Are Any Of Santa Cruz's Decks Still Made in the U.S.A.?

edited November 2013 in Bones Bearings®
I have been thinking about picking up a couple of reissue from them, but have an issue with products made in China. The info on the intermess looks dated and somewhat spotty on SC manufacturing. Anyone in " the know " have some current info?
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Comments

  • edited November 2013
    If it's a big concern for you to buy decks made in China, I'd go straight to the source and send them an email to ask. There was a discussion on here that I found but it closed a while ago. Here's the link from what brigade bill found out a while ago if it helps at all

    http://www.skateone.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/585/sad-news-on-the-manufacturing-front.../p1
  • Having personally imported container loads of  bathroom products from China less than five years ago, I can say it should be a concern for anyone interested in uniform quality. I learned my lesson in the most important place, our bottom line with the Chinese and their quality control. I will give NHS a call tomorrow. It had not even crossed my mind to do that. Thanks brother!
  • No probs dude, let us know what you find out. I only have one of their reissues, jessee sungod in orange but I bought it off a mate so didn't get the shrink with a sticker telling me where it was made. I'd like a Neptune reish but they're stupidly overpriced on eBay, shoulda got one when the first came out
  • edited November 2013
    Not all China made decks are horrible ya know...I have a Santa Cruz Oops Guzman that is the 1992 football shape and it is built tougher and pops better than 98% of every Mexican deck I've had in 2 years! Same goes for Almost Double Impact decks. Those decks are beautiful, and pop insane! Strong as fuck! 
    Mini Logo's have also been all Made in China for almost 2 years now. nobody notices.
    They skate and feel the exact same as they did when they were just the Powell Peralta decks made here in Santa Barbara but without the graphics.
    Same shape, same mold, same glues and wood, now just made over there to cut down cost of manufacturing. 
    I've been told that George took that move very seriously, and made sure they were setup to do the absolute best! 
    Trust me. So, hating on Made in China skate decks IMO is nowadays a rather vague and silly thing when most people haven't even skated more than a chinese made board more than the ones at a Walmart, that's not even a f'n skateboard, that's a toy!
    So, in the end it's either an Asian or Mexican working in a factory here for pennies, or in Mexico for pennies, or an Asian working in a factory in China for half pennies, and in the end they all do the same job with the same materials. 
    Please open your minds a little more my brothers and put the boards down under your feet more, and don't discriminate because of a decks manufacturing origin. I speak from experience, I've skated it all. My fav decks have been Chinese made the last few years. My fav trucks have been Chinese made the last few years. Chinese made stuff is NOT bad. Hell, Ace trucks are Chinese made too, Forged Indy, Thunder and Venture baseplates are Chinese made as well. 
    But nobody talks about that do they? hmmmm...

    As for Santa Cruz, go for a Power Ply, they are tough as a North American maple wood deck could be! No kevlar needed! : P
     
  • Personally I don't care where they are made. I'm not American so I'm not patriotic about where skate companies choose to make their products, normally I don't even check. Nor do I make generalisations about who works in the factories and what they're paid..as long as whatever I'm buying is quality, I'll use it. Case in point - bones reds, great bearings dirt cheap. Almost marnell tribute is the deck I'm skating at the moment at parks, pretty sure that's made in China. Supporting American factory workers (whatever their heritage may be) isn't high on my list of priorities, supporting my back pocket..that's a different story
  • Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. have fallen from 25% off all jobs in 1980 to 9% in 2010. The middle class came from manufacturing jobs that paid good wages. I encourage everyone to consider this when they have the choice between a U.S. made skate product and a foreign made product. I personally will buy American made ( not just assembled ) every time if it is available. Every time you buy a product made overseas when a comparable American product is readily available you are contributing to the demise of our middle class. Just food for thought.
  • Damn foreigners ;)
  • yes all nhs decks are made in china
  • Lame... Should rebrand to Shanghai Cruz
  • A small batch of Salba Cruz were US a little while ago made by Chicken.
  • edited November 2013
    CASTPOLYMER - I get that, and know it.

    But, my point was that Made In China doesn't mean it's "not as good" as something made in USA or made in Mexico.
    It just means simply that it's "made in China". And that's all.
  • edited November 2013
    Anyone super OCD about having the same exact shape at all times and not having the variable of it was"the deck on the top of the stack of the mold, or bottom" issues and differences would like Dwindle's single deck press mold construction. That's a big plus w/ Almost, Cliche, bLiNd, enjoi, and Darkstar decks, you get the same deck every time when you fall in love w/ a shape. 

    I love Skate One decks, but I've had 2 decks from them where one was perfect concave, and one was super steep and not as comfy. It was the same shape, same deck, just must have been in different place in the 5 deck stack when in the press/mold. It's hard knowing which one you're gunna end up with in the end. Hopefully someday Dwindle's single deck press idea will pass onto other companies. It's a good idea. Until then I will continue to take the steep ones and put them under a heavy bass amp head for a few weeks first before I skate them. It helps mellow them out. Daewon used to do this with his car when he got a steep one before Dwindle switched to the single deck press way.
    It's not a bad thing, it's just another selling point for "the other guys".
    Sorry to de-rail the thread.
    So...Santa Cruz...

  • edited November 2013
    I think both sides of this discussion have merit. I think it is interesting that NHS was considering moving production to China because the 300 or so middle class jobs provided by NHS were not important to the Americans living across the streets from the NHS loading Docks. The USA needs more factory jobs. True. At the same time our economy is no longer based on production of products, but has transitioned to a service based/idea based/technology based economy. The middle class that was once supported by factories must adjust to this change. The government of the USA (county, city, state, National) also needs to support the companies, so they feel that staying in the USA is worthwhile. From Bill's story it seemed that the Santa Cruz city government did not value what NHS had provided Santa Cruz for such a long time. 

    If your old friends are jerks, then people tend to look for new friends.

    I am not awesome enough to have my skating affected by where the deck was in the press. :)
  • If you want to see what happens with post - industrial economies, compare most of western Europe ( post industrial ) vs. Germany ( a healthy mix of manufacturing and service ). Germany is essentially floating the Euro and has been for years. The text book Econ 101 does not reflect the actual economic effects of a post industrial economy. This may be more than most skaters want to know, but it is good food for thought. FYI, Americans are among the most efficient workers in the world. The Chinese and Mexican are among the least efficient.
  • edited November 2013
    It's also astounding how many "non-Americans" work in the "Made in USA" factories.

    Take Electro Harmonix effects for example, they pride themselves on being made in NYC, but in actuality every employee on the assembly line is a woman that was shipped in to work, speaks no english and is imported from another country to work here, and work cheap, but hard. 
    Hey, good for them for having jobs, and I guess good for Mike Matthews giving them jobs, BUT - in all honesty it's kind of a sneaky ass way of using the "Made in USA" labeled thing when all it really is, is a "Made in a USA" factory, but with Imported workers making minimum wage, installing parts that were actually made in Taiwan into American proclaimed f/x pedals. The only difference in them not being made overseas, is well just that, they aren't "made" as in "put together as a finished/packaged product" overseas, but everything else to make that happen well, was.
    How many other US proclaimed companies do this I bet? People see "Made in USA" and think like some yankee doodle dandy made the whole thing with their bare hands, while waving a red, white and blue flag on American soil, and wearing a Boston Red Sox baseball hat, drinking Dunkin Donuts and driving a Ford F150. I'm sure it's anything but that in most US factories nationwide. It's not like they are making half a million Brake Pads for Callahan Auto in Sandusky, Ohio while working for Ray Zalinsky. =P
  • haha i think ur a bit late on that ship there are tons of ppl who do that
  • Two things: cant speak to the makeup of EHX workforce, but I do love my Big Muff w/ tone wicker. Second, the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. was fueled by immigrants willing to work for a lower wage. Funny thing is those immigrants still made multiples compared to what they could back in their home country. My entire family was made up of those immigrants from Ireland, Germany and Italy. Mexican immigrants, irregardless of their legal status, make an average of 5x more in the U.S. than they can in Mexico for the same type of work. A powerful reason to come to the U.S. and work. If the product is manufactured ( not just assembled ) in the U.S., it benefits our economy irregardless of where ther worker comes from. The same arguments being made about cheap Mexican labor was made about European immigrants at the turn of the 20th century.
  • I guess you could say my immigrant relatives came over here and started the Mob. : P
    But, in reality, they were all just bakers, cookers, musicians and artists trying to stay alive.

    All the Italians were trying to do when the first form of the Mafia started was NOT have people work over hard for their $$ like they were being forced to do, when the rich and powerful of the world sat around and did nothing and made it all. 
    So, they found a way to make it work for the poor people and those that worked to hard for too little.
    It started off a noble type thing, like a Robin Hood affair. But, as time went on, people got nasty and tempers got hot and those that gained power, wanted more power, and more control and more, more, more of everything...then the killing and shit started. 
    It wasn't always like it is in "the movies".

    Our government is alot like a really big mob. Only we "vote" for them to kill the poor people. Sad...


  • All the Santa Cruz reissue decks I have all say made in china
  • PTOWN, that is exactly what I needed. Thanks for the concise answer.
  • This is an interesting article about manufacturing in the U.S. versus overseas.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/11/business/la-fi-made-in-california-boards-20110308

  • u could have just read my first comment lol
  • Brigade Bill, I completely missed your earlier comment. Momma always said I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. ;)

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