Salus PFDs are made 100% in Canada and…
have more american content than any other PFD manufacturer. They also make one hell of a PFD and have coast guard approved models to boot.
There is very few other clothing manufacturers that are made in North America. Select Stohlquist and Kokatat pieces are made in the US, but not many and fewer each year. Seals, Snap Dragon and Skirtworks are made in the US.
Gavin
gavinrains@yahoo.com
Kokatat
All Kokatat dry wear is made in the US - dry suits, dry tops and jackets.
New line of insulation wear available after January 15 that will not only be grown/spun in the US but also sewn in the US.
Suz
Local effort
A nearby town is running a local “reward card” program for the holidays. Every time you spend $5 in any of the 50 participating businesses, your card gets stamped…when you reach $50, you are entered to win 1 of 4 gift certifcates to be used at any of the businesses.
SnapDragon Pogies
I really love my SnapDragon pogies which hold their
shape making insertion/removal of my hands real easy.
Purity requires one also to consider …
… where the fabric or material is made.
American fabric mills have taken a beating. Does buying a kilt sewn in you favorite geographical unit, but made from Chinese fabric or Iranian petroleum, solve the problem?
Most chemically created outdoor fabrics and gear are made from Middle Eastern or Russian petroleum.
Very interesting
Most of the replies make no attempt to offer a suggestion. It seams there are very few companies making paddling clothing in the USA and the few that do are buying fabric from overseas and only sewing it together on US soil. Too bad for us but the only way to get totally American made paddling gear is to make it yourself from materials you already have hanging in the closet.
My Kokatat Orbit PFD was sewn in the USA but where the materials came from is unknown.
Stohlquist used to
I don’t know if that’s still the case now. Could be a mixed bag: some imported or some sewn here with materials from elsewhere or vice versa.
Seals
… a lot more than just spray skirts, too. Cut and sewn in the U.S.
http://www.sealsskirts.com/prod_cat_detect.php?i=10
three times now I have deleted my post
and I keep coming back to this thread. Ok here goes:
the real trick is not to just scream buy American but to buy American if that products raw materials were produced in America. If they were not, then the onus is now on the manufacturer or seller to make the global economy work for them. For example:
country A produces a raw material and sells it in country to a manufacturer who also sells its finished product in country. what have you accomplished but a redistribution of wealth that is already here? No new money just changing in whose pocket it is lining.
Now if Country A has a raw material, produces a product from that material and then sells both internally and more importantly externally for a profit, then you have a great recipe.
BUT if Country A buys a good from country B(either raw or finished) and sells it only in country then you are sending currency to Country B. (What is happening now more than I like to think)
Now here is where good use of the global economy comes in:
If Country A can buy a raw or finished product from country B that is not available here, refine it or manufacture something from it AND then not only sell it internally but also to countries B through Z for MORE than they paid for the process, then money is coming back into country A. this is new money not redistributed money and actually starts strengthening the economy. This is what will generate real jobs.
It is what the rest of the world has learned to do but sadly most of us have not.
so by all means buy American, but demand the manufacturers are using the global economy to their advantage and bringing moneys back into this country. Because if they are not, no amount of buying only American will save the economy. Not with the amount we consumers demand.
We need to work smarter not harder. It is possible but we need to smarten up because the rest of the world is not waiting.
Paul
Kokatat Dry Suit
Glad to hear they are sewn here. Getting a 10 week estimate, I thought maybe they were being outsourced to Mars and back. But it will be worth it to have a custom drysuit. It’s getting mighty cold here (PacNW). And I ordered it today from Kayak Academy because they are sending me a loaner drysuit until my custom one arrives. Now that’s Customer Service!
PS Kokatat drysuits are e-x-p-e-n-s-i-v-e !!!
Buy American?
When I look at the prices [i.e. “Wintergreen site”] no wonder I buy from overseas!
We peons will keep arguing about where to buy as the “leaders” of this [American] country continue to get rich with insider trading of oversea stocks…go figure.
Just bought a Columbia fleece
and noticed it started to look matted almost immediately. Agree the material is thinner now. Also the toggle is totally nonfunctional and I called Columbia and ordered new ones. Price had gone up to $65 too. These fleeces don’t take to washing at all.
Splain your reasoning, please
You’re saying you’re loyal to your country. But why not your continent, hemisphere, or the world, since you belong to all of those?
splain please?
Simple, country spreads my loyalty as far as it can be without being nonexistant and family takes priority over anything else.
All Kokatat GORETEX
But none of their Tropos is made state side. So that means roughly half Kokatat’s drywear is USA.
Splain??
Waterbird, let’s put in different terms, to make it easier for you to understand.
Let’s say I have finite expendable income. Say $10.00. My brother (USA), cousin (Western hemisphere), and neighbor (World) all show up at my house in terrible financial straits and need to have that $10.00 to save them from financial ruin. And they all need the WHOLE $10.00, anything less will not save them.
Who do you think I’m giving the $10.00 to??? Sorry cuz, sorry neighbor… you’ll have to go see YOUR respective IMMEDIATE family members for help. I’m saving my brothers ass.
Understand now Waterbird?
Tropos
Nermal, Not true that all Tropos is made overseas. All the Supernova paddling suits are made in US as are all the Tropos dry tops and some of the semi dry. There are a handful of Tropos jackets that have been made overseas.
Actually no
Your reply doesn’t answer my question at all. Why would you give the $10 to your brother rather than your cousin or your neighbor?
WOW!!!
Cause he’s my BROTHER!!! If you don’t get that, and the loyalty of a brother to a brother as opposed to a brother to a cousin or a neighbor… than I’m just really happy that you aren’t my brother. I find it really hard to believe that you don’t get the concept. Damn.
So your answer is . . .
“Just because.” I was hoping for something a little deeper.