Maker's Row

Another highlight of our recent trip to New York was meeting the team behind Maker’s Row. We visited with Matthew Burnett (left) and Tanya Menendez (right) along with designer Scott Weiner (not shown but he rocks similar mojo.) 

So here’s the idea.

Offshoring your manufacturing once presented a nearly irresistible temptation. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in the last two decades to this option.  US Companies thought they’d save a fortune by leveraging the cheap cost of labor in developing economies.  For a while, it worked.  But in many ways this trend now seems played out.  Rising overseas labor rates coupled with increasing fuel costs have greatly reduced the savings of outsourcing. And when one factors the reduced flexibility and inescapably slow shipping time involved in transoceanic delivery, domestic manufacturing suddenly looks a lot more compelling.

But there remains a problem. While the spirit may be willing to buy from American factories, the flesh often has a hard time finding them. Many possess amazing, proprietary production capabilities and generations of experience, they simply lack Internet-era marketing savvy. 

That’s where Maker’s Row steps in. 

They’re making it unbelievably easy to find even highly specialized makers in the good old United States of America. Search by all manner of capabilities such as Pattern-Makers, Toolers, even Ideation. Want to make a belt? Check out Universal Elliot. Custom handbags?  How about Manolucci Handbag Factory.  Wooden buttons you say?  No problem, try Buttonwood Corp.  The possibilities seem limitless.

They say nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.  And speaking as a company who routinely procures all manner of compelling merchandise, we can say that time to look at US production is now.

Congrats and thanks to Maker’s Row for shining a light on our fellow American makers.