Is It Still MADE IN THE USA?

Information and opinions about products, ideas and consumer concerns. And as always, wondering how to find stuff still Made In USA.

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Automotive Stuff

AMSOIL 100% Synthetic Motor Oil
Aptera: car of the future
CARS: Cars.com

Clothing, Shoes & Bags

A.S. Tees
All American Clothing
American Apparel
American Made Work Boots
Bamboo Clothing Made In The USA
Clothes Made In USA
Duluth Bags and Packs
Earth Wear Organic Cotton
EarthPak
Fleabags Upcycled Bags
GK Elite Sportswear
Hero Bags
Joy By Mel Lim recycled totes
Maggie's Organics
New Balance "992" Shoes
Organic Caboose
Pointer Brand Jeans & Overalls
Red Wing Shoes
Round House Work Clothes
Royal Apparel
Socks 4 Life
SOS TX*organic cotton clothes*
Southwick Clothing: Brooks Brothers
Texas Jeans 100%
Thorlo Socks
Tom Bihn Designs
Tough Traveler
Union Made Clothing
UNION MADE/USA MADE Store
Wild Goose bags
Wrath Archane
Yvonne Totes
Zebulon USA

Food & Drinks

GLEE GUM All Natural
Kikkoman Soy Sauce
Lammes Candy of Austin
Margarita's Tortilla Factory
NutraSense Vitamin Supplements
Round Rock Honey
White Mountain Foods

GADGETS AND DRY GOODS

MAM-A CD-R/DVD-R Discs

Kitchen and Food

All-Clad Metalcrafters
Anchor Hocking Glassware
Berea College Kentucky Folk Art
Bunn Coffee Makers
Fiestaware dishes
Hartstone Pottery
HF Coors Dinner Ware
Nesco (some)-roasters/fryers
Preserve Kitchen and Dinner Ware
Rada Silverware/Cutlery
ReUseIt.com
TeaDog-teapots made in USA

Household

Better Living Furnaces & Air Purifiers
EyCatchers Yard and Garden Art
Hydrosil Heaters
MagLite Flashlights
Olevia HDTV *USA Made!
Oreck Vacuum Cleaners
Reliable Air Filters
Versa Tables for school, office, home
Vision Bedding (linen)
VORNADO Space Heaters - Not all USA made. Check FEATURES button for source
Zippo Lighters

Kid & Baby: Clothes & Gear

BaBee Tenda Cribs
Baby Safe Feeder
Earth Child
Eraselet eraser bracelet
Huggage
Montgomery Schoolhouse
Organic Caboose
Pan Handle Babies
Tough Traveler
Vortex Toothpaste
Wike Bicycle Trailers Bike Strollers and Joggers

Personal Items

Dr. Bonner's Organics
Dr. Du-More's toothbrushes & floss
Kirk's Natural Soap
Murray's Pomade
NaturaLamb Condoms
POH Toothbrushes/Floss
Preserve Toothbrushes and Other Personal Needs
Radius Toothbrush
Tom's of Maine
Trojan Condoms
Vermont Original Bag Balm

Sporting Goods

American Outdoors - lead free coolers, hats, more
Battle Lake - bags & packs
Drifter - custom backpacks, purses, wallets, more
Fuerte Cases - waterproof cases
Kinesis Photo Gear - bags, more
Open Country Camp cookwear
Trager - bags, backpacks, more

Tools & Hardware

Channellock Tools - Since 1886!
Dramm Gardening Tools
Epilog Laser Engraver
MagLite
Midewest Snips - metal working
RivetNut Tool Company
Yo God Detector

Toy Makers/Retailers (*Articles/resources)

*250 SAFE TOYS by The Daily Green
*SAFE TOYS MADE IN AMERICA-A List
*TOY SAFETY: 10 Worst Toys
*Toys Made In America / site with links
American Plastic Toys
Buffalo Games & Puzzles
CardBoard Design
Convert-O Bikes
D and Me Wood Toys
Down To Earth Toys
Fat Brain Toys - click on map
Gile Toys
Holgate Toys
Little Tikes Toys
Maine Toys
North Star Toys
Rootin Ridge of Austin Wooden Toys
Roy Toys
Scale Model Toys (tractors, etc)
Step 2 Toys
Stuffington Bear Factory
Temporary Tattoos
The Cubbyhole Wooden Toys
Tim Mee Toy Company

NEWS & RESOURCES

ARTICLE: 250 TOYS MADE IN USA
ARTICLE: American gifts hard to find
ARTICLE: Good Housekeeping: Toy Safety
ARTICLE: Kentucy, Folk Art Capital
DATABASE: Is This Toy Safe? (Search)
INFO: Delkor's Toys For Tots goes MADE IN USA
NEWS: American Toy Options Abound
NEWS: China controlling more of US economy
NEWS: China in Your Medicine Cabinet
NEWS: India rejects dollar
NEWS: Lead in Your X-mas Tree
NEWS: Made In USA label benefits toy makers
NEWS: Toymakers ballyhoo 'Made in America'
NEWS: US Toy makers, Gov to blame
NEWS: Web offers toy alternatives
NEWS: Wrath Archane, Clothed Idealism
NEWS:Kikkoman announces new label-Made In USA

BUY LOCAL. BUY USA.

Support Your Country. Support Your Economy.

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About Me

Is It Still Made In The USA Blogger: Austin, Texas, United States; Austin memaw, us citizen and hopeful activist for peace and the environment.

View my complete profile

More About Me: Why I Started This Blog

I am a North American woman.

I am an average woman, sort of.

I am a mother, a grandmother and a person with physical disabilities. I am not rich. On the contrary, I live in a modest house, in an average urban neighborhood. It is a single family home which houses three generations. I live with my son, his wife and my two small grandchildren. We own one dog, several bird feeders and a small backyard garden.

Until recently, I haven't thought much about the safety of the products sold in our country, even those imported from other countries. Like a lot of people in the US, I trusted our government to monitor and control product safety. I believed our government was watching out for us, the citizens.

And so, my family and I concentrated on other issues.

Like most enlightened, responsible citizens we try to live a "green" lifestyle. We recycle. We compost. We garden organically. We use energy efficient appliances and lightbulbs. When we shop, we buy organic, humane and free-trade products as much as possible. We also support our local businesses by "buying local."

But living on a limited income and also being frugal by nature, our family often shopped at Target, Dollar General, Big Lots and other discount stores. (Though we avoided Wal-Mart, on general principle -- except as a last resort.)

Then, one day dogs and cats across America began to get sick and die, and everything changed.

Owning pets myself, I began to feel uncomfortable as news reports became more ominous. More and more animals fell ill and many died. Pet owners, people, all across the US were upset and afraid when the illnesses were linked to one brand of pet food after another.

It wasn't long until the cause of the strange sickness was discovered: pets were dying because pet food companies in the US had purchased poisoned grain products imported from China. These US companies used Chinese wheat gluten, poisoned Chinese wheat gluten that is, in the manufacture of their pet foods. The poisoned pet foods were then packaged and sold to US consumers.

Lab test results would later show the grain products from China contained high levels of melamine, a toxic (when ingested) plastic. Later reports would also reveal other poisons.

Weeks into the drama, the real truth was exposed regarding the nature of the poisonings. Labeled at first as an "accidental" poisoning, it turned it was no accident at all. The Chinese companies added the melamine because it artificially elevated the protein content of the wheat gluten, which raised its market value.

And the toxic pet foods scandal was just the first spattering, mere rain drops, which would quickly turn into a flood of bad news about other harmful products imported from China.

Shortly after the media revelation of the poisoned pet foods, I signed onto the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Recalls email list. Immediately, I got weekly (and later, daily) email notices of recalled products from China.

I was aghast to see the majority of the recalled items where made for children and contained high levels of lead. There seemed no end to the parade of products -- toys, clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories, furniture. . .

Months have gone by and the parade of tainted products continues. As the list grows, so grows my anxiety. I wonder what poison products will be discovered next? I am worried about the health of my grandchildren. I am worried about the health of other children in my family and the children of friends.

I also worry about the children of America. What will become of this generation of lead and chemical laden kids? What health and social effects will this wide-spread poisoning of the young have on the future of our country? What effect will these recalls have on our economy? What result will all this uncertainty have on our confidence as a people? Will we ever feel safe again?

Wanting to do something, anything, I began a campaign to weed out hazards in my home. It was during this search and purge, a sad realization dawned on me. I was a little shocked when I grasped the breadth and depth of how saturated our home environment was with goods made in China. Even worse was the discovery of how difficult it was to locate items made or manufactured right here in the USA.

It seems that over the past few decades, while I, and other Americans, went about our daily lives, blithely snapping up "bargains" left and right, a profound change was happening in our country. American made products where becoming an endangered species. And in their place, China slowly and slyly filled every nook and cranny of our lives with cheap, shoddy-- and often dangerous, goods. Like the evil Queen in the fairy tale Snow White, China handed us the poisoned apple, which we as a people willingly gobbled down. Oblivious or apathetic to the possible ramifications, we became stuporous; zombies staggering through the malls and markets in search of "baarrggains, baarrggains, more, more....Must buy more...." Always more.

Now slapped awake by harsh reality, we wipe the sleep from our eyes, only to realize that many American made products are nearly impossible to find.

So, my family and I have changed our shopping and buying habits. We no longer shop carelessly and frequently. We check the recall lists. We buy less and we buy less often. We buy used when we can.

When we do shop, we look to see where items are manufactured before we buy. We try to purchase only goods made in the USA. But most of all, we avoid products labeled with those 3 dreaded words: Made In China.

~~*~~

And finally, I created this blog. I want to share what I learn as I learn it, as well as spread the word about where to purchase Made in USA products. I also want to help promote local businesses.

As often as possible I will be posting not only information about where to buy USA goods, but also what businesses appear to be domestic but have sold out to China or other countries by outsourcing goods and services.

Thank you for reading my blog.

NOTE: Please email or submit in a comment to me, any information or urls you have regarding sites in the USA which make and sell goods to the public and I will post them.

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