Not Made in the USA
The Winter Olympics opens on Feb 7. When the Ralph Lauren-designed team apparel was introduced on the Today Show in January, they made a big deal of the fact that the duds were manufactured in the US. This comes on the heels of an uproar at the 2012 Olympics when the US team apparel was made in China.
I asked my high school pal, No Sweat Kosinski for his thoughts on the subject; he was in high dudgeon when he replied. Here’s a sample:
“It seems to me that the people who have the most to say about this are people with the least skin in the game. The goal of the Olympic team is to win medals, not award contracts to suppliers headquartered in the US. Should we extend the ‘made in the USA’ mandate to include equipment like skis, skates and hockey sticks? What about coaches? Should we deprive our athletes of access to the best coaches in the world and require that all our coaches hold US passports?
The US two-man bobsled team is favored to win gold for the first time in 78 years. The designer of their sled is BMW. Do we fault the team of hiring a German company, or do praise them for selecting a designer that knows a thing or two about engineering vehicles that go like hell?
Americans want our Olympic athletes to perform their best; I doubt they lose sleep over where the team apparel comes from. Every dollar saved by producing the apparel abroad is a dollar that can be invested in athlete support. This is a manufactured story.”