UK Friends - Say it "aint" so
 

DW was doing some holiday shopping and came across what she said was a very nice Wedgwood teapot. She was buying it when she saw the box said "made in China" so she thought it must be some sort of fake and did not buy it. I couldn't believe it either so I checked online and found that Wedgwood is outsourcing much of their production to China and Indonesia. Royal Doulton too and I believe Waterford also. Noooooooooo! What are they thinking - there goes the brand. We will treasure our real Wedgwood even more from now on. Is anything still being made in the Stoke on Trent factories?

B2:
...visited the factories many years ago (1980)and the tour was one of the most comprehensive (of that type)we ever experienced.
Received some Wedgwood, Waterford and Belleek for wedding presents, and added a few pieces over the years...never would have guessed this would happen....<i>Ugly times are afoot!</i>

The Belleek tour is also a very good one, just over the No.Ireland border, near Donegal and Sligo...as is Royal Tara Porcelain in Galway. I hear that the Waterford plant is
history now, too...most enjoyable glass-blowing demo at the time...also an up close look at the famous Waterford chandelier.

stu

I believe Waterford is now made in Hungary. Wedgewood may come from either China or Indonesia.

Portmerion is doing the same thing, but supposedly only for their US market. I can tell the difference before I even turn the stuff over to read the back - ick.

MOST products are made in China, Hungary, Indonesia, Thailand, etc. See Walmart, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, long list of supposedly "luxury" items. This has been going on for years, which is why I'm surprised people are only finding out now.

Didn't Waterford go bust?

I thought Wedgewood went bust too?

You'd need to Google for the whole history, but here's an overview:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/20...trent-art-fund

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...gwood-heritage

But Stoke keeps on trying to do the optimistic thing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...-on-trent-1010

(And Arnold Bennett's always worth a read)

My wife adores Henry Watson pottery ("Suitable for use at Home or on Safari") and I happened to be in Suffolk a couple of months ago and dropped by the factory/shop. No factory any more - labo(u)r costs too high, so production relocated a few years ago to Portugal. No brand is too big or too small to be exempt from the global economy.

Oh by the way - cool stuff. http://www.henrywatson.com

Thanks Patricklondon and Gardyloo for the links. Outsourcing is a fact of life, but still it is so sad when it happens to iconic names. I have always had an affinity for ceramics and glass/crystal and have a small collection of Wedgwood Jasperware that I particularly like, adding 2 or 3 pieces a year. Does anyone know off hand if Jasperware is still being made in the UK? If not, I will have to hunt the antique shops a little harder for the real thing.

Sad.
:-(

Basingstoke2, here's something to hunt for:
http://www.replacements.com/thismont...ive/v1012g.htm

like tower i did the Potteries tours and loved the Wedgwood tour, in a really derelict part of a really derelict Stoke-on-Trent - really nice tour guide - saw folks working on making models and molds, etc. but very few people actually cranking out the ceramics - tour guide was a worker and she did not hide her disdain for outsourcing and said workers there were not happy campers, etc.

Yet the tour and the accompanying museum are still great even if much of the product is made elsewhere.

What irritates me is the outsourcing, gives them alot more money but they don't reduce the price on their goods.

Wedgwood is just acting like any company in today's setting. Hold them to the same standards as say nearly every other firm producing something - cheaper to make it abroad with cheap labor and no unions to deal with.

And if they did continue to make it in the Potteries then the price for each item would probably be much much higher.

I would not jump to the conclusion that Wedgwood/Waterford'sprofits are necessarily higher due to outsourcing - could be but maybe they are doing it to survive?

Thanks Jean - I avoid "hunting" on the internet. To me, it is like those folks who hunt on closed preserves. There is no challenge. I like finding little shops and making a discovery of something different or unusual - it's more of a recreation thing and for me, more satisfying.

I thought Waterford shut down completely a year or so ago?

I have a cupboard full of 1960"s Waterford if anyone is looking to buy!

I took a tour in Waterford, Ireland, about 20 years ago of Waterford Cyrstal plant and it was a highlight of that Irish sojourn - but yes i guess that plant is history too - not even a token presence like in the Potteries

Here is how I look at outsourcing to some place on the other side of the globe.

Let's take computers. Almost all of the parts are made by machines. Machines make the same amount of money in China as they do in the U.S.= $0. Granted, maintenance people would be much less, say $1 / hour vs $20 / hour. But if your assembly line makes say 1,000 computers per day and you need the mechanic for every hour of operation, then the cost differential is $24 vs $480 or a value of $0.24 per computer vs. $4.80 per computer.

But you have to ship the thing half way across the globe. I don't care what it is, shipping costs are a combination of time, distance and weight. So it has to cost a reasonable amount of money to ship from Hong Kong to San Francisco, which for a product built in the U.S. is $0, because it is already here. It has to cost at least say $2 to ship the thing. Which then brings up to potential of loss or damage, since ships do like to bounce around in heavy seas.

So, on the net-net basis, the computer built in China might cost a whopping $2.50 less than if you produced the whole thing in the U.S. (or Germany or Ireland or Where ever).

I simply do not see the massive savings for outsourcing and since wages are so low, then the person in the building country can't afford it anyway.

Taxes?
Costs for energy?
Costs for building/maintaining a plant?
Lower environmental /pollution standards?
Less shipping if pre-products (plastic case, motherboards, et al) are also produced in China (or country X)?
Less machinery, more cheap labor?

The other side of the globe might also sometimes be closer to where other people live. Or it makes no real difference to ship computers from San Francisco to Europe vs Shanghai to Europe.

Thanks Jean - I avoid "hunting" on the internet. To me, it is like those folks who hunt on closed preserves. There is no challenge. I like finding little shops and making a discovery of something different or unusual - it's more of a recreation thing and for me, more satisfying.>>

Basingstoke, there used to be a fabulous china and glass 2nds shop in Rochester [Kent]. IMHO the only reason for going there - forget the Dickens Centre that I understand they've got there and even the cathedral. lots of other lovely shops to poke about in too.

I am talking about 12 years ago though!