Saving the American Economy, One Pair of Pink Handcuffs at a Time

Can a $25 pair of pink handcuffs save the American economy? How about a $4.99 pack of playing cards? Made Movement thinks so.

Made is a marketing agency formed by a group of ad guys in Boulder, Colorado. Knowing that very few things are still made in America, they thought it was worth seeing what products might be added back into the domestic manufacturing mix. Partners Dave Schiff (who launched Coke Zero), Scott Prindle and John Kieselhorst (the former Creative Technology Director and Design Director, respectively, at Crispin Porter and Bogusky) won't be on the manufacturing side of the Made Movement, as they call it—they're just here to promote.

But they're not solely a marketing outfit, either. They've also been bitten by the flash-sale bug, and are the curators behind a "premium American-made products" retail site that launched in July.

"If there is a single idea we aspire to communicate, it's this," says Partner and Chief Creative Officer Schiff. "When you buy great American things, great things happen for America. The first thing that happens is, you get an awesome product. But beyond that, workers are supported, jobs are created, and the larger economy gets a little shot in the arm."

An eye-opening New York Times expose on the human cost of Apple's iPad manufacturing from earlier this year was a call to action for the founders and seems to guide a lot of their thinking about how manufacturing might change in the coming decade. Recalling the fallout from that article but also some of the positive changes that emerged from it, Schiff explains, "Consumers are starting to realize that 'It's great to have these things, but if the conditions are so miserable I don't know if I do want a product made in that way.' So conditions improve but then prices do, too."

Made Movement is banking on the notion that increasingly concerned consumers will spend more for stuff that's made here, especially if they understand that it might be beneficial to the domestic economy.

OK, so far so good. Lots of people are willing to invest in a resurgence in American manufacturing. Indeed, it's a centerpiece of our country's current economic strategy, which you can read all about in President Barack Obama's "Blueprint for an America Built to Last."

His plan outlines an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers and a renewal of American values. (And of course many on the right, though they may not support Obama's approach, are tireless advocates for buying American).

So this sounds great, right? Well, sort of...because Made shows up late to the party.

SF Made, for example, a public-facing and b-to-b nonprofit that's in many ways is a more benevolent form of a Chamber of Commerce functions as adviser, connector, and negotiator for local manufacturers large and small. Dodocase, is their exemplar: three tech guys who essentially rescued a bookbinder from obscurity by creating a tech-related need for his services: iPad covers).

But the Made Movement is offering a service that may come too late--literally--for manufacturing. Americans are pretty well aware that much of their merch isn't made here, but they're also pretty comfortable paying ridiculously low prices in return. Will stepping in at the point of sale make a dent? Will anyone--apart from those already frequenting competitive flash sales like Fab and Gilt or the curated subscription service, Quarterly--buy the twee assortment of goods on offer at Made? (In addition to the aforementioned games, other items on sale are T-shirts, notebooks, a blanket, a corset, an ax, and pink handcuffs).

"They are positioning themselves as being in the manufacturing space, yet have no expertise in it. They are simply trying to create a niche for themselves to recruit clients. And, it is going to be difficult to represent (without knowing the specific regions where the products are made and what is unique to them) and curate products from all over the country," observes SFMade's Senior Director Janet Lees.

"Exposure is probably the most important thing for small brands," she continues. "But having said that, what has worked so well for us is that we understand the manufacturing process itself, as well as having intimate knowledge of our city, our companies, their products, and their unique stories."Whether you're for or against serious investment in bringing back manufacturing in this country we can probably all agree that it's a formidable, highly complex challenge. Mind-bendingly complex. One need only look at the issues that have arisen in Chinese manufacturing (or in California's migrant farming industry, for that matter) to begin asking the question, can we really compete with a workforce who do repetitive labor for long hours with minimal pay? And do we want to?

The list of US-made products is a mixed bag that includes some well-known kitchen appliances, McRoskey mattresses, Maglite flashlights, Shop-Vacs, Intel chips (now, that's surprising), some tools, guitar strings, light bulbs, an infinite number of iPhone accessories, and SPANX. Most durable goods? Not made here. Cars? Some--but fewer than you think. Ford Focus? Made in Mexico. That Chrysler "imported from Detroit" in the Eminem ad? Made in Canada.

In July, many were up in arms over the discovery that TeamUSA's Olympic uniforms were in fact, made in China. The moral outrage over non-domestically produced garments (despite the fact that only two percent--two percent!--of clothing is currently made in America), achieved something rarely seen today: bipartisan agreement that this was a bad thing. "They should take the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them," declared Harry Reid, D-Nev forcefully. Resulting action stipulated that future Olympic uniforms would be made in America but did nothing to address the provenance of the remaining 98 percent of clothing not made here.

Jumping on the manufacturing bandwagon is not without its risks for a company like Made, who by their own admission, need to find clients that able to pay their not-insignificant agency retainer. Small-scale producers of things most often seen on Portlandia tend not to be those clients.

There's also a lot of baggage that comes with "Buy American" which Schiff acknowledges, used to mean "spend more money for a lesser product because it's the patriotic thing to do. It's hard to imagine a more flawed proposition, from the consumer's point of view, so it's no surprise this failed miserably."

Schiff insists things have changed and that his team has the right approach. "Today, 'Made in USA' is a very different proposition, aimed at a very enlightened consumer," he says. "It means getting the absolute finest product available, and knowing a bunch of good things happen as a byproduct of your purchase, including job creation, fair labor practice, EPA regulation, and reduced carbon emissions."

To ensure that this is true, Made will have to do a lot of due diligence. And each round of research may in fact reduce their potential client pool--which already is quite small.

When I asked Schiff about who he was working with, he replied, "I can only tell you about two at the moment, but I will swear on the Declaration of Independence the there are no fewer than five [clients]. The first is Eazl, a brand we just finished building from the ground up. They are in the growing direct-to-canvas category, where a consumer can turn any digital image into a physical canvas wrap at a fraction of the cost of traditional canvas, in a fraction of the time. The second is Bixbi, a pet food company recently founded in Boulder. Bixbi sells the only all-meat dog jerky that is sourced exclusively from US chickens, which is a big deal when you consider that similar treats sourced from China contain fillers and chemicals that save companies money, but have actually killed dogs. And of course, we have ourselves as a client as well, in the Made Collection, which we built and continue to promote as it grows."

Jerky for dogs and wall art? My dog might be healthier but I'm not feeling the economy rebound.

Says Schiff, "As this movement grows, there will be a bigger and bigger need for credentialing--for a smart but simple rating system to help consumers make the right decisions when it comes to things Made in the USA." But who is going to do that credentialing? It's Made's dream says Schiff, to represent a company that is currently offshoring a product but has brought it back to the U.S. Wouldn't it be cool, Schiff proposed, if Apple could at least produce some smartphones here? If they made a small run of the iPhone in red, white and blue, he suggested, people would pay a premium for that product.

But would they? Evidence suggests probably not.

It also suggests Made's clientele will most likely hew to the hipster...which is fine. However, they're not going to resuscitate the Rust Belt with that narrow an audience. And yet, Made's flash-sale site suggests that buying a cute T-shirt will do just that. When Schiff and I talked last week, he told me, "Now instead of feeling guilty when I buy something I can't really afford, I feel great knowing that I'm doing something great for the United States," I was started to get a little wary. Schiff's 'aw shucks' admission echoes the messaging on the Made Movement site (in all caps): "DO SOMETHING FOR YOUR SELF, DO SOMETHING FOR AMERICA." Each time you purchase a hand-selected premium product from Made Movement's flash sale, you're adding to what they call a "Boom score"-- a running tally of your positive impact on America.

That's right: The more stuff you buy the more America benefits.

Made Collection. Shopping With A Mission.

With a nod to Enrico Moretti's much talked about "The New Geography of Jobs," the Made folks explain that these Boom points are based on the multiplier effect.

"According to the Manufacturing Institute, for every dollar spent on a product made in America, an additional $1.40 is generated in surrounding sectors of the economy," says Schiff. "So when you buy something made in the USA, you're not just supporting the people who work at that company; you're supporting the economy at large. The Boom Point formula is simply the number of dollars you spend, times 1.4 (multiplier effect), times 10 (to make it more fun). So purchase of a 10-dollar item at Made Collection would earn you 140 Boom Points. Your overall Boom Score accrues as you shop, and Boom Points can be used to earn access to exclusive offers and deals (for instance, we might do free shipping, or early access to a future collection, or some other form of couponing)."

The brilliance of armies of sustainability marketers in the late 90s and the early 2000s was to convince us all that buying more product was good for the planet. Consumption was transformed into a virtuous act. Though the far clearer path to sustainability was (and is) to reduce consumption, the main thrust of "green" was to encourage not sacrifice but satiation. It's OK to buy that! It's good for the earth!

Made Movement's ambitions might come from the right place but when their investor and adviser Alex Bogusky is quoted as saying "Red, white and blue is the new green," it feels far too much like new clothes on the emperor.

Perhaps as Christian Guellerin argued when discussing the future of design education, it's time for the "Made In" voyage to "come to an end while "Designed By" is about to set sail. It's the latter label that will symbolize value, product quality, and image. Instead of defending the old-fashioned "Made In" concept which is tied to industrial know-how from the time when Western-made products were considered the epitome of quality, today it makes more sense to devote energy to establishing quality criteria that make an actual difference. If industrial productivity is not enough to single out Western businesses, value added must be sought elsewhere: in innovation, R&D, marketing, and design."

Made Movement wants to revive American manufacturing one product at a time but is red, white and blue the new black? Or just another way to justify our continuing love affair with consumerism?

Images courtesy of Made Movement