Some of you guys on here know that I recently released a vest back in January. if you have not seen it you can check it out at www.groundedbrand.com. I am currently working on some new products and wanted to get everyone's opinion.
Manufacturing items in the USA is expensive as compared to going overseas. We all would love to support our local economy but it has to be justifiable. There is a SMALL opportunity for me to get a few products made here in the USA. However that would mean that your price would be higher. This leads to my next question.
Would you be willing to pay a good bit more for products made here is the USA? For example a pair of
lightweight gloves made here would normally run your $15-25. Would you be willing to spend $40 on them if they were here?
The higher end pants cost $80-$100 would you be willing to pay $150-$180 per pair if they were made in the states?
Looking forward to hearing everyone's responses. I will be glad to answer any questions that I can. I have small kids and my plate is full so it may take me a day or two to respond but I WILL respond.
-Drew
I always try and purchase products made in USA if available. I will pay more if it's a quality product. I am to poor to buy cheap.
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If I'm paying $100 for pants, I can and will pay $150 for them if made here.
Same for gloves.
I expect better quality if I pay the higher price when compared to lower priced non domestic products though.
It is a tricky situation, everyone cries about cheap China junk, then someone makes a quality USA made product and everyone cries it is over priced.
There is always a group of guys who will pay a premium for quality!
Buy once cry once!
I think Dtrkyman nailed it. The problem I see is in your two examples the products are at least double the price of the lower end price point. So the question becomes are you will to pay twice the amount for the same quality product? If the quality of the product is twice as good as the lower end then maybe. The problem becomes how do you demonstrate the quality of a product? Maybe a real good warranty? Interesting conundrum.
I'm sure your products are well made with that being said, i came up thru times were money was hard to come by and camo wasn't a thing we just had to have to kill game. We hunted in whatever we could afford this included jeans and no - insulated rubber boot or some kind of leather boots. Lot of these items were hand me downs from grandparents, fathers and older brothers. You can be successful regardless what products your wearing outdoors. Would i pay 100 - 150 dollars for hunting paints, no i wouldn't. Would i pay almost 200 dollars for turkey vest, no i wouldn't regardless were it's made. I just have to be honest and say 50 dollars would be high for me to pay for a pair of hunting pants. Sure as I've gotten older and can afford some of the better hunting products, i have spend just over 100 dollars for camo coveralls and insulated boot's. etc.. Now buying guns and turkey calls is a whole different story.. LOL... This is just my opinion. But i do like stuff like everyone else that's made in the USA... I don't fault anyone for buying what they can afford to be successful in the outdoor.
I agree with Greg. For me it is more about if something is disposable vs an heirloom. Vest? I would pay more for better quality and perfect fit, but it better last 10 seasons. Pants and shirts? No way. I think of them as disposable. My favorite mouth call is a cheap production call and I have a ton of them. I am comfortable with them and they are disposable. I have custom pot calls that I like and use, although I have an old one that is a cheapo that I have killed so many birds with or called in for others it has become a keepsake for me. I just bought a new leafy jacket and paid the premium for American made. It should last a while. My last one was 10+ years.
For duck hunting, I have some Filson Waxed Cotton pants. They are like iron, gross looking, expensive and I will have them for a long time. Paid big for them. Worth every penny. Pendelton wool shirts, McCalister cotton duck shirts - worth the premium.
I would be hard pressed to spend more than $50 on a pair of pants....seems like barbed wire does not care if you spend $50 or $150 on pants. A jacket or vest, I would be more apt to spend some coin. $40 gloves...nope. I'm been in situations before where a glove or sock had to be sacrificed.
i would not be willing to pay that much more for an equal product if the only discernible difference is where the product is made. Now, I'm always willing to pay more, even considerably more, if the product is made of superior materials and superior craftsmanship, with a warranty to reflect that it is a superior product (ie longer more flexible warranty than a similar overseas made product).
If said product is of better quality for the difference in the price I would, saying it's going to out last, out perform I'm all about paying for a quality product and then top it off made in USA :z-winnersmiley:
MK M GOBL
$150 camo pants probably aren't in my future. I can get some very satisfactory camo pants for around $40.
I will pay well for a good vest, maybe 10% more if made in America. Sometimes the budget outweighs the made in America feelings.
Gloves, I'd be very unlikely to spend more than $20 for lightweight gloves. They accomplish little and tend to get lost. Britches, I'd probably top out in the $125 range for lightweight britches, possibly $150 but that would absolutely have to be pants that held up for years and years and preferably offered something other currently available products didn't offer. I think about a brand like Sitka (which I don't personally like) and their gear garners the price it does because it lasts forever. I know people wearing bibs and parkas they bought twelve or fifteen years ago. Buy once, cry once is very real so you're going to have to be sure you're selling a buy once product. If the quality is there and you're offering something no one else is, I think you could get that. It's a matter of branding and customer trust. Only one way to build that. But there are certainly plenty of companies currently getting those type prices (First Lite, Sitka, KUIU, etc.). The market is there.
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I try to buy everything I have made in USA. We all know how tough that is. It's all about quality. USA goods are usually quality made. I have come across USA made stuff that did not hold up. That was due to the raw materials that were used. Quality has two main criteria, high level, well made raw materials is number one. Number two is how those materials get put together, in essence, what talent level craftsman (or Craftswoman) actually makes the product. Success for the end product is quality/competent labor putting together high level quality products. I am, and have paid a premium for products that have both. We all have to hope that the "Made in the USA" label actually does mean quality labor turning out long lasting quality products. Quality control measures hopefully prevent inferior USA products from getting to the market place. That should hopefully be all part of our made in the USA label......that is in my opinion worth a premium....be safe, best of luck Drew...
Just gonna say... I looked at the vest and man, I absolutely love it! I spent a lot of money over the last couple of years buying a couple vests...wish I would have seen this! I will buy one of these when I need a new vest. Will spend more for American Made!
I agree with the American ???????? made but as all have said it would have to be superior quality all the way and I mean everything thing. It will have to last last last. The product would have to offer the best warranty in the world, there is give and take until it is a proven product something will have to be offered for people to believe in the product. The Sitka, Kuiu, First Lite etc. all could be made here but it would cut into company profits.
No long this or that story here, If it's made in the USA I will buy it every time over China virus junk. :smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!
My opinion, I think there's definitely a market for that. You won't get everybody for sure, just look at this post. But you wouldn't get everybody anyway. Your marketing would be key. I've seen it work with Kuiu. There's isn't solely based on a USA made platform but a platform where they are buying the very best materials out there, and the consumer is going to pay a price for it. There is also no middle man markup. People will pay for quality and they'll pay for American made. I don't need a turkey vest at the moment but when I did I would buy your product if it has the quality you say it has and the reputation of it confirms so.
I will pay more for, and seek out made in USA goods. even better if you can add cool features. I'd love to see a pair of lightweight gloves like some old UA ones I have with padded knuckles. or pants with pockets for slip on knee pads and well thought out zippered pockets.
I go out of my way to buy US made. Difficult to do unfortunately. Between Day One Camouflage, The Hill People Gear, Kifaru, GGCCH and a few others my hunting aresenal is about as American made as possible. A US made turkey vest is all that was missing. I thought my Russell Bros SE3 was made in Alexander City, AL for the longest time. Upon closer tag inspection it is Cambodia. Regardless of its country of origin outside of a small tear in the mesh its held up like a tank over the years with no sign of giving up the ghost.
Quality is everything if you have a top of the line product with superior quality and made in USA, I'd probably pay your price
Quote from: nyhunter on February 19, 2021, 09:44:09 PM
No long this or that story here, If it's made in the USA I will buy it every time over China virus junk. :smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an GOD BLESS THE USA!!!!
Agreed. One of the big reasons I will buy the Impact vest once it comes back in stock for Bottomland. USA all the way for me
I need to hold my nose when looking at hunting gear. Chinese mfg everywhere. And it ain't cheap!!! Just gotta wonder what the cost was to make the stuff and how much the retailers are really marking the junk up.
I buy USA whenever I can, and usually it's a quality made item. I fear that for your venture the market has been flooded with so many overpriced low quality products that most of us are just looking for something to get us by and not so much what's going to last. Then you find the discounters that buy up close outs and really whore up the market. Retail is really tough my friend!
I do have some made in USA items that are still going strong as well as foreign born things, but I do try and take care of my stuff.
Don't know if I helped you or not sir, and after owning a small business myself, I hear you!
Anyone know if Grounded offers a military discount?
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More than likely the laptop, I phone and computer everyone is posting to this post with is made in china...
Quote from: Greg Massey on May 06, 2021, 05:59:02 PM
More than likely the laptop, I phone and computer everyone is posting to this post with is made in china...
Do they even make those things in the US anymore?
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Quote from: Dazzler on May 06, 2021, 06:09:13 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on May 06, 2021, 05:59:02 PM
More than likely the laptop, I phone and computer everyone is posting to this post with is made in china...
Do they even make those things in the US anymore?
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I wonder the same, do they anymore or did they ever ....
I have the same problem as many of you. If you don't buy China, Cambodia, Viet Nam et al that means you don't buy...period. We created this problem via two means. One...our good old major companies departed USA and moved manufacturing operations to the near east for the cheap labor. And two...far too many American buyers shop Walmart, Harbor Freight and such because they want to buy the product that is "almost as good" as the more expensive American made.
Solution...import tax on all foreign made goods such that it will equal the price as if made in USA. Will that ever happen...of course not. Why? Too many of our politicians have interests in those foreign countries and their companies where those goods are made. Trump wanted to "drain the swamp" but couldn't do so because the "swamp" consists of, probably, an equal amount of Reps and Dems.
That said, if I can find an American made product which suits my needs I do so...otherwise I'm forced to buy Asian.
I go out of my way to seek out products made in America, and am willing to pay a little higher price to purchase them. I'm not wealthy by no means and there was a time when raising my family that economics and the family budget dictated what I was able to afford. The four kids are grown now with only one left in college, so when it comes to areas of my interest like hunting, fishing, tools etc. I try to purchase quality made in America.
If the same item made to the same standard is available for $15, then it isn't actually worth $40. It's worth $15. If it's higher quality, then that's another story. If we're talking something like Patagonia or Filson, then yeah.
I wear Carhartt camo bibs when hunting. Noisy yes and expensive but they do hold up to the briars and barbed wire. Also made in the US. Not sure where my shirts are made but probably not here.
Quote from: West Augusta on May 06, 2021, 09:06:15 PM
I wear Carhartt camo bibs when hunting. Noisy yes and expensive but they do hold up to the briars and barbed wire. Also made in the US. Not sure where my shirts are made but probably not here.
Better check that tag on those Carhartt bibs???? Carhartt sold out long ago-very few items are Made In The USA. Roundhouse jeans are Made In the USA and last longer than any pair of jeans or Dungarees I've ever owned. Roundhouse also makes camouflage bibs. As a matter of fact, Bibs are their specialty. :smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an
Thanks for posting, just ordered 2 pair of bibs.
FYI round house has a good sale going on today!!
Not all Roundhouse clothing is made in the USA. Besure and check the tags.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210508/6ae6dff1d6a92485c56ed39daf41d0c5.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210508/35fee3ad02c5ad9f5371c14bfde8c84a.jpg)
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