Made in America and Made in the USA: What Does It Mean?

Whether goods are stated as being Made in America or Made in the USA, it should be obvious what that means. Or is it? If all the parts for a car are exported to the USA by Japan, and assembled in Detroit, is that ‘Made America?’ If not, how many raw materials are permitted to be non-American for a product to be Made in America or Made in the USA.

Are Canadian products made in America? Technically yes! Canada is on the North American continent. So obviously, regulation controls the definition. So what do these terms really mean so that there is no ambiguity or misunderstanding?

Definition of Made in USA

The definition is provided by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission.) In order to bear the ‘Made in USA’ label, at least 75% of the manufacturing costs of a product must be incurred in the USA. Ignore design, procurement, marketing and sales costs.

If a car is assembled in Detroit from Japanese parts, it may not be made in the USA! If a kangaroo steak is processed and cooked in the USA from a carcass imported from Australia, it is ‘Made in the USA!’ Crazy or what? Maybe the fact that the ‘Point of final assembly’ must be in the USA would exclude the kangaroo? Or maybe not if the final assembly is regarded as being the meal on the plate!

Joking aside, if you see the label made in America or Made in the USA, you can be fairly sure that most of the work has been carried out in the USA. It does not mean that the raw materials are American. Nevertheless, if you purchase American furniture with that label, it means that almost certainly the timber is American and the item of furniture was made in the USA.

Buying Furniture Made in America

If you are buying furniture in the USA, and want to be patriotic in doing so, look for the ‘Made in America’ or ‘Made in USA’ label on the website. What this means is that your furniture will be generally manufactured in the USA, though not necessarily using American wood or other materials.

Of course, ‘not necessarily’ does not man ‘definitely’ and there are American furniture manufacturers that hand-craft furniture in the USA from American wood, and using American-made ancillary products such as batting and fabrics.

Among these are Simply Amish, Stickley Furniture, The Custom Shoppe, Southwood Furniture and Sherrill Furniture. Simply Amish hand-craft mission furniture and many items of furniture made to traditional designs. Amish tables are 100% Made in the USA from American oak, male and cherry, and so too are all the other items they offer.

Whether it is bedroom furniture, kitchen cabinets crafted to your own personal designs and dimensions or bedroom furniture, Both Simply Amish and the Custom Shoppe meet all the stipulations for it be classed as Made in America or Made in the USA. The same is true of the furniture manufactured in the USA by L & J.G. Stickley.

Stickley Furniture

Gustav Stickley was the first cabinetmaker to use quarter sawn oak extensively in American furniture. In fact the family has been involved in several developments that are now regarded as standard in American cabinetmaking. Another is attaching four quarter sawn oak strips to each side of a center post to create a beautiful post displaying the best patterns that the oak medullary rays are capable of.

Stickley furniture is all made in the USA. Southwood Furniture is America’s top reproduction furniture company, and you cannot expect every reproduction piece to use even 75% American materials. However, Southwood is the only American furniture company with access to the files of the Historic New England Museum to enable the company to reproduce the furniture in the 36 houses comprising that museum.

Reproduction Furniture and Quality

Given that the reproductions must be as faithfully crafted to the originals as possible, many of these will be crafted using solely American-sourced raw materials. This includes the wood, upholstery and fittings. Where they are no longer locally available, they are made by Southwood or local contractors to the original designs. This meets the requirements for a Made in USA sticker.

There are many more furniture manufacturing firms in the USA that qualify for this accolade yet have not applied for it. Made in America does not necessarily signify high quality, but perhaps now that more people are seeking it out, quality should be another aspect of registration.

Otherwise, being Made in America or Made in USA might come to mean a geographical tag rather than an indication of good quality. It should mean both. Let’s prevent the tag from being made meaningless!

Made in America and Made in the USA: What Does It Mean?