This is not electronics though. Nike et. al. are fundamentally and intimately aware and involved with all technical aspects of the design. The factories in Viet

This is not electronics though. Nike et. al. are fundamentally and intimately aware and involved with all technical aspects of the design. The factories in Vietnam are not hiring long distance runners and putting up tracks, hiring PhDs to measure gate, develop new materials. More obviously, Vietnamese factories cannot afford to hire Michael Jordan et. al. and the world's top Ad Agencies who actually drive sales. Of all of the sectors that we should be concerned about, this one is not it. 1) Shoes are odd and there's no way we're going to make robots anytime soon to do all these nimble things that require hands. 2) Overseas makers don't have any technical leverage - and definitely not brand power - so it's unlikely they'll usurp the system. 3) It's not a strategic sector. I don't think there's much we can do here. I'd be more interested in high end robots to make cars and electronics cheaper. Electronics is one area that we could endeavour to 'bring jobs back'. Shoes, not so much.