While the internet has given us much (we can’t thank it enough for all the naked people and celebrity meltdown videos), one benefit that’s often overlooked is its capacity for inadvertent time travel. While researching this article, I came across the following passage on the site greensteps.org:

To date, the Chaco team in Paonia has been able to beat the “landed cost” of assembling their core performance sandals in China. [HR Director Dave] Knutson attributes this to the simplicity of the product, and the experience and work ethic of their employees.

It’s a fun exercise in flux capacity because the article was posted in 2005, three years before Chaco moved all production to China. Prior to 2008, Chaco, the makers of sandals for outdoor enthusiasts and based in Paonia, Colorado since its inception in 1989, was one of those companies consistently lauded for manufacturing a product on American soil. At a time when nearly all American shoe and apparel manufacturers had already defected for distant shores or soon would, Chaco managed to keep 100 people employed in a tiny Rocky Mountain mining town making some of the best-regarded footwear among the kayak-paddling, mountain-climbing, granola-chomping crowd. They made a durable, performance-oriented sandal that could be resoled, and they did it while continually reducing the impact of their production and its associated waste. And they were celebrated for it. Neo-hippies like myself loved that little tag that said MADE IN COLORADO USA. After the number of people telling me they were the most comfortable kicks ever reached a critical mass, I bought a pair at $85 (eleven years ago).

To their credit, Chaco is still putting out what seems to be a fine product and according to their website they are still pursuing the goals of sustainable, responsible production. But they’re doing it in China. Explaining the decision to move in a 2008 release, Chaco owner Mark Paigen said

…as with any other company Chaco is subject to the vicissitudes of economics. It is no longer an economically viable proposition to manufacture relatively simple products by hand in the United States. By attempting to keep production here, when the numbers tell us otherwise, we put ourselves at a distinct economic disadvantage which threatens our very existence.

If the choice is either to cut costs by shifting production overseas or watch your business go under, of course you start taking Mandarin lessons and shopping for a Chinese factory. According to an article in the Delta County Independent (which covers Paonia,) the company noted that the savings per pair of sandals produced in China versus Paonia would be between $10 and $11. After shipping costs and import duties, that figure would end up at $5 to $6 a pair. I’m not an expert on the economics of business, but I’m sure those numbers are perfectly reasonable. But here’s what I don’t get: If the Chacos I bought for 85 bucks from REI back in the flying-car year of 2000 had a $90 tag on them, I wouldn’t have blinked. Anybody who’s already in the market for what are now $95 sandals isn’t going to back down from an extra five-spot. So why do we let that relatively small difference in cost chase jobs and tax revenue out of the country?

Let me tell you why I got to thinking about my old Chacos in the first place and bothered to see if they were still made in the good ol’ USA: Two days ago Courtney and I got a personal tour of the Okabashi factory, where they’ve made sandals and flip-flops in Buford, Georgia since 1984. Solid, one-piece plastic casual footwear in the $12-$15 range- just the kind of inexpensive item they excel at producing by the boatload in the far east. They’ve made 30 million pairs right here in Georgia, and you should have seen that place buzzing as they got their product ready to ship for the spring and summer season. Obviously every business faces its own challenges and the origin tag in my Chacos is now a collectors item, but Okabashi seemed to be making it work and as a result I walked out of there with a pair of (complimentary) American-made flip-flops that traveled zero miles to get to my feet.

Courtney will be writing more about Okabashi’s manufacturing process and our factory tour next week.