I'm at the end of my rope. It seems that EVERY strand of Christmas lights I see is made in China. Worse, the ones I've bought in the last 5 years have ALL had problems, while the made in Taiwan set I bought probably 20 years ago is still going strong!
I know this is a longshot, but does ANYONE have ANY idea of whether it's possible to find these not made in China? Thank you!
Christmas Lights Not Made in China?
Re: Christmas Lights Not Made in China?
I remember when I started this site, Christmas lights was one of those categories that confounded me. It was IMPOSSIBLE to find any that weren't made in China, so I gave up for a while. Like you, this past Christmas I spent a few hours going through dead bulbs and entire strings that wouldn't line up from a GE set I bought just a few years ago. General Electric is a great example of a consumer brand that has been destroyed by their corporate leadership's decision to outsource any consumer product to the lowest bidder.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that at Walmart this year, there were a number of Christmas lights brands that weren't made in China, and I was even more surprised to see Walmart listing their country of origin on their Web site. Here are some examples:
These Vermont Clear Christmas Lights on White Wire at Amazon have rave reviews and are made in Cambodia.
This set of Sylvania multi-colored LED lights at Walmart is listed as made in Cambodia.
These Brite Star lights available in blue, green, pink, white, and yellow at Home Depot are also made in Cambodia.
These Home Accents white lights from Amazon look like they're made in Cambodia. corroborated by their listing on Home Depot.
Home Depot also lists Home Accents multicolored lights that are made in Cambodia.
These Home Accents white LED lights are listed by Home Depot as being made in Vietnam.
https://amzn.to/489v9rO]a multi-colored set listed as "Made in Cameroon", but I'm assuming whoever entered the product information just made a mistake.
This year a number of Holiday Time lights, Walmart's home brand, are listed as Made in Cambodia, including these mini Christmas lights and many more.
You can probably see the pattern. Since the 2019 Tariffs, brands that used to automatically go to China to get cheap things made suddenly had to figure out alternatives. Let's not kid ourselves--in many cases what probably happened was that the China manufacturer just opened a factory in Cambodia or Vietnam to avoid the tariffs.
But IMO, even that's an improvement over China monopolizing every step of manufacturing. Who knows, maybe as more Cambodians and Vietnamese learn how the business works, more of them will eventually be inspired to throw off their chains and go into business for themselves.
Christmas lights is one of those industries that's hard for me to write a blog post about, as manufacturers seem to constantly change vendors, and virtually all of them have one foot in China (and let's not kid ourselves, they'd rush back fully the second tariffs are lifted). This is an areas where consumers need to read labels and make clear and deliberate decisions to support manufacturing anywhere but China.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that at Walmart this year, there were a number of Christmas lights brands that weren't made in China, and I was even more surprised to see Walmart listing their country of origin on their Web site. Here are some examples:
These Vermont Clear Christmas Lights on White Wire at Amazon have rave reviews and are made in Cambodia.
This set of Sylvania multi-colored LED lights at Walmart is listed as made in Cambodia.
These Brite Star lights available in blue, green, pink, white, and yellow at Home Depot are also made in Cambodia.
These Home Accents white lights from Amazon look like they're made in Cambodia. corroborated by their listing on Home Depot.
Home Depot also lists Home Accents multicolored lights that are made in Cambodia.
These Home Accents white LED lights are listed by Home Depot as being made in Vietnam.
https://amzn.to/489v9rO]a multi-colored set listed as "Made in Cameroon", but I'm assuming whoever entered the product information just made a mistake.
This year a number of Holiday Time lights, Walmart's home brand, are listed as Made in Cambodia, including these mini Christmas lights and many more.
You can probably see the pattern. Since the 2019 Tariffs, brands that used to automatically go to China to get cheap things made suddenly had to figure out alternatives. Let's not kid ourselves--in many cases what probably happened was that the China manufacturer just opened a factory in Cambodia or Vietnam to avoid the tariffs.
But IMO, even that's an improvement over China monopolizing every step of manufacturing. Who knows, maybe as more Cambodians and Vietnamese learn how the business works, more of them will eventually be inspired to throw off their chains and go into business for themselves.
Christmas lights is one of those industries that's hard for me to write a blog post about, as manufacturers seem to constantly change vendors, and virtually all of them have one foot in China (and let's not kid ourselves, they'd rush back fully the second tariffs are lifted). This is an areas where consumers need to read labels and make clear and deliberate decisions to support manufacturing anywhere but China.
Re: Christmas Lights Not Made in China?
Not really Christmas lights, but still, it can be of use.
Fairybell makes Chistmas light trees in Europe.
Since 2018 they are again producing in Europe (Holland), a typical reshoring story.
https://www.fairybell.com/en/service/about/
Fairybell makes Chistmas light trees in Europe.
Since 2018 they are again producing in Europe (Holland), a typical reshoring story.
https://www.fairybell.com/en/service/about/
Fighting a lonely battle... People, please stop buying Chinese crap!