Scarpa

Scarpa...

I have owned the following footwear made by Scarpa...
Cumbre
Manta
Mescalito
Delta
Lunana (two pairs)
Dominator

They all have something in common apart from the name of Scarpa and that is they were all made in Italy. Scarpa boots/shoes aren't cheap and the fact they are lovingly made by Italian craftsmen makes them pretty good value in my opinion.

This months Trail mag features a review of “multi activity” shoes, as I read through the various brands I noticed that everything with the exception of the Boreal ones everything was made in the Far East. I was dismayed* to see that the Scarpa Ascent Lites which retail at the £80 mark were made in China! My first mountain boots were Berghaus Kangs which had a great big “Made in Italy” label on the inside of the leather tongue. I subsequently purchased a pair of Berghaus Storms which were made in one of the many Far Eastern countries that assemble these products for the bigger companies and the build quality was sadly lacking, the sole unit wasn’t Vibram and to add insult to injury the lovely white leather ankle cuff was now some sort of mesh stuff.

I am concerned that Scarpa will move their entire operation out to the Far East for monetary reasons and we will have to tolerate inadequate build quality and substandard workmanship.

* I considered using the word dismayed here but felt it was appropriate.

I'd agree with you here John.

I get depressed when companies move to the far east and have lower costs and don't pass it on to the customers.

Thats the free market John and Scarpa are no different from any other company wanting to maximise profits.

Pay the Chinese workers making the books peanuts and charge the earth for Europeans who buy them.

It makes me sick too but look how long Nike and Addidas have been doing this, its been going on a long time and now many outdoor gear manufacturers are jumping on the bandwagon.

As an aside, I don't think you should make the assumption that quality of kit produced outside Europe and North America is necessarily of lower quality. One major UK company I know was astonished by the qaulity of clothing they were getting when they first started manufacturing in the far east - it was significantly better than their previous UK-made kit.

Also, Gore in particular, implement incredibly stringent quality control over factories using their fabrics throughout the world.

I do think it's a shame that manufacturing generally is moving east, but as Ian says, it's a free market and the reality is - for clothing at least - it's near impossible to compete on price without cutting manufacturing costs. That's why Berghaus moved their manufacturing base out of the UK a few years back, their kit simply cost significantly more than the competition and it was hitting their sales.

I can't btw imagine that Scarpa will move production generally out of Europe. Boot making is entrenched in that part of northern Italy and while the company produces the (separate) Contour range in Rumania, I reckon it's highly unlikely that the bulk of the range would be made anywhere other than in Italy.

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

There is the issue that making kit in the countries where labour is cheaper is giving work where the wages are needed.

But also cheaper manufacturing costs and same price UK sales mean the company has more money to develop new products and would you buy a set of boots that suddenly drop, say £50. As the saying goes 'the best never comes cheap'

IMHO

The real concern is to be sure that overseas workers are paid fair wages as opposed to 'slave labour' rates. That is what fair trade means.

I seem to get the impression berghaus have made a bad choice regarding their latest factory which according to the inside of their footwear is made in vietnam ( i see loads as i work in an outdoors shop as a part timer)

Their Mistral GTX, Zero G's, Zero G lows and Mirage seem to have had to be recalled over dodgey linings that were very thick.
Well at least this is the explanation that i was given, i am now on my 3rd pair of Mirages, each of them being unwearable due to the huge seam at the front of the shoes. If this pair are replaced (they werent as bad as the rest but they caused problems due to the front seem again :-( ) that will be the fourth pair that i will have went through. I've always had good service from berghaus in the past, in this case it has went belly up! What am i supposed to say to people who are interested in buying Berghaus boots????

Opps that should have been mirage GTX, the mistral is the unlined version.

This is happening in all manufacturing. We import foreign steel and close steelworks, we import foreign coal and close coalmines. Recently in West Wales a company called Dewhirsts a major employer shut it's factories after decades in the area and has moved it's operation to Morroco, they supply clothing to Marks and Spencers..
The problem in the end lies with us, the consumer, because we demand good quality and low prices which can only be achieved by cheaper overheads and having production where things like welfare and health and safety are a joke..
John's point of fair trade is important if we are to be at all ethical in our purchases whatever they are we should spend our money in a more considered way. Having said that it is not an easy thing achieve.

Good point Lewis.
Btw, I miss your other piccy. I did like it really !!

Just as a belated follow-up, there's a pair of Ascent Techs on the desk in front of me and inside is a label saying, very clearly, 'Made In Italy'.

I don't know if the Lites are really made in China or if someone at Trail screwed up, but looks like the mid-cut version is bona fide Italian. Strange world...

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OutdoorsMagic Editor | jon@outdoorsmagic.com 

Good!