LL Bean's fall mail order catalogue has just arrived in many households. The catalogue lists hundreds of items such as shirts, sleepwear, jeans, outdoor gear, duck boots, and winter clothing in its pages. The problem is that, with one exception, all of the products advertised are imported. Only one half a page advertises products made in the USA - rubber matts suitable for collecting pet droppings or boot storage. What has happened to LL Bean epitomizes everything that has gone wrong with the U.S. economy - a refusal by corporate moguls and the 1% to invest in American manufacturing and our workers driven by a relentless quest to find the lowest manufacturing costs, the long-term, adverse consequences be damned.
Currently, LL Bean manufactures 425 products in the USA that are available in its online store but that number is a very small percentage of LL Bean's entire product line and constitutes less than 10% of its overall portfolio.* The company's American made products include their iconic duck boots and several other popular items. Home goods - blankets, chairs, tables - compose the largest number of its American made products at over 47% while footwear represents a mere 21% of its American made product lines. A majority of its American made items are manufactured at its factory in Brunswick, Maine.
The overwhelming g proportion of LL Bean products are made overseas at LL Bean factories in China, Vietnam, India, El Salvador, Turkey, Bangladesh, Mexico, and Korea.
Currently, LL Bean manufactures 425 products in the USA that are available in its online store but that number is a very small percentage of LL Bean's entire product line and constitutes less than 10% of its overall portfolio.* The company's American made products include their iconic duck boots and several other popular items. Home goods - blankets, chairs, tables - compose the largest number of its American made products at over 47% while footwear represents a mere 21% of its American made product lines. A majority of its American made items are manufactured at its factory in Brunswick, Maine.
The overwhelming g proportion of LL Bean products are made overseas at LL Bean factories in China, Vietnam, India, El Salvador, Turkey, Bangladesh, Mexico, and Korea.
Is it any wonder that, for all of the clamor to purchase American -made products and to rebuild the economy, manufacturing in the U.S. - as a share of the total output of goods and services - has continued to decline? As consumer choices become ever fewer, the flood of foreign imports rend will be hard to reverse. The consequences for a consumer -oriented economy such as ours are dire. Consumers are forced to wait ever longer for products because of an elongated supply claim that is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions in foreign trade caused by climate change, inventory shortages, wars and future pandemics. In the long run, because of the continued loss of well-paying jobs, aggregate demand in the U.S. economy will also falter because families will earn less and have less to spend.
How we collectively choose to spend our consumer dollars is up to us. Each of us must take responsibility for the personal decisions that we make - whether as consumers or as voters.
*All American Reviews. "Is LL Bean Made in the USA?" April 17, 2021)