Does Made in the USA matter?

I started my career designing Christmas ornaments and home decor in the 90s for a domestic company, selling to Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and others. There was something magical about traveling to Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, and as globalization began to rev up, China. Fast-forward, in 2015 the import business had changed dramatically as our larger customers we had been designing and developing product for no longer required a sherpa, and would find ways to value engineer, i.e. steal designs and work directly with the factories. I recall very specifically visiting a large big box, home improvement store in the mid-atlantic, with placards littered throughout the hallways and meeting rooms espousing the importance of their vendor relationships, and other feel-good mission statements, meanwhile their overseas sourcing group inspecting our factory partners was making it clear their intention to work directly with them in the future. I suppose most successful importers would shrug and say it’s just business, but for me it felt deeply personal. It was clear a shift was afoot and as the world got smaller, we too needed to pivot. We left our manufacturing partnerships in China and began our focus on a higher quality, domestic pottery for the architecture and design trade. What seemed necessary at the times looks prescient now, as we dug deep and launched our Elevation living-wall company to better connect people, plants, and the communities that surround us. In partnership with our domestic manufacturing partner Varden, who makes elegant, simple, engineered systems for growing plants on a vertical surface. The parts are made using recycled plastics, and manufactured domestically, as are the mesh Soxx, from which all things Varden grow. But does it matter? I am encouraged by the millennial’s response to the Covid pandemic, and their focus on experience, connection with others and most importantly for us, a thirst for plants and as it turns out, being surrounded by them. We’re now shipping a test to Costco this Spring of our DIY kit and launching a plant delivery service that will ship leafy greens and culinary herb seedlings direct to your door. Imagine receiving a tray of 36 plants, in a box, ready to plant in your Varden system or Mother Earth herself. We think it is a game changer, and hope our friends and neighbors will agree. As we manufacture, distribute and create jobs, making the world a little more local and be of service to those making the journey back to their roots…literally. Growing your own food will change your life, sharing the harvest with others will change the world.