Crafting the latest trends in global footwear used to be the pride of U.S. shoe industry workers, but most of those jobs left long ago for Asia. Now, the American sneaker factory could be coming back — with robots doing most of the work.
Source: Is sneaker production making a return run to the US?
This article featuring NPD’s Matt Powell leaves out a company and focuses on the big boys primarily. Over the last four years Greg Salas owner of LASCO has been producing footwear in the heart of Los Angeles. There hasn’t been much fanfare. He launched a Kickstarter campaign for his Made in the US sandals Ola, and the Kickstarter didn’t fund. The footwear he was making with LASCO went unnoticed until this past year when he took on the Nike Yeezy and recreated the Nike model in two different colorways with the Golden Child, a hand and machine crafted golden version of the Yeezy 2 featuring the outsoles from the Agassi; and the Veg October the first version of the Yeezy inspired creations from LASCO featuring vegetable tanned leather. (Pics below).
The Speedfactory by adidas will open in Georgia and Reebok is discussed here, but there is work being done in the US. The question is will Made in the USA actually factor into the purchasing decision by potential customers? I don’t think so. America is for convenience. This is why Wal-Mart is so powerful and Amazon dominates online sales. Americans may have voted for a return to manufacturing, but their actions undercut their own vote. The same people hoping for a return to manufacturing in the US, are the same people who fight for the lowest prices and actually refuse to support small business and Made in the USA products right now. It shouldn’t take President Trump to make a statement with a repeal of TPP, all it takes is a conscious consumer. The real question is will President Trump change the buying habits of the US? I don’t think so. Click the source link for more info.
