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When Team U.S.A. walks into London's 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony, Friday, July 27, they'll be dressed in an outfit made entirely in China, reports ABC World News.
The news agency took a closer look at the outfit - created by famous American designer, Ralph Lauren - during their "Made in America" segment recently and found every piece was manufactured in China.
In response, Congressional leaders in both houses and both parties expressed outrage at the news.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. said that the U.S. Olympic committee should be "ashamed of themselves," according to ABC. Similarly, Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-OH. said, "You’d think they know better."
Several leaders have already called upon the U.S. Olympic Committee to ensure all future U.S. team’s uniforms be made in America. Others have asked they scrap current uniforms and have them remade by an American manufacturer over the next two weeks.
How do you feel about Team U.S.A. uniforms being made in China? Should they be remade in America in time for this Olympics? Or just make it a policy to be made here in the future? Take our poll and share your thoughts in the comments.
Yes. Why now? The New York Garment Industry died years ago. There was a campaign in the 1981 that had a commercial with women and men clothing workers and seamstresses who all sang a song that urged Americans to "Buy American". "Look For the Union Label". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO7VUklDlQw I used to purchase shirts only Made in America. It became increasingly hard to find any made here by the late 1990s. I occasionally found shirts made by a company called Orvis which were made in America. But these shirts were very expensive... $60, $75 and $90. I could buy similar shirts at Kohls for $20. Then Orvis started making shirts Made in India and Vietnam and I stopped buying the shirts. Before we get rid of these Olympic uniforms, let us first see where the other countries ... Italy, France, Spain, England, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, etc. uniforms are made .
This issue has no substance. As a country, we imported most of our clothes from overseas, our garment factories have been shutting down one by one since the 80's, so it is natural to outsource the making of our Olympic team's uniform to China.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. It represents a far bigger problem. The outsourcing of our manufacturing. The time has come that it is difficult for our military to find US manufacturers for many necessary parts and components of our weapons systems. They are buying some of this too overseas. That is not acceptable. It puts our national defense at great risk. We need to bring these jobs home and we need to do it now. It shouldn't be a partisan issue. It should be a issue that both parties can agree and act on with great haste.
As a post-industrial nation, we have moved up in the production chain, leaving the manufacturing phase to countries that can produce products at a lower cost than we can, while we take in the design and innovation work. For instance, Apple sells its iphones to phone companies at about 500 dollars a pop. It costs about 50 dollars to make an iphone in China or Taiwan. What do you prefer to have, 450 dollars for design and engineering, or 50 dollars for materials and manufacturing? The global economic cycle is here to stay; we should embrace it and make it work for our advantage.
Union House makes jeans in the USA but $45 may be too much for the average consumer who shops at Kohls, Target and Walmart. All USA Clothing sells American made clothese but you need to wait for them to go on sale... again theyare very pricey. I would buy these clothes at this price if it meant keeping jobs in the USA if President Obama put an embargo on Chinese made goods. I know most people reading this poll have Chinese, Asian and Indian made clothing in their closets and homes.