This & That, Ceci et Cela

“When Luca Ricci sold his first batch of leather sofas in 1998 he told the North American distributor they were made in Italy. “I was scared because I didn’t know if a sofa made in China was saleable,” he admits, laughing at the memory. Three months later, he felt confident enough to own up and told his startled buyer, “It’s made in China – I lied.”
Not surprising at all as 7 times out of 10 times these days, “made in Italy”/other supposedly-elite-Euro-city is actually made in China. Just don’t count on many more brands admitting it anytime soon… Now the US & EU want to “probe” China textiles. What’s to probe? The fact that China can produce textiles cheaper and western resellers can dig that? Or that the consumers greatly appreciate getting more bank for their buck? Sheesh!
For all the hullabaloo about Chinese textiles, perhaps the alleged “victim” countries brought it on themselves? As the Straits Times (Singapore) accurately observes: “With the United States and the European Union continuing to bicker with China over its textiles exports, things could turn ugly. Yet as U.S. and European garment makers cry foul over the wreckage of their industry by the Chinese juggernaut, this train has in fact been signaling its approach since 1995. Developed nations had since the end of the Uruguay round of trade negotiations 10 years ago to prepare for competition. Instead of phasing out quotas, they chose the political expediency of doing nothing. It is not just Europe and the United States complaining. Fifteen small countries are lobbying the United States for import preferences. Losing out on export opportunities threatens to drive millions back into grinding poverty, but like EU and U.S. producers, these countries banked too heavily on quotas”.

Another good example of the underlying hypocrisy surrounding this issue would be the story of the Yue Yuen company. Its the real sneaker giant; the little big company that is. Virtually no western consumers have heard of YY and its corporate clients would prefer that you didn’t. YY who is the world’s biggest maker of sports shoes, not Nike, Adidas, or Reebok. The Taiwanese firm serves 40 brands including the three mentioned, producing styles ranging from high performance to high fashion. Last year, its factories in China, Indonesia and Vietnam poured out 130 million pairs of sneakers (BBC). So FYI, quietly outsourcing sneakers is no problem, but blatantly importing cheaper textiles, is just going too far dammit!

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