À propos de
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En attendant, vous trouverez des informations sur madeinnations.com dans la rubrique “FAQ”. Merci de votre patience...
Who we are
We are a not-for-profit organisation campaigning to put the country of origin of most consumer goods back in the spotlight. We have lots of support groups on Facebook and a Twitter page at @madeinnations, and these resources come together to bring you the most up-to-date information we can find. We are the world's first global country of origin resource for consumer goods.
What we do
We show you the country of origin of thousands of new consumer goods, from Apple iPhones to Zojirushi coffee makers, using Google Maps. More products are being added regularly by our community of contributors. We also provide resources and links to help you explore the issues around country of origin.
Why we do it
We think people have a right to know where things come from, but too often it's not easy to find out. Websites and magazines are full of comparisons of price and specifications, but they hardly ever tell you where the products come from. To us, that's not really a choice, as they're leaving out one of the most important things. More and more people are realising that not all countries treat their workers and citizens in the same way, that some countries pollute more than others, and that as globalisation breaks down we need to look for new ways forward.
At the end of the day, as many politicians and taxpayers are realising all over again, it is manufacturing industry that really earns the money, employs workers, and pays the bills. It's what adds the value and pays off a country's debts. Questions are being asked about outsourcing and who it's benefitted. So we believe that it's more important than ever in a recession to have a place where most products can be brought together and their countries of origin compared. You don't have the chance to buy locally if you don't know what's made in your country anymore.
We have a respect for the ability to make things, and we think young people need to be better educated about manufacturing industry. Now the IT goldrush is almost over, perhaps we could think about teaching more young people how to use tools to make things again.
How the site can be used
Our database can make it easier for people who want to buy things made in their own country to find them. We can help people who want to avoid products made in countries they're not sure of. We can help young people find out more about important things like globalisation and outsourcing, and we hope that the inbuilt Google Map results display makes country of origin issues come alive in the classroom.
What we also do
We want to encourage people to think about where the products they buy come from a bit more. But we also want to celebrate the creativity of manufacturing industry at its best, and we like to highlight companies that are involved in innovation in design. See the Showcase page for examples.
We also want to help people discover all the small manufacturers in their countries that they didn't know about. For example, if you go to Cars &Vehicles > Cars/Vehicles > Specialist Brands, you can sort the results by country of origin to find almost 100 smaller-scale car companies you probably never knew existed. You can visit many of their websites easily from there.
Find out more
Whatever your reason for wanting to find out more about country of origin, we hope you will find our site a valuable resource, and meet people who think like you do from all over the world on the forums. The Resources page connects you to some of the best writing on the issues on the net, and the Education page has lots of ideas for school and college lessons, discussions and projects. The Creative page has an example of how you can celebrate manufacturing industry in a light-hearted way.
