grammyj

I lost my job due to outsourcing.I worked at Maidenform for 35 years sewing and they moved all their sewing factories to Mexico and a lot of the islands, I don't know about China. The politicians let the companies send the work over there and they get it done for hardly nothing and then bring it back here and sell it for big prices and pay no tariffs on it.
The government (aka)senators and congressmen have sold us out to fill their pockets!

grammyj

That's right Maidenform did the same thing , Made the whole bra some other country all but one little thing and put made in USA label. That's lying!!! But then they just did the whole thing there. I think Bill Clinton's NAFTA did a lot of factories in. What a shame.

adrianlee

The move to factories outside our country first began in the garment industry over 50 years ago. Do some checking on the history and you will find it there. The political party in power at that time did not stop it. Even the unions could not prevent it. Don't know what the answer is but our senators and congressmen need to work together. I agree with grammyj.

dgrindey

I agree with you

jdavis

I've been enlightened, again, by all of you well-informed ladies.
A point I'd like to add, with regard to fabric and manufacturing going overseas is that I worry about the end result on the environment. Other countries don't have the same requirements as far a dangerous materials being used (ie. lead), and what goes into the waste stream. After these beautiful fabrics are dyed/printed, how much of the dyes, etc end up in the water table, or even directly into streams and rivers?

mommafank

If you like to read, there is a very touching book by Rick Bragg about the demise of a cotton mill inthe area where he grew up. He interviewed the people then wrote it. "The Most They Ever Had". Short read but very touching.

Favorite Fabrics

I found this plot synopsis and it sounds very interesting!

"In spring of 2001, a community of people in the Appalachian foothills came to the edge of all they had ever been. Across the South, padlocks and logging chains bound the doors of silent mills, and it seemed a miracle to blue-collar people in Jacksonville, Alabama, that their mill survived. The century-old hardwood floors still trembled under whirling steel, and people worked on in a mist of white air. The mill had become almost a living thing, rewarding the hard-working and careful with the best payday they ever had, but punishing the careless and clumsy, taking a finger, a hand, more. The mill preceded the automobile, the airplane, and they served it even as it filled their lungs with lint and shortened their lives. In return, it let them live in stiff-necked dignity in the hills of their fathers. In these real-life stories, Rick Bragg brilliantly evokes the hardscrabble lives of those who lived and died by an American cotton mill."

Texasjunebug

I understand your very valid concern for the environment, and working conditions. It should not be the reason to send all the "dirty work" overseas though. How fair is it to the foreign workers?

A better solution would be to use technology to design and build equipment and processes that clean and recycle the water and dyes needed to manufacture the goods everyone needs. If that was a priority, manufacturing would be a safe industry for every economy - and each region would have the opportunity of jobs to purchase what they make. Any extra could be sold to areas where manufacturing is just not possible for whatever reason.

Clean water is the next huge commodity - and the power over it will literally rule the world.

quiltjoey

My great grandparents, grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, and older sisters worked in the Graniteville, SC mills. When they close they moved to Augusta, Ga and worked in the Riverside and Siblie Mills for years. In the late 50's-early, early 60's, they went to the Mill to work that day and the gates at the Mills were chained and locked with large signs that said,"Mill Closed and will not reopen." They all lost jobs and all monies they had invested in the mill in the form of retirement plans. My family did not receive health care, and there were no unions nor did they make $10.00 or more an hour. They made $4-5 per hour. They worked long hard hours without a/c in SC and GA in the summers in those mills. They went lazy people who didn't want to work.
The mills moved out of the Country simply because the owners, stakeholders would gain larger profits at a lower cost. It also happened to the steel mills in the North. We also began to see the farms being slowly bought up by the large food processing companies as well.... Because my family was so affected, I paid attention the all those things happening but as a young person I really didn't understand all of it. I really came to light with the NAFTA bill. I understand it all now. It is so sad. There are hundreds and hundreds of mills all over SC and GA and NC that was a hugh part of the textile industry. They just sit idle now and are falling into decay. I was in Gastonia yesterday at Mary Jo's Fabrics and saw the mills that are still closed and sitting idle there. The clerk at Mary Jo's said the bins that were empty where bolts normally go are most likely not to be refilled. Also any bolt that had "all" written on the end meant that there would be no more of that fabric. It would no longer be available. I think that we should buy fabric where ever we can and on our budget. If it be at LQS, Goodwill, second hand stores, etc. Hopefully things will improve but I don't want to wait and not have any fabric to sew. We know cotton lasts a long time so it won't spoil or go bad if kept properly!! Good quilting everyone!! I love this board....

Dodie

this has been an interesting discussion thanks everyone to adding to it but I do believe America is changing forever never to be the same againlike someone else said here it is headed for a 3rd world contry