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Comment by A_D_E_P_T | Hacker News Reader

IIRC some companies have tried this. The problem is that the stuff made in China is as good, sometimes better, than the stuff that's made in America but costs 4x more. So, revealed preferences shocker: Nobody buys the so-called "Premium" line. You need a better reason to charge more money.

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Just an anecdote but as someone who has gone out of their way to buy American as much as I possibly can for many years I’ve found that to be true either never or so rarely I can’t remember. Quality of American products has not been an issue whatsoever, usually quite the opposite.

It’s more about the price than quality. When you can make products that are just as good (outside of some niche areas) in China/etc. for a proportion of the cost there is very little reason not to do that unless you have no competition.

There are some premium brands that can (partially) pull it off like KitchenAid but that’s an exception.

My perspective is that consumers have come to feel that price is far more important than quality whereas I feel exactly the opposite. I take pride in the things I make for a living and I prefer to be surrounded by products of a similar ethos. I buy products to solve a problem and I want the problem optimally solved. In the cases when the quality is a toss up I don’t mind paying a premium to support our domestic economy.

My perspective is price is not an indication of quality and often I cannot figure out what is quality - reviews are garbage. China makes some junk and some good stuff.

Many do succeed - All-Clad for example make their stuff in USA and China. I own the American made frying pan of theirs, as do many.

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