Saturday, September 29, 2007

Dishes, part one



Corelle dishwares are made in Corning, NY (home of the glass factory!). They offer many different styles and patterns, and have kept up with the changing times, and now make Asian style dishes, which are usually square-shaped. They come with great warranties, and even offer break-resistant ones, which were fun in my undergrad days because we HAD to test them out by throwing them against the counter...and watching them bounce to the floor, completely unharmed. JOB WELL DONE, Corelle!

Also, Anchor Hocking makes casserole dishes and other glass dishes, IN AMERICA. This company offers a nice package of dishes, plastic covers, and travel sleeves that keep the food warm, for an insanely low price. Great wedding gift.
Anchor Hocking Six Piece Oven Basics Bake 'n Take, as seen above. Anchor also makes measuring cups (glass) in America.

Pyrex pie plates. Made in America.

Support your neighbor.

I have to introduce you to one of my addictions. Http://www.etsy.com . Home of everything home-made. Purses. Earrings. Dog clothing. Soap. I know a lot of it is probably made of foreign materials, but maybe you'll sleep easier having that CUSTOM MADE pillow case under your head, knowing that etsyuser22's children have an extra slice of bread to split equally at dinner tomorrow.

In all seriousness, it's a great site.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Email

I sent a message to both Alloy and Delia's, two companies that started out as mail-order catalogs but now offer both catalog and web-page ordering. I originally thought that the two were competitors, but based on the identical responses, I now know that at least their customer service is sourced through the same company.

Hi Jenna,

Thank you for contacting us at Alloy.com. We will be
happy to assist you today.

Because our merchandise comes from several different
vendors, we do not have specifics on each country
of origin. If you would like to inquire
about a specific item, we will do our best to assist you.
Otherwise we are unable to generalize based on the
previous information given.

If you have any other questions or comments please
email or call us at
1-888-50-ALLOY from 8am to 12am EST, 7 days a week. We
appreciate your
business and are pleased to be able to assist you.
Again, thanks for e-mailing Alloy.com!

New Fall Arrivals - Shop now!
http://store.alloy.com/frontpage.do?_QQ=8-73

Thank you,

Naomi
ALLOY Customer Service





Original Message Follows: ------------------------
Hello,

I'm writing to you to inquire, are any of your products made in
America?
If so, which ones?

_________________________________________________________________________

Delia's provided the same response, with obvious changes to
contact information.

After sending this email, but before receiving their
responses, I realized that at the end of
every
description in the Alloy catalog, it states either "USA."
or "Imported.". After receiving their response, it makes
me wonder what that "USA." means--I'm guessing that
the fabrics are mainly imported, but are assembled
in the United States. Better than being completely
made abroad, I suppose.
I do not have a Delia's catalog to look at, however,
a GOOD PORTION of the Alloy catalog has the
"USA" label at the end of the description.


It's a start.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Day One

All this talk of globalization, global warming, buying locally...
I guess it finally triggered something in me. I have browsed online a few times now looking for (mainstream) products that are currently made in America. I wasn't able to find a website like this, though I did find several that supported buying American. My problem with these sites is that the links they provided did not offer much--most of the clothing sites were for blue-collar men to wear to work...with maybe ONE item for women, that one item being a very boring, plain, fitted t-shirt.

So despite being an International Business grad student...I decided to make time in my life to create the website that I wanted to find in my search, but couldn't. Through this blog, I hope to provide curious consumers like myself with a database of items we use, or see advertised, everyday, that are actually made in America. It's not that I don't support the small businesses that the other websites link to, it's more that I don't want to buy something I absolutely hate, just to buy something in the name of buying American.

Here goes nothing.