About
$150,795
11,749
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WE ASKED 1000+ RETAILERS WHY THEY DON’T CARRY MORE DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED PRODUCTS. They all said the same thing: "Our customers don’t care about domestically produced products." We call bullsh*t, but we need your help to prove them wrong.
Let's give American Manufacturing its own yellow ribbon... a wearable way to show your support for the war they're fighting daily.
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About the Bluelace itself: We asked one of America's very last shoelace manufacturers to produce the very best shoelace they'd ever made.
Adding extra pressure to the pot, we promised them that if they could develop something truly impressive, it had the potential to become more than just a simple shoelace; it could become a symbol!
And this symbol could do more than just help their business, it could help break the ongoing cycle of outsourcing, offshoring, and making things cheaper, faster and worse. It could help ALL American manufacturers.
We said that if this shoelace was amazing enough, and we get it into enough shoes and tied to enough wrists, it would let retailers know that cost isn't the only thing driving their customers' buying habits, and that if they stocked the right domestically produced goods, their customers would be willing to give them a chance.
THEY CAME BACK WITH A SHOELACE UNLIKE ANYTHING WE'D EVER SEEN: A triple-dense, double-waxed canvas lace, tipped in Aluminum. Could they be the everlasting gobstoppers of shoelaces? They're certainly light-years ahead of whatever cheap lace came pre-loaded in your imported sneakers.
So how do we know THE BLUELACE is better? It's a good question. Truth be told, we weren't sure how to test 'em either. So we called our friend, American strongman Matt Mills and asked if he could put them through the ringer. We wanted to see if he could rip them like a phone book. He said he had a better idea though.
With nothing but a single pair of BLUELACES linking his harness to a set of ultra-heavy duty tow straps, he was able to pull a 13,000 pound truck!
If they're strong enough to pull a 13,000 pound truck, they're probably tough enough for whatever you'll put them through... they just might be sturdy enough to pull us all together!
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Why lace up blue at all?
Lacing up blue lets retailers know that you're willing to give a second look to domestically produced products.
Lacing up blue lets American manufacturers -- the men and women fighting to innovate and bring better-built products to market at a time when their competitors undercut them by cutting corners abroad -- know you appreciate the war they're fighting daily.
Equally important, whether worn in a sneaker, boot, or tied to a wrist, lacing up blue is fun, bright, bold and vibrant.
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Whether or not you decide to take the plunge and lace up blue, we'd love it if you kept the following in mind this holiday seasons:
According to printed reports, the United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
According to the US Department of Commerce, every $1 spent on American made products fuels another $1.40 in spending elsewhere in the US economy.
According to The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, on average, 1,276 manufacturing jobs were lost every day for the past 12 years.
According to Diane Sawyer and ABC World News, if each of us spent just $64 on American made goods during our holiday shopping, the result would be 200,000 new jobs.
For this particular project though, per $5 contribution…
- $1 goes to Processing fees (10% of all money received is paid directly to New York City-based Kickstarter and Amazon for processing the transaction)
- $2 goes directly to our shoelace factory in Portsmouth Ohio for manufacturing the laces using American materials and shipping them to our warehouse.
- $1 covers shipping, this includes the stamps purchased from USPS and the envelope bought in bulk from our Texas-based manufacturer.
- $1 is paid to our Henderson, Nevada warehouse for packing each individual order (likely a set of BLUELACES plus whatever additional goodies we decide to throw in the pouch).
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Our stretch goals are all about helping to spread the word and telling OTHER American Manufacturer's stories.
When Flint and Tinder first launched on Kickstarter a little more than a year ago, we found that what drove the success of our underwear project was a simple idea: For the first time in a very long time, by telling their story in the video below, we connected the buyers with the makers in a very powerful way.
It was exciting stuff! And that connection ultimately helped us to keep 100 people employed and the factory doors open for far longer than anyone had forecasted.
Now, with your support, we want to tell OTHER, amazing American manufacturing stories through video with the hope that we can make an even larger impact on their businesses...
Stories like the Fortune 500 CEO who gave it all up to revive a New England wool blanket factory.
Stories like the American machine shop that used old-world gearing techniques that helped to land the Rover on Mars.
Stories like the young, energetic team who bought a hat factory and are making the old cool using a mix of modern marketing and classic style.
For the first 5,000 backers and every 10,000 there after, who lend a hand to make THE BLUELACE PROJECT a reality, we'll produce another video and distribute it direct to your inbox.
Know of an amazing American manufacturing story? Send us an email with your story idea(s) and if it's a story that fits the bill (and we have the # of backers to do it! ) we'll send our high-end video production team around the country to capture the best of best.
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Risks and challenges
Our 10-Year Hoodie project taught us that making a great product in a bunch of colors and sizes can get pretty complicated. We've fulfilled nearly 100% the orders placed. More importantly, when it's all said and done, every single order to every single backer will have been shipped in the AUG - NOV timeframe that we promised.
Still, we learned a lot...
THE BLUELACE PROJECT centers on one product in one color.
We don't anticipate any major obstacles for The Bluelace but we can say that should challenges arise, we will manage them efficiently and with you in mind. Still, we'd like to think that the backers invested in seeing this idea succeed, people who believe that it's high time AMERICAN MANUFACTURING GOT ITS OWN YELLOW RIBBON, will be less focussed on the product itself than what it represents and the message it sends.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterQuestions about this project? Check out the FAQ
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Funding period
- (30 days)