The Best Products NOT Made in China | notochina.org

I was reading this Reddit topic and felt the pain of the OP; ironically (no pun intended), this thread has become the #1 search result on Google for a "made in USA iron" because even Google is unable to find a product to rank. Of course it ranks Amazon search pages that have the title "irons made in the usa" but contain absolutely zero actual irons made in the USA.

So of course I took it as a challenge

As one commenter in that thread said, Pacific Steam used to make the go-to high-end iron for professionals, but they've since moved their production to China (and conveniently kept the high price tag so they can rake in higher margins). They were a company 10 years ago I would have vociferously advocated for—a $200 iron that lasts forever is better than ten $30 irons that break once a year. But now that they've sold out to China they can no longer be trusted not to break down as this Amazon reviewer noted. Sad.

Here are the best options I found. Sadly there appear to be zero actual irons produced in the USA anymore, but at least I found some not made in China alternates.

1) Go to eBay and buy an old made in USA iron

Like most of your moms and grandmas, my mom had a GE iron that was a workhorse. It never stopped working. The next time you're in the market for an iron, think about getting a used made in USA on on eBay as opposed to a "new" one made in China that'll last for a year before breaking [Reminder: if you click through a link that starts with amzn.to or ebay.us I may get a few cents as an affiliate of these companies].

2) The last holdout for a "not made in China" iron was Rowenta, but sadly I see that many of their models are now made in China. These models seem to be the exception; based on reviews they seem to be made either in France or Germany. It's not the USA, but it's also not China. Grab them while you still can.

Rowenta Pro Master Stainless Steel Soleplate Steam Iron for Clothes - 1700 watts (DW8080)
Rowenta Everlast Stainless Steel Soleplate Steam Iron for Clothes - 1750 watts (DW 7180)
Rowenta Steam Force Stainless Steel Soleplate Steam Iron for Clothes -1800 watts (DW9280)
Rowenta Steam Force Pro Steam Iron for Clothes - 1850 watts (DW9580)
Steam Force Pro Stainless Steel Soleplate Steam Iron for Clothes - 1850 watts (DW9540)
Rowenta Steam Force Stainless Steel Soleplate Steam Iron for Clothes - 1800 Watts (DW9440)

3) Reliable's consumer irons are made in China, but they have some professional ironing stations still made in Italy

3000IS Professional Steam Iron Station - 1800W
Reliable 5100IS/2100IR Professional Iron Station - 1800W

4) While not an iron, a good made in USA alternative would be a Jiffy Steamer, made in the USA since 1940. Steamers are actually better than irons for clothes because they don't damage the clothes fibers.

Jiffy Steamer J-2000 Jiffy Garment Steamer

I didn't know this product was so hard to get in the U.S.
In Europe there are a lot of alternatives.
Here you really don't need to buy a Chinese iron.
Rowenta makes many models in Germany
Tefal makes many models in France
Polti Vaporella is made in Italy
Philips makes some models in Indonesia and Signapore
Calor makes many models in France

Yeah, it's really sad. I think what "protects" Europe to a certain degree is that there are still pockets of manufacturing centers in certain parts of Europe, and for certain appliances like irons the differences in voltage helps China get a stranglehold on the supply chain.

Contrast that to the U.S. where it's not uncommon to drive through certain parts of the country and see entire cities decimated since the 1990s.

In the U.S. it's almost impossible to get low-end Rowentas, Tefal, or Philips appliances of any kind that aren't made in China, and many European brands don't even bother making products for our 120V outlets. In a strange way, it's a lesson that more globalization and standardization may not always be the best thing, as it ultimately puts too much control into only a few people's hands. I suspect the number of irons you can get made in Europe is a lot different than the number of USB cables

It is my opinion that Amazon does this to not disclose the place of manufacturing. I believe that the way that the Amazon is able to control the product flow, and the margins that they have with Chinese manufacturers can’t be matched with US manufacturers. I believe that this trend was started from Walmart. Is this a classical case of Globalization for big corporate greed that feeds no-ethics, autocratic, currency manipulating Chinese economy, or gutting the American working class and mortgaging American future interest is a topic for discussion.

I agree 100%. I am 100% sure that every single day they have customers begging them to put country of origin on their product pages. When it looked like Congress would pass laws mandating it, it was quietly killed in committee by politicians (both Republican and Democrat) being paid by retail lobbyists.

Amazon doesn't care if China monopolizes manufacturing. It would mean that China can start hiking up prices, which ultimately means higher margins for Amazon, which itself monopolizes retail. And as you say, because US manufacturers have to pay living wages and meet regulations that China manufacturers don't, they can already cover the tariffs and still make higher margins.

I'm not excusing US manufacturers. They do need to compete much better and learn things like automation. But even with tariffs the deck is still stacked.

The only equalizer is that China manufacturing is still crap. I've lost count of all the China-made appliances I threw into the garbage, while ones made in the USA, Taiwan, Japan, and Germany are still going strong (case in point: I've been waiting for my German-made Rowenta iron to die, but it still hasn't after about 30 years).

But Americans have been spoiled into thinking of all their appliances as "disposable" and foolishly think they're "missing out" because their neighbor has a shiny new iron (which is going to break in 2 years).

I guess I should be happy, as it means more people will visit this site to have a fighting chance of finding the real country of origin. But I'd much rather Amazon do it, even if people stop coming here.