Boots; Chippewa Shoes

[Joan Opyr]

On 23 Nov 2005, at 07:45, Area Man ((Dan C)) wrote:

> Jeff says:
> " . . . the La Crosse/Danner Boot line . . . is positioned for 
> increased
> low-cost, high-quality sourcing from China."
>
> Guess we'd better pony up the big coin and get us some White's, or
> Nick's, both hand made up in good ol' Spokane.
>
> I've had one pair of White's in the last 13 years, and I've spent about
> $700 on resoles/rebuilds in that time.  That's just over fifty bucks a
> year, which I know was less than I'd have spent had I been buying a new
> pair of boots every year or two.  It was hard to justify the initial
> purchase ($300 at the time, almost $400 now), but I look at a similar
> pair of Chippewas ($189), Danners ($230), or even some Cabela's brand
> ($59.95), and not knowing their rebuildability (if that's even a word),
> the White's were the way to go.
>
> Of course, that may not work for everyone, but it worked for me.
>
> DC
>
> P.S.  Didn't GEICO stand for "Government Employee Insurance Company"?

Hello Area Man Dan, Jeff, Donovan, and other Visionaries,

As soon as Danner begins making its boots in China, I'll stop buying 
them.  Why?  Because, again, of poor Chinese working conditions; also 
because I doubt very much we'll find that this move improves the 
quality of Danner boots.  I've owned both Red Wing shoes and "Irish 
Setter Shoes by Red Wing," the former made in the US, the latter made 
in China.  The shoes made here are of a very high quality and, like 
Dan's White's boots, have lasted through several re-soles.  The 
Chinese-made shoes?  I've given them to the Troy Food Bank.  The right 
shoe's tongue was sewn in crooked.  Now, did Red Wing pass on its labor 
savings to me, the consumer?  No.  Irish Setter by Red Wing cost me the 
same as Red Wing made in America.  (Have a gander at 
www.sportsmansguide.com and check out the comparative prices.  That's 
where I bought both pairs of shoes.  I like the Sportsman's Guide, but 
if I don't see "Made in the USA" at the bottom of the boot or shoe 
description, I don't buy.  I've stopped purchasing from companies that 
don't say where the product was made.  Another good source, BTW, is the 
Sierra Trading Post.  It's an inexpensive clothing and sports equipment 
catalog store.  They list where each and every product is 
manufactured.)

What can I say about Donovan's ill-considered argument that we should 
continue to buy cheaply from China if we hope to improve labor 
conditions there?  Perhaps continuing to trade with apartheid South 
Africa would have had an equally efficacious effect?  China, Burma, 
Thailand, Indonesia -- these countries make goods cheaply by exploiting 
their labor force.  How, exactly, will increasing our purchases without 
imposing restrictions on working conditions/pay/child labor, and etc., 
encourage these nations to pay their workers better?  What's the 
incentive?  As we have lifted quotas on the import of Chinese textiles, 
we've seen workers in India -- cheaper to pay than American textile 
workers but more expensive and better-treated than the Chinese -- lose 
market share.  In the meantime, the textile workers in my home state of 
North Carolina are now high and dry.  The Fieldcrest-Cannon Mills have 
closed, towels are made cheaply (in all senses of the word) overseas, 
and backsides around the nation are rubbed raw by the rougher-textured, 
shorter-lived product.  I have not yet noticed a dramatic decrease in 
the price of towels and sheets, just a decrease in quality.

I am not opposed to buying foreign goods.  I have every intention of 
buying my dream bike, a Triumph Bonneville T100, just as soon as I've 
collected $7,999 in my "Steve McQueen Dream Bike Savings Account."  I 
buy clothing from England, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, 
Ireland, Scotland, and Canada.  I am very careful about purchasing 
goods produced in the third world -- if it's not fair trade, then I 
don't want it.  Perhaps, as Dick Cheney suggested of energy 
conservation, this is just personal vanity on my part -- an easy way to 
feel virtuous.  Well, so what?  In this case, I'm in favor of easy 
virtue.   (I'm in favor of it in other cases, as well.)

Say, Dan -- how do I get a pair of those White's boots?  And do you 
know if Filson's boots are still made in the US?  For $327.50 a pair, 
they'd better be.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com

PS: If I find out that Triumph Bonnevilles are no longer made where I 
think they're made, but are imported from Timbuktu, then I'll have to 
get an old bike off Ebay.  That might be fun, anyway.  I just read that 
one of the two cars Steve McQueen drove in Bullitt is in a barn in the 
middle of Ohio.  It was sold by the studio to a guy in New Jersey, who 
sold it for $6000 to this fellow in Ohio, who won't sell it to anyone.  
He's just letting it rust.  Breaks my heart!