CHINOS

Sad but true I called chaco and spoke to them last year about this year.

 

Sad but true I called chaco and spoke to them last year about this year.

Chinos?, oh I get it now...

 

News on the Sale: Wolverine devours Chaco — High Country News

 

I will continue to wear my Made in Colorado Chaco's proudly!

 

Just goes to show YouTube - James McMurtry "We Can't Make It Here"

 

So does anyone have a good alternative option that they like? I need some god boat sandals.

 

I'm certain I won't be sending them to China to take advantage of the wonderful warranty and customer service I was sold on.

 

Sad... Especially since I am chacos #1 fan!
You can still find the old kind (made in the us) on ebay. I think I will stockpile a few pair and wear them over time.
I mean c'mon......boating in anything besides chacos?

 

Unfortunate, but true. It is cheaper to pay some overseas person to put together Chacos for sale in the USA than someone in Colorado. And, as long as the USA public will continue to buy Chaco's the brand will make money.

Some decades ago, the politicians and big industry got together and decided it was cheaper to make goods overseas than in the USA. Combine the various federal, state and local laws plus onerous union wage and seniority rules and it was easy for the accounting management types to justify moving manufacturing overseas.

Made sense from a purely accounting look. Cheap oil made for cheap massive container ships to transport goods from where ever it was cheapest to make them. Quality might suffer but it was good enough to get by.

At this point in time, we have plenty of cheap, mostly just good enough to get by things to buy. The bad thing is our base of USA people with good jobs and money to spend is fast going away.

When the USA economy is based on consumer buying, but the consumers have lost their jobs to overseas operations that do not have the work rules the USA does - something has to give. And, right now it is happening. The fastest growing economies are all outside the USA.

I see it all the time. Example: Boaters looking for cheap propane stoves (almost all of which are made in China - look at the labels) and complaining about the initial cost of a Partner Steel stove made in Idaho USA. Buy one Partner Steel stove and use it for the rest of your life or pick up a cheap China made one and throw it away every couple years. It is an individual's choice as to how to spend their money. The bad thing is if Partner Steel stoves took over the market, my bet is pretty soon the company would sell out to say Coleman for big one time bucks and Idaho jobs would move somewhere else.

I do not have the total answer. I just know it seems like the USA is in a race to the bottom when it comes to taking care of our economy.

 

Welcome to free enterprise at its finest.

 

this sucks. but, i think the chaco rubber was starting to destroy my feet anyway.

so, what's the alternative?

Keen?

 

I have a pair of Keen H2 with nylon straps

Great toe protection, poor traction.

Cannot find a made in label, but would bet China is where they come from.

Seem to be expensive for what they are but so far my pair has held up well after a year or so of use.

I have a pair of Chaco's original issue that did not wear out after many years of use, just got a bit tight on my feet. Got another size larger pair on sale at CKS BV a few years back. Bomber build and I like the way my feet dry out after boating. Toe protection is low for rafting use in my opinion. Sad to see Chaco's go overseas.

 

http://www.veresandals.com/new2/
I have never seen a pair in person. Seems like a nice idea.

 

My husband and I are NOT fans of Keens. We've each gone through 3 pair over 3 years, when our made in CO Chacos have lasted multiple years. We both had the back ankle straps give out on our Keens. I also don't like how little pebbles collect in the toes and you constantly have to take them off to empty out the dirt/rocks, especially during hikes.

 

If only we (as a nation) still subscribed to the philosophy "what's good for my neighbor is good for me" instead of "every man for himself".

It looks like Chaco's will be like my old favorite Alps, quickly turning into junk. I like the Ebay idea, I may have to stock up myself.

 

Laura, I SOOOOO miss my Alps. Those were the days, when outdoor gear was expensive and lasted for years...

 

Damn! Just bought a new pair of Chacos, and sure enough says Made in China.....had no idea. The pair I was going to retire still says made in CO....now I'm feeling sentimental, maybe I can eek one more summer out of them.....

Sad news, I loved my Chacos, been faithful to them since the Alps factory burned down. (been a while since I have heard Alps mentioned....)

 

So I wonder if we can still get our USA made Chacos repaired in the USA?

 

i sent mine in and they send em to michigan...sounds like they still fix em at wolverine products.

 

Personally i'm looking at a pair of keen hydro guide sandals next, although I wish the sides weren't so built up. I've had a pair of Keen flip flops for a few years and I love them - countless toe stubs avoided.

 

Keens seem to be made in china as well. At least that's the info I found online.

 

I was wondering why people were assuming others were made in the US.

 

I just sent an email to Vere Sandals, told them about this thread, and informed there is a spot in the market for them. Maybe others can do the sam to help convince them.

Hello,

I would like for you guys to take a look at this thread, that you were mentioned in, on the MountainBuzz forums. MountainBuzz is a whitewater online community. Most of the members are rafters and kayakers many of whom have been using Chaco sandals for quite some time. They used to be based out of Paonia, CO however, recently they were bought out by Wolverine World Wide, Inc.

Wolverine has since moved production abroad (China, I believe). Now a once great, to use part of your motto, "made here." sandal company is "made there." and we are looking for a replacement. As far as I can tell you only are producing "thong" style sandals that don't work to well for whitewater because they easily fall off. I believe a new "made here. made better." sandal with heel strap (or another way to secure them on your feet) would be a hit.

Thank You,

 

It's funny - just got a flyer in the mail today from good ol Chaco USA with a Michigan mailing address. I guess they thought someone from Carbondale, 5o miles miles from Paonia, wouldn't know they're full of shit. I love my Chaco's - in fact two days ago was the first day of the year I wore them. Summer is officially here. God damn chineese chaco producing bastards.

 

Why blast the Chinese, aren't they just opportunists? Most folks don't like paying a premium to support manufacturers here in the USA--so, those companies eventually look for cheaper production costs to compete, or sell out to larger companies who produce their products overseas.

Most consumers have a double standard, they want the best deal but don't want to pay the true cost to keep these jobs here, and then bemoan the loss of said jobs. Welcome to the new world economy. What brand of boat do you own? I own a Sotar...and two pairs of Chacos made in Paonia

 

I love how 99% of the things we buy, all of our consumer goods, a huge portion of our food, our fuel, everything in life- it comes from overseas. But try to move production for little sandal company to China! Try taking the made in China label out of parts of your life besides your hobby/past-time, I want to see you try. Why is it so much more noble to have a raft that was made in the USA than a car? Was that PVC material that Sotar so poorly welded together actually made in the USA? I kind of doubt it. I bet DuPont makes that shit somewhere with an affluent pipe directly into the ocean. Did all those fancy aluminum tubes actually get made in the US, or are they made in USA because some guy at NRS cut them and drilled some holes in them- I'd bet on the latter. What a bunch of ironic and whiney little brats.

 

You have some really good points Marco, though one of your analogies used an incorrect example of globalization. What's more, you used it on a whitewater sports forum specifying products used and made much differently than your example. Other than the Sotar reference, good job.

 

ABC news a few weeks ago took a standard family living in Dallas TX and took everything out of their house not made in the USA.

I was bare to the walls.

Then they went back to refurnish it with stuff made in America. took a while, lots of telephone calls but they finally did it. Put the house back together and looked better than before and the total cost was actually a bit cheaper altho it took a lot of work to track down the stuff. I think there was one item maybe it was a coffee maker they could not find made in USA, but they did find one totally assembled in the US.

They also looked at the curio shop in Congress and every US flag and souvenir was made in China or off shore.

Bottom line: It is real easy to go to WalMart, Target or what ever and pick up a cheap deal that works well for the near future. But with a bit of work, we could find a lot of made in US items to spend our money on. Long term, could make a real difference. If every one did a few dollars more each year on US products, big difference.

Same for food. I spent a lot of time boating down in Central and South America. Big deal down there was to be sure food was washed with some cleaner stuff before us gringos ate it. Now, take a look on the side of the produce we buy in the market. My bet is you would be very surprised that most of it comes from Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador etc etc. And, my bet is a lot of us never wash off the veggies thinking that is done by the USA regs. Wrong, just washing off veggies in plain water goes a long way to making them safer to eat.

 

My first pair of Chacos were made in Colorado. I didn't wear them out, but they were the first generation of "ZX2"'s with the double criss-cross straps. They strangle my big toes. I bought a pair just before they were sold to wolverine, but after they sent them to China. Sad thing is, my Made in China chacos are much more comfortable. Not only do they not strangle my toes, but they also have a more cushioned footbed while still maintaining the support that we all love. My other ones were so hard that they hurt my feet after long hours in them. I'll keep wearing both pairs and keep buying chacos because I love the product.

For the record, your chaco "flips" were probably made in china no matter what year you bought them.

 

American greed fuels this problem. How many of you shop at Wal-Mart? Are you willing to pay more for something made nearby? This is the root of the problem. Everybody trying to squeeze a buck. Many of the outdoor based companies start and mean well, yet fall to the simple and easiest methods to gain profit.

We are all guilty of trying to get the most for the least. Until this attitude stops, we will continue to see this pattern and "development" of business travel to the cheapest countries/areas.

What about Aire making boats in Idaho, yet NRS in Mexico. Why is that?



-TDA

I

 

Simple fact is it's not a lost or getting back type of issue. The US still leads the world in manufacturing (for the time being). What we have done is almost consciously and intentionally outright abandoned certain segments and industries because we can make higher profit margins in other sectors. Clothing and cheap consumer goods being high on the list. We just gave up on places where margins aren't high enough to essentially justify our time or effort. We'd rather make the big and technical stuff instead of toys and shirts.

In niche markets like rafting small manufacturers can still survive (like someone mentioned Sotar or Maravia) because people value the unique product. $100 pair of sandals is a lot to swallow for most. It is the "invisible hand" at work in real time.

 

Ugh! I just saw the "made in China" tag on the Chacos I bought last year. I justified the $100 cost based on good reviews. I guess I should be satisfied if they last two years. My previous NRS and Merrell's cost $50 and barely lasted one year.