My father would pick me up for the weekend in a pickup truck with bumper stickers that read “Buy American”, “Support American Workers”, and the like. I never asked about them. Even at a young age, I somehow knew it was important. The American-made Chevrolet pick-up truck is long gone but the bumper stickers still stick with me today.
It’s different now. My dad put those stickers on the Chevrolet truck he drove back and forth to the transmission plant where he was employed as a millwright. We’re lucky here in Toledo, Ohio. The plant is still there, having gone through a handful of name changes since I was a little girl. But it being there tomorrow isn’t something that today’s generation can count on.
So let’s fast forward to today if you don’t mind.
My pretty pink iron fell to the concrete basement floor. I knew it before I even looked at it. It seems everything is plastic these days. It was done for. It didn’t look too bad when I picked it up; a crack and a small piece of plastic broke off. But when I tried to get it to turn back on, I got nothing.
It was going to be hard enough to find a pink iron again. Let alone a pink iron made in the USA. Off to Google.
After at least an hour of searching, I found the information I was looking for but didn’t want to hear. There weren’t any American-made irons anymore. The best I could do was a Rowenta made by our German allies.
I couldn’t wait for delivery. I needed the iron now. Not to mention, that’s a pretty pricey iron for a lady with a concrete laundry room floor.
So off I went again. My sweet husband carted me to multiple stores in my area so I could get in and out quick with door drop-offs and wouldn’t have to get our son in and out of his car seat.
I couldn’t find a Rowenta anywhere. I picked up iron after iron to read the label and iron after iron was made in China. Just writing this brings back that sick-to-my-stomach feeling I felt while I was reading the labels.
I admit it. I settled on an iron that wasn’t made in the USA or by our German ally. Made in China. Ugh.
After that, it became my mission to be more prepared before I had to make a purchase. I set out to know as much as I could off-hand, without having to think about it, which brands and which products are made in the USA. And I did. The list got too big to keep in my head.
Around the same time, my friends and I were regularly discussing politics, China, the trade deficit, and any number of other things related to the United States, our economy, and our supply chain weaknesses.
That’s when it hit me. I needed to record my list of made in the USA brands and products and then share my list, my resources, and my joy when I successfully found another American made product.
I officially abandoned the mommy blog that I wasn’t that excited about anyway, my personal crafting time, let my garden grow too many weeds, and reorganized my desk. Then I got to work.
What we have here at madeintheusamatters.com is a byproduct of my personal list of made in the USA products. It’s an ever-growing directory of American made products and brands organized in a way that I would look for them if I was preparing to make a purchase.
The list is no longer my list. The directory of American made products and brands made in the USA now includes things I’ll never need myself, resources found by readers, and submissions from American manufacturers big and small.
I hope madeintheusamatters.com is a helpful resource for you and your family and supports you greatly in your own commitment to purchase items that are made in the USA.
God Bless America!
