Shepherd's Flock Of Townshend, Vermont, Producers of Shearling Slippers, Sheepskin Ear Muffs, Shearling Hats, Sheepskin Mittens, Lambskin Gloves And Other Fine Warm Products For The Family.

LOOK MA, NO ADS (STILL)

JUST A LITTLE ACTIVISM FROM TIME TO TIME

MOURNING THE DEMISE OF THE "UNQUALIFIED" MADE IN THE USA LABEL. WELL, MAYBE, POSSIBLY, GUESS IT ALL DEPENDS... YOU DECIDE....

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Had a very rude awakening during the holiday season of 2006. Here we were, starting work at 4:00 AM, finishing late at night, actually keeping orders flowing out of our small shop at a very good pace, things were looking very promising. But, the skins stopped flowing. We called our tanner, the last big one left in the US, and they simply informed us that they didn't ship our order but should get it out by the 16th of December. You do the math, it takes a week to get the skins here. As if not shipping wasn't bad enough, the attitude was, well, disinterested to put it nicely. So, we cut off orders for products a week early, lost thousands of dollars in business, and Rick got to spend extra time teaching computers to the kids at the local elementary school before holiday break. Our loss, the kid's gain. (But we delivered every order that was promised. Great planning on our part.) (They did much better this past year though. Maybe it was because we slammed them and their attitude.)

None-the-less, we knew the day was coming and we held on for as long as we could but it was either diversify the tanneries we do business with or just go out of business. Of course, diversify means go to China for skins. Heck, even the New Zealand tanner we deal with is decreasing NZ production and moving work off shore. There are just so few shearling tanners left anymore. What are we to do???

See, Shepherd's Flock® is a tiny shearling products concern in Southern VT, USA. We have been in business since 1978 at which time there were no less than 8 major shearling tanners in the US and many more in Canada and Europe. When we launched our initial site on the Internet in 1995 that figure was down to 4 US tanneries. It is not an easy decision, deciding whether to just go out of business after all these years or bend one's principles and source shearlings from firms that may or may not treat their employees as slaves. While we prefer to keep up the good fight, nothing that we can do is going to change labor practices in China. Sure, Wal Mart, Disney, New Balance, (and others) now they could do something about labor practices. Ourselves, if we threaten to pull our business they just laugh at us, out loud. All we can do is possibly turn a head or two by "blogging" on our home page.

So, facing the inevitable, we did a little research on just what "Made in America" or "Made in the USA" really meant. Well, it is actually subject to FTC rules. You would not believe the complexity but what it shakes down to is, if you claim your items are "American Made" virtually everything about them has to be domestically produced (based very much on the cost of the raw materials). Okay, it doesn't matter if there are no raw material suppliers left in the US, having been driven out of business by imports. When they are gone they are gone for good. No, if you want to say your product was "Made in the USA", then, by gosh, it better be 100%. They, the FTC, say that it is because of 9/11.... Long story. We can "qualify" our statement by adding a few words but that, we feel, demeans our own work and the hard work of employees of US companies that are really still producing their items right here, despite where their raw materials come from. We, like many other US "manufacturers" and US workers, are still working hard to make products right here in the good old USA but, since all our suppliers have disappeared, we are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to sourcing raw materials. We (and they) can either say "Made in the USA" or "Made in the USA using imported XXX." What are you going to focus on? The word "Imported" right? You are not going to pay attention to who actually does the real work of creating the product that you are buying.

Oddly enough we are not required by any law to tell you where our products are made. Go figure. But, if we want to say they are made in the US then we fall under the rules. They don't want us deceiving people. Sure, it is all fine well and good for UGG AUSTRALIA® to lead people to believe their products are made in Australia. (Everyone out there who owns UGG AUSTRALIA® products and knew they are made in China before purchasing raise your hands. Hey, email Oprah and tell her you don't appreciate her contributing to the deception of the American consumer. Do it, we did, not that it matters.)

Shepherd's Flock® MAKES a wide range of shearling products right here in good old Vermont (USA). Really! We are just two people, doing the best we can to prove that products that are made in the USA are still the best you can buy. Our products range from real simple items like sheepskin insoles and warm shearling ear muffs to a full range of shearling slippers (or sheepskin slippers if you prefer that terminology), with and without crepe soles. We get the skins delivered to the garage by several US based firms (6%-12% of our total skin costs). We haul the skins downstairs (US Labor). In our "factory", we carefully select skins according to their most suitable use (US knowledge). We hand cut them using our own patterns (US intellectual property). We then sew them (US labor), and ship them using the good old United States Postal Service (what can be more USA than the good folks who work for the USPS?). As a matter of fact, the only thing that keeps us from being "qualified" is the fact that the raw materials (the sheepskins) are just darned expensive. So what we do is worth pennies out of the cost of the finished product since we so discount our own value because we have to, cough, choke, compete with imports. (Wish our health insurance company had to.)

Now, we can actually claim that we are "sweat shop free". Why, well self employed folks are just that, business folks. No matter that we work 14 or better hours a day, 7 days a week for dirt wages, no holidays, no vacations, etc. trying to serve our wonderful customers. We are self employed (and we love it). Hmmm, trend developing here. Good old capitalism, "USA Made". Every person, can make it "in the USA" if they work hard. They just have to be careful about saying they "made it in the USA".

Our biggest problem is that we, now and in the past, don't believe in pulling the wool over our customer's eyes. That is so non-US thinking (see UGG AUSTRALIA®). No one really wants you to know where their products come from. But we really want to be honest, especially since we work so hard to make the best products possible no matter where our skins come from. Why should we lie to you?

All of our products are 100% shearling (aside from stitching, crepe soles etc). Nothing artificial, no polyester, no fake or real fur, and no other leathers. Yes, to date the vast majority of those skins are still from right here in the USA but we have no idea how long that will be true. For now we continue to use that one tanner almost exclusively but are keeping our options open for the future and purchasing small quantities from off shore tanners. If our lone tanner decides that we are not worth doing business with (like last year) then, well, it will be a great loss to the spirit of "Buy American".

There is more. When you call us you get a straight US based answer from real US type people. Sure, we just say hello when we pick up the phone but when you hear "hello" you aren't talking to India, Mexico, or some boiler room set up somewhere else in the world. And, going back to the days when the US was real good at the customer service thing, we don't use automated answering systems with lots of instructions to push lots of buttons nor do we even use an answering machine. We may be out sometimes but, regardless, when you call it is just like the way it used to be, real people communicating. We have a good solid US Constitution based belief (well, once upon a time) in your right to privacy so we keep no data base on you. When you email us with a question you will actually get an answer generated by a real person right here in Vermont with no follow up "spam". You don't have to ask not to be on our mailing list. We have no such thing.

For those of you who live in the North Eastern United States, the best way to do business with us is at one of the craft or sheep and wool festivals we exhibit at. Those are real US type events run by real US organizations. Otherwise, we are right here ready to do take your order no matter where you live. Heck, the UK is a big export market for our ear muffs. They love us over there and we love doing real business with them.

Sorry but we don't do the point and click thing nor can we "ship within 24 hours". We are just two people and, since we want to keep making our products in the USA, we have to do things in the slow lane. Massive volume leads to massive greed and, while that may be as American as apple pie to the corporations, it leaves a sour taste in our mouths. The more volume one does, the more likely one will look "off shore" for production and bigger profits. Not our style. So, if you must have an item FAST, hop over to our index of competitors and see what someone else can do for you. Many of them follow the rules and don't tell you where their products come from since that is perfectly within the law. Who can blame them? Others claim their products are "Made in the USA" but don't know the rules. Be sure and ask where their skins come from.

If you come back to us because we have you thinking a little bit about how you spend your money, try out our Frequently Asked Questions page for a little more US knowledge. In the beginning you will get a brief intro into ourselves and the basis for the way we do business as well as a lot of general information about shearling. If you don't want to look through the whole thing then you can link to specific parts off of the individual products pages.

All prices are posted right beside the item descriptions so you don't have to go through 6 pages to find them. Yes, we charge you for shipping but we don't have enough fingers to do the calculations necessary for complex stuff so we just charge between $4.50 and $9.50 for s/h. The $9.50 is our maximum for US and Canadian customers no matter how much you order from us. Hey the good US type people of the Postal Service need to be paid as well. (Sorry Canada, we love ya, really, but your Postal Folks are Canadian which means you don't "qualify". Of course your health coverage doesn't "qualify" either. Maybe a non-US made health coverage situation wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.)

Our US made privacy policy is unique and real simple. "We Don't and We Won't" is our mantra and yes, it is based on your long gone right to privacy. It is not ten pages long so that you will never read it thus allowing us to make real "US Made" profits off of your contact with us. No, it is simple and direct and even contains a few tips about how you can get some of that privacy back. We actually think it is worth reading.

The index below will serve as your initial guide to our offerings (gasp, finally). You will find our nice "mouse over" menu near the top of every page (created from software from a real US company) as well as text links to all pages at the bottom of each page you visit so you can easily find your way around.

We will always make our products here in VT. We will, indeed, go out of business before we market a "Made in China" finished product under our brand name. There are a great deal of American workers who produce fine products but have to work with imported raw materials. They too have a right to be proud of what they do despite where their raw materials come from. As for the imported finished goods, they would not be as competitive if the workers actually got paid a fair wage for what they were doing. Remember that the next time you pay an absurd price for a pair of jeans that cost $4 to make or that $10 Barbie doll. If it weren't for all the people getting paid good money to do nothing we bet Levis could still make jeans right here in the USA and employ hundreds, if not thousands, of workers.

You decide, can we (and others) rightfully call our products "Made in the USA" without adding damaging words like "imported" as a "qualifier" when we do all the real work?

GENUINE SHEARLING SLIPPERS, MITTENS, HATS, EAR MUFFS, AND OTHER PRODUCTS, (Still) HAND MADE IN VERMONT, USA.
(Using the definition in Webster's-made by hand or by a hand process.)

**WELCOME TO THE Made in USA? HOME OF SHEPHERD'S FLOCK®.**

You decide, can we (and others) rightfully call our products "Made in the USA" without adding damaging words like "imported" as a "qualifier" when we do all the real work?

GENUINE SHEARLING SLIPPERS, MITTENS, HATS, EAR MUFFS, AND OTHER PRODUCTS, (Still) HAND MADE IN VERMONT, USA. (Using the definition in Webster's-made by hand or by a hand process.)

WELCOME TO THE Made in USA? HOME OF SHEPHERD'S FLOCK®.

You decide, can we (and others) rightfully call our products "Made in the USA" without adding damaging words like "imported" as a "qualifier" when we do all the real work?

GENUINE SHEARLING SLIPPERS, MITTENS, HATS, EAR MUFFS, AND OTHER PRODUCTS, (Still) HAND MADE IN VERMONT, USA.
(Using the definition in Webster's-made by hand or by a hand process.)

**WELCOME TO THE Made in USA? HOME OF SHEPHERD'S FLOCK®.**