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Almost certainly an urban legend. Federal law requires that products labeled as "Made in the USA" be "all or virtually all" made in the United States. The Fede

by pash 14y ago

Almost certainly an urban legend. Federal law requires that products labeled as "Made in the USA" be "all or virtually all" made in the United States. The Federal Trade Commission's guidelines [0] make clear that sewing a "Made in the USA" tag on a foreign-made article of clothing would violate that requirement. 0. http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-s...

chimeracoder 14y ago
They may have since changed the requirements, or there may be a loophole elsewhere, or people may simply be disregarding the law. As noted below, however, it's pretty simple to find many accounts of this with some simple Googling.
sk5t 14y ago
However, note that Northern Marianas produces products with the "Made in the USA" label, despite not being in, near, or part of the USA, and having a history of terrible labor practices and corruption. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mariana_Islands#Economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mariana_Islands#Econom...
- pash 14y ago
  The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands is an unincorporated territory of the United States, and its citizens are US citizens. (And I used to live there, as it happens.) Its relationship with the US is similar to Puerto Rico's. Accordingly, products made in the CNMI may be labeled as "Made in USA" (subject to the same rules I cited above). But after the labor scandals of the 1990s, many well known clothing brands that kept their factories there switched to labels like "Made in Northern Marianas, USA". Since 2009, the CNMI no longer makes its own immigration policy. [0] The islands are now subject to federal immigration law, and all provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act will be in effect there from 2014. By that date, the CNMI's workforce will be governed by the same laws as elsewhere in the United States and there will no longer be any real basis for controversy over its "Made in USA" labeling. 0. http://www.dhs.gov/commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands-transition-us-immigration-law http://www.dhs.gov/commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands-tra...
  - joe_the_user 14y ago
    I visit Saipan last spring (home to 90% of the population) and it was rather sad. All the factories were closed, tourism was petering out and there were shopping centers being recaptured by the jungle. The Northern end of Island is spectacularly beautiful and Japanese tourists still would visit there. In the whole of the Micronesia area, Asian tourists outnumber Americans by something like 20 to 1 and the US seems increasingly irrelevant even on the Islands it owns. Interesting.

by pash 14y ago

chimeracoder 14y ago

They may have since changed the requirements, or there may be a loophole elsewhere, or people may simply be disregarding the law. As noted below, however, it's pretty simple to find many accounts of this with some simple Googling.

sk5t 14y ago

However, note that Northern Marianas produces products with the "Made in the USA" label, despite not being in, near, or part of the USA, and having a history of terrible labor practices and corruption. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mariana_Islands#Economy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mariana_Islands#Econom...

pash 14y ago
The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands is an unincorporated territory of the United States, and its citizens are US citizens. (And I used to live there, as it happens.) Its relationship with the US is similar to Puerto Rico's. Accordingly, products made in the CNMI may be labeled as "Made in USA" (subject to the same rules I cited above). But after the labor scandals of the 1990s, many well known clothing brands that kept their factories there switched to labels like "Made in Northern Marianas, USA". Since 2009, the CNMI no longer makes its own immigration policy. [0] The islands are now subject to federal immigration law, and all provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act will be in effect there from 2014. By that date, the CNMI's workforce will be governed by the same laws as elsewhere in the United States and there will no longer be any real basis for controversy over its "Made in USA" labeling. 0. http://www.dhs.gov/commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands-transition-us-immigration-law http://www.dhs.gov/commonwealth-northern-mariana-islands-tra...
- joe_the_user 14y ago
  I visit Saipan last spring (home to 90% of the population) and it was rather sad. All the factories were closed, tourism was petering out and there were shopping centers being recaptured by the jungle. The Northern end of Island is spectacularly beautiful and Japanese tourists still would visit there. In the whole of the Micronesia area, Asian tourists outnumber Americans by something like 20 to 1 and the US seems increasingly irrelevant even on the Islands it owns. Interesting.