MAINE-March 17,2012 - For those of us who despair at the US worker's unpreparedness for life in the 21st century, look no further than the cautionary tale of Dansko, the Philadelphia-based manufacturer of expensive clogs and high end shoes.
Under the guidance of Dansko's founders and owners, the company is striving to make the "Made in America" moniker a reality. It is attempting to do what few US shoe companies have been able to do in the last 30 years: that is, to make in America the shoes that it sells to Americans.
According to an article in the Portland Press Herald, that it lifted from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dansko is adding the finishing touches to a plan for a new line of shoes to be made from molds in a stateside factory. Production could begin as early as 2013, that is next year.
According to the article, 80 percent of Dansko's clogs and other ergonomically designed shoes are assembled in China, and 20 percent in Italy.
If all goes well, Dansko hopes to manufacture a new clog from recyclable material in Arkansas next year. A non-recyclable version called Avalon Pippa debuted this spring in stores. It is made in China.
Now, gentle reader, before your chest puffs up with pride at the thought that you, the American consumer, will be able to purchase shoes that are genuinely 'Made in America,' wait a moment!
What this Philadelphia Inquirer article implicitly asks is: Where is the American worker who has the skill and the desire to assemble shoes in this country? Is there such a person?
MusingsintheMaine stream notes that Dansko LLC's owners, Mandy Cabot and husband Peter Kjellerup, have previously tried employing American workers to make their clogs - but abandoned those efforts when those Maine-based workers were unable to produce clogs of a quality that this husband and wife team could stand behind.
They abandoned Maine because their shoemaker employees were not craftsmen (and craftswomen) enough to do the job. And this from a state that not that many years led the world in well made craftsmentlike footwear.
The Philadelphia Inquirer article quotes Cabot as saying that she and her husband would have loved to have continue to making their clogs in Maine, but that "... attrition in the workers and workforce up there (Maine)..." was such that "we simply couldn't continue.
Now, Governor Le Page, whose state is "Open for Business," Dansko is trying again - this time in Arkansas. What, dear Governor, are you going to do to try and bring skilled craftsmen and craftswomen back to Maine and to keep them here?
End
No comments:
Post a Comment