This I like

[redbird]

I bought some new sneakers recently, having worn out the previous pair. I got two pairs, one black and one white, otherwise identical. I've been breaking in the black ones over the last week, and this afternoon decided to start breaking in the white ones.

I just noticed a tag that fell out of the shoebox. New Balance is proud of—or thinks their customers will be pleased by—manufacturing their shoes in the United States.

The tag says

Committed to American Workers

Solidaire des Travailleurs Américains

The entire text, including that the FTC defines what "made in USA" means, is printed in English and French (no Spanish). I infer that it's easier to meet Canadian labeling rules by printing the little bit of advertising in both languages than to take it out of shoeboxes being sent to Canada, where customers aren't likely to be as impressed by "made in United States" in any language.

Oddly, there are two other tags attached to this one, both only in English. One says that they're supporting breast cancer research; the other boasts about the design of this particular model of shoe.

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

When I worked for companies producing stuff for worldwide distribution, they tried to minimize the number of ways they need to package and label. So "North America" got English and French; and dealers in Mexico used the "Latin America"standard package. And if a customer or two turned up in Brazil, we'd ask if they could read English, French, German, or Spanish. It might be different for shoes, because they are sold directly to customers for such a pedestrian application.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

That all makes me wonder whether those shoes were made in the USA or in Canada. "American workers" could mean either, if you're feeling particularly weasel-wordy.

Makes me think I'll look for those tags the next time I replace my 621s. I'll be interested to see if I find them, or whether they think us Kiwis will be happy with the "Made in Viet Nam" ones.

[redbird]

It says "Manufactured in the U.S.A."

"American" is used for the entire hemisphere in the areas from Mexico south: I recall reading Neruda and running across a line that I could not see how to translate into U.S. English without introducing confusions that hadn't been in the original: "Sube conmigo, amor americano," "Come up with me, my American love," where the Chilean Neruda was referring to the continent and possibly more to South America than North, and certainly not to the U.S.

U.S. citizens don't use it, and I don't think Canadians do.