Fern Solomon has worked the gift-products front lines for the past 30 years. She's seen firsthand how items once manufactured in the United States are now overwhelmingly made in China. And she's seen the consequences for workers here. "Before the availability of Chinese-made product, we were a company employing over 50 people. We had 8,000 square feet and now work out of a 2,000 square foot studio." The company currently employs approximately 12 people. At one point, as offshored manufacturing grew, Solomon's own vendors (wholesale clients who buy for retail purposes) packed up her company's products, brought them to China, and "knocked us off in their factories. A double-edged sword, taking away our business and flooding the market with cheap copies of our work."
Fern's Garden
Fern's Garden
Fern's Garden
Fern Solomon has worked the gift-products front lines for the past 30 years. She's seen firsthand how items once manufactured in the United States are now overwhelmingly made in China. And she's seen the consequences for workers here. "Before the availability of Chinese-made product, we were a company employing over 50 people. We had 8,000 square feet and now work out of a 2,000 square foot studio." The company currently employs approximately 12 people. At one point, as offshored manufacturing grew, Solomon's own vendors (wholesale clients who buy for retail purposes) packed up her company's products, brought them to China, and "knocked us off in their factories. A double-edged sword, taking away our business and flooding the market with cheap copies of our work."