Made in USA movement grows in Seattle

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Made in China. Made in Taiwan. Does it matter where the toys, clothing and electronics you purchase were made? A Seattle entrepreneur, who learned first hand how challenging it can be to create a product in the USA, says it should.

In the 1960s, nine of every 10 products Americans bought for the holidays were made in the United States. Today, more than half of items purchased were manufactured outside of the country.

Liz Havlin had a great idea for a hairstyling tool she calls a Twistii. It’s an elastic hair band, 5-inch piece of plastic and a small chopstick that help girls put their hair up in different styles. But this isn’t a story about a hair styling tool. It about the challenge of manufacturing a clear piece of plastic and a stick. How difficult can that be?

Havlin thought it should be easy to produce her hair styling tool somewhere in the Northwest, or at least in the United States.

“It’s plastic. We just need a mold and then we’ll pop it out and we’ll be in all the stores and we’ll be rich,” she says. “That was my plan.”

That was 6 years ago. It took so long to bring this small item to store shelves because Havlin discovered manufacturing inexpensive products isn’t something the U.S. does very well today.

Decades ago American businesses turned to China to produce cheap tennis shoes, toys and electronics for us. Consumers loved it because we paid less for the stuff we wanted. Now many are feeling the hidden cost of these inexpensive products – job losses.

Factory jobs have shrunk by 25 percent in the past decade to 11.5 million today. President Obama wants to revitalize manufacturing, and yesterday announced his creation of the Office of Manufacturing Policy, which will be led by Commerce Secretary John Bryson and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling.

“At this make-or-break time for the middle class and our economy, we need a strong manufacturing sector that will put Americans back to work making products stamped with three proud words — Made in America,” Obama said in a statement.

Havlin finally found a place in America that can make her Twistii. It’s produced in Michigan and retails for $4.99.

Would it be cheaper to make in China, giving her a better profit margin?

“It might be less expensive, but the pride wouldn’t be there,” she says. “I worked on it for six years and wrote my own patent and struggled and kicked and pushed and pulled and fought so I really feel like I want to be able to one day be able to say look for the Made in the USA sign next to my product.”

Havlin started out on a quest to manufacture the Twistii in America. Now her career has taken a twist. She’s started an organization called Wear USA , based in the SoDo area of Seattle.

“If you have a great idea for a new bra that will revolutionize bras – thank goodness, someone hurry up and invent that – then we have places that will take your pattern and teach you how to turn it into a production pattern, produce sewing instructions, allow you to choose fabrics and produce your samples for you,” says Havlin.

Small start-up companies and entrepreneurs would benefit the most from having someone guide them through the USA manufacturing process, but will large clothing companies be interested in having their clothes made in America? Havlin admits large corporations don’t have a lot of incentive to switch to ramping up and making their products in the U.S., but consumers could give them a push.

She says while a lot of people are “very fanatical about Made in the USA products” the way to change large corporations’ behaviors is through “friendly conversations.”

“Go to your local Fred Meyer as you’re doing your Christmas shopping, and write a nice little note to put in the comment box that says, ‘Please, please, please next Christmas have available in the store Made in the USA t-shirts, socks and underwear,'” she suggests. “Let’s start there.”

Havlin, and others in Seattle who are a part of a growing Made in the USA effort, are planning a fashion show at the Space Needle early next year, showcasing clothing manufactured entirely in America.