Push to get consumers to buy made in America products

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. (WPVI) -- President Trump promises to fight for American workers and to get consumers to buy in the U-S.

Action News asked shoppers just how often they look to see where the items they're purchasing are coming from.

Quality, durability or how something fits are some of the first things shoppers told us they look at, and rarely did they say they're checking to see where the item is made, but would be willing to pay more to buy made in America.

Nancy Gil of Voorhees, New Jersey was asked if she looked to see where items she bought were made.

She said, "Oh yea sometimes."

But it's often an afterthought.

One man allowed us to look at the label of his shirt.

The label read El Salvador.

President Trump is reaffirming his pledge to make sure more products are stamped with "Made in America."

"That is a great concept in theory, but it's a global economy," said Mark Sunderland, a Philadelphia University, textile engineer and strategist.

Sunderland says jobs that went overseas decades ago may not return to America the same way they left.

He said, "Whatever jobs that left here in 30 or 40 years ago in the textile/apparel industry could come back America. But they're going to come back as 5 jobs, 10 jobs because we're advancing the technology in this area as well, so you won't have as many blue collar workers working on the same fashion apparel items if they came back to the United States."

Why it would be cheaper to make overseas, Philly based Commonwealth Proper is creating jobs by manufacturing all their clothes in the U-S.

Owner Craig Schroeder said, "Our label says Forever made in the USA. I can look at the way it's made, pay the person fairly. And that whole process from the beginning to end is something that we believe in."

Anthony Dipietro of Fairmount said he would pay more for something that's made in America versus something from overseas.

"If I trusted the brand and if I knew that the quality was of greater quality than something imported, I would," he said.

Shoppers say this is a good concept, but the harsh reality is when they head to their favorite stores or the mall, there are just not a lot of American made products on the shelves.

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