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Lessons in Made In China, part I

So our family has hopped on the “Without Made in China” bandwagon. Only we aren’t limiting ourselves to a year. We are in hopes that if enough people start doing this, the retailers will start paying attention to the fact that we as Americans don’t like losing our jobs. We don’t like paying for cheap merchandise that falls apart a week after we buy it. And we don’t like our money supporting these companies paying children to work in sweatshops in a foreign country. A country that has no EPA to govern the state of their environment, or the pollution that is killing it and it’s people. Not that we are buying only American made items, not yet anyway. But if given the option between the two, I’m taking American made anyway. I hold no grudge against China or Chinese people, I have some very good friends that are Chinese and they are great. But that does not mean that I have to support the sub-standards that China persecutes it’s citizens with.

I started my “Made in China” ban before I even started reading the book “A Year Without Made in China”. I had read some reviews of the book, and other bloggers opinions of the idea. As well as talked to family members about it. And it seemed like a good idea. I thought, it can’t be that hard to find something not made in China. Then my mother-in-law and I went on a shopping trip yesterday. We picked through clothes looking for items we liked. I checked labels for the stuff I wanted to buy as we rounded our way to the cashier. Uh-oh, the shoes I wanted to get my daughter, the shoes with little skulls all over them that would make her squeal like a school girl on a pixie stick high, were made in China. I told my mother-in-law “We can’t get these”. She asks why and I tell her “Because they are made in China”. At this point I get a wary eye from the cashier. I don’t really care though. For one, this is my choice not his. And two, I’m not going to take an opinion from someone in department store retail wearing a t-shirt and jeans very seriously. Not that I want to sound snobby, but seriously, I’ve never had a job where I can wear a t-shirt and jeans in front of customers.

As we get in the car after our successful shopping spree, discussing the “Made in China” issue. Of which my mother-in-law and mother are both on board fully, I’d like to add. We broach the discussion of where to have lunch. At which my mother-in-law suggests “Oh we can go to that nice little Chinese place by your house!” My mother-in-law makes suggestions like this not intentionally trying to be funny or callous. It’s just part of her nature. I look at her and say “That’s a little ironic.” She catches on at my remark. I always enjoy the dawning look on her face when she realizes what she has just said. We both start laughing. We are not banning Chinese food, by the way. It was just an irony filled moment. We do however eventually decide on a Teriyaki place that is really good that she had not visited before.

This morning when I was going through the clothing we had purchased. I come across two sweaters I had picked out for my youngest son. Both sweaters were made by the same company, so at the store I had only checked one of the labels, assuming that they were both made in the same place. I would be wrong. When I checked this morning, I looked at both sweaters before I pulled the tags off and noticed that one of them was in fact, made in China. It’s back to the store we go after we drop little butt off at school. How ironic would it be if we had the same cashier? “And your reason for returning the shirt ma’am?” “Because it’s made in China.”

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