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Tubbs Snowshoes Leaves VT For China

thetrailboss

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I saw this article today on First Tracks. What a real downer to see an American Company go overseas. :( I own Redfeather Snowshoes, which were made in Leadville, Colorado. Having the "Made in the USA" label is important to me. Question is, what is there left that is made in the US now that Tubbs and even Carhartt are gone?

My prayers go out to those families who have lost jobs :(

Stowe snowshoe manufacturing headed to China

September 9, 2004

Associated Press

STOWE — The Tubbs snowshoes manufacturing operation will be moving to China next year, eliminating between 60 and 70 full- and part-time jobs in Vermont, a former company official said.

Tubbs' parent company, K2 Inc., is expected to close the Stowe facility in February. In April administrative jobs in Vermont will also be eliminated or transferred to Washington state, where K2's winter sports group is based.

A total of 27 full-time and 30 to 40 seasonal jobs will be lost as a result of the move, said Ed Kiniry, the former chief executive officer of WinterQuest LLC, which sold Tubbs in October. Kiniry has stayed on under contract until October 2006.

Five or six jobs in marketing, sales and product development will remain in Vermont, he said.

The company's move out of Vermont was inevitable, Kiniry said.

"Tubbs was finding that one of the growing competitors was a China manufactured product that retailers were getting more margin on. It clearly was going to happen. We couldn't put our head in the sand," he said.

Tubbs started as a snowshoe and ski company in Norway, Maine, in 1840 when William Tubbs mastered steam bending ash. He made snowshoes that went to both world wars and up Mount Everest.

Tubbs joins a growing list of brands with a strong Vermont identity that have left the state.

Mad River Canoe, which was based in Waitsfield, left for North Carolina in 2001 after the company merged with one based there. A major portion of Jogbra, which was founded in Vermont, also went to North Carolina in 2001 when Champion Activewear decided to move distribution and administration to that state.

The Ethan Allen Interiors furniture plant in Island Pond closed during the same year and a second plant in Randolph closed in 2002.

Kiniry said the company is offering a generous severance package along with helping former employees find other jobs.

K2 is in the process of expanding its manufacturing plant in China to 2 million square feet and 10,000 employees. About 60 percent of the company's products are made there, Mendenhall said.

Based in Carlsbad, Calif., K2 owns more than 35 brands ranging from Shakespeare fishing and Rawlings sporting goods to Ride snowboards and K2 skis. The company does $1.3 billion in annual sales, Mendenhall said.
 

skijay

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That sucks! I take pride in my made in USA snowshoes.
 

pedxing

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I wouldn't feel as bad about it if the pay and working conditions in China were decent and businesses had to operate by more responsible standards.

I just did a little research on this... it's part of a K-2 pattern:

"January 16, 2004

Vashon Island, Wash. (Ski Press)-K2 Inc. announced plans to discontinue manufacturing and distributing snowshoes from its Grand Junction, Colorado facility effective end of March, 2004. This facility is one of two U.S. plants that manufactures and distributes snowshoes for the recently acquired Atlas Snow-shoes, Tubbs Snowshoes and Little Bear brands....

K2 will continue to domestically manufacture snowshoes in the U.S. at the company’s facility in Stowe VT, where most of the Tubbs brand’s products are produced. An east coast distribution center will be maintained in Vermont. There will be no additional consolidation decisions made until after K2 has had an opportunity to evaluate the effect of the changes now being implemented.

Over the past two years K2 has successfully transitioned a number of products from various U.S. manufacturing locations to China and has seen not only cost reductions but quality improvements as well. K2’s resources at the 1.3 million sq. ft. factory are fully integrated and include engineering, injection molding, tooling, product graphics, and quality control. "

The whole article is at:
http://www.skipressworld.com/us/en/...wshoe_manufacturing_to_china.html?cat=Finance
 
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