It Can Be Made In America

There are plenty of reasons to manufacture your product in the U.S.--perhaps you want to support local vendors or ensure more hands-on control over the finished product. And though the conventional wisdom is that most manufacturing has moved overseas, that's a common misconception, says Bill Canis, vice president of The Manufacturing Institute, the educational, research and work force arm of the National Association of Manufacturers. Canis says there are about 300,000 manufacturers in the U.S. "More is made in the U.S. than at any time in history," he adds.

Daniel Perkins, founder of Couch Guitar Straps, manufactures his specialty guitar straps in the U.S. The Signal Hill, California, entrepreneur first commissioned a product run in Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, and was disappointed. "I couldn't really get the quality and turnaround time I needed," says Perkins, 38. "Our design was really involved and took a significant number of subcontractors and production processes. I decided the only way I could get it made right was to get it made where I could walk onto the factory floor and see what's going on, monitor it and help make adjustments."