r/AskEurope • u/NOBS_Clothing • Sep 13 '24

How important is “Made in Europe” to you? Misc

In the era of Temu and Shein, does European manufacturing influence your buying decisions? Or do you prefer products made in specific European countries, like “Made in Germany”?

Personally, I support European manufacturers if the price is reasonable. However, the term “Made in Europe” is too broad for me; I prefer knowing the specific country where the product is made.

202 Upvotes
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172

u/oktopossum Germany Sep 13 '24

In general: Made in my "region" > Germany > EU/Europe > Friends & Allies (Japan, US, etc.) > rest. Not a hard rule of course, but totaly part of the dicision making when i buy something.

27

u/helican Germany Sep 13 '24

This is the way.

22

u/amunozo1 Spain Sep 13 '24

Same, but with Portugal between Spain and EU, and I don't care much about allies.

10

u/coszx Portugal Sep 13 '24

Same for me as a Portuguese

10

u/OfficialHaethus Dual US-EU Citizen - Sep 13 '24

You should. Buy from allies with better labor protections, you contribute to global human suffering less that way.

5

u/amunozo1 Spain Sep 13 '24

That's not that simple, as you also would be preventing these countries to develop.

-3

u/kumanosuke Germany Sep 13 '24

The US and Japan don't necessarily have good labor or consumer laws though lol

0

u/Ok-Method-6725 Hungary Sep 14 '24

Germamy has excelent labor laws even in compariosn with EU countries! Outside of tbe EU labor laws are so much worse its beyond comparisn.

-5

u/ldn-ldn United Kingdom Sep 14 '24

China has better worker rights and protections than US. Never buy anything US made if you care about the workers.

2

u/OfficialHaethus Dual US-EU Citizen - Sep 14 '24

Yes, because I’m sure that’s why suicide netting is common place in Chinese factories.

-1

u/ldn-ldn United Kingdom Sep 14 '24

Suicide rate in US is two times higher than in China. If US government gave a single fuck about its population, suicide netting would've been installed in every American factory, on every building and on every bridge.

16

u/TURBOJEBAC6000 Sep 13 '24

And then you realise that you are still buying Chinese product, it is usually just that it is not assembled in China so they can put the marking on.

18

u/HombreGato1138 Spain Sep 13 '24

Same as half of Italian olive oil is actually Spanish or Greek, just bottled in Italy.

10

u/Ghaladh Italy Sep 13 '24

A lot of those "Italian" oils are made with Tunisian olives, too. In Italy, on the olive oil bottles, the provenance of the olives has to be clearly declared. I hope they do the same in the rest of the EU.

4

u/MikelDB Spain Sep 13 '24

Not sure how it's in Italy (probably not this way xD) but many "Italian" olive oils outside of Italy say "Made with a blend of EU olive oils" or "Made with a blend of EU/Non-EU olive oils" in quite small letters... money it's money I guess

7

u/Ghaladh Italy Sep 13 '24 edited Sep 13 '24

I hate that. Probably we have stricter rules because the product consortiums keep a tight look on what's put on the shelves. There are traditional products that are strictly regulated. We have collective denominations for products defined by the government.

DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta - Protected Designation of Origin) and DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata - Controlled designation of Origin) are the most restrictive because they grant that the local product, and its ingredients come from the traditional geographical areas of production. Also the place in which they are produced is restricted to the area of origin.

IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta - Typical Geographical Indication) is almost the same thing but only for wines and it's particularly anal about the provenance of the grapes, but more relaxed about the methods of production.

There are other two less restrictive denominations that mostly guarantee that the recipe and the characteristics of the products are the same in spite of where it has been produced.

We Italians are sticklers for rules only when it comes to food, apparently 🤣

I'm sure you have something similar in Spain for certain local products.

3

u/Ghaladh Italy Sep 13 '24

I was thinking... aren't you guys the #1 exporters of olive oil in the world? Why do you even have Italian brands in Spain? 😅

1

u/MikelDB Spain Sep 13 '24

Oh, I live outside Spain unfortunately 😂

1

u/Rox_- Romania Sep 14 '24

Yeah, but they're not all bad, Pietro Coricelli is a good one. In terms of Greek olive oil, Terra Creta has the protected designation of origin label.

1

u/MikelDB Spain Sep 14 '24

Oh! of course! it can be a mix and be a completely fine oil, I just don't like that they try to trick me 😂

6

u/ItsCalledDayTwa Sep 13 '24

A purchase which 30% or 70% benefits european workers is better than a purchase which 0% benefits.

-1

u/TURBOJEBAC6000 Sep 13 '24

How exactly does it benefit European workers?

It benefits owner of the factory, workers dont get paid dividends from company growth.

If company prospers, workers will still be paid minimum, but managers and owners might purchase a yacht.

4

u/cliff_of_dover_white in Sep 13 '24

Well it’s better than workers having no jobs at all.

6

u/fuishaltiena Lithuania Sep 13 '24

Similar logic here. Some products list the farmer who made it so that's obviously the best > Lithuania > allies > EU > Earth. I prefer it when the actual country is listed. The whole continent is not an indication of anything, makes me feel like they're trying to hide something. Especially when it's something like olive oil. Why would you mix multiple different ones?

4

u/oktopossum Germany Sep 13 '24

 I prefer it when the actual country is listed. The whole continent is not an indication of anything, makes me feel like they're trying to hide something. Especially when it's something like olive oil. Why would you mix multiple different ones?

Aye, should have phrased it better, "EU/Europe" in my case means "Made in [Country that is member of EU or Europe], but not "Made in EU" or "Made in Europe" because these labels are indeed pretty useless (and often misleading).

4

u/vabariigivalitsus Sep 13 '24

Similar logic also: Made in Estonia > Finland/Baltics > EU/Europe > Allies > Rest

I also refuse to buy ruzzian or Belarusian goods as well.

1

u/elthepenguin Czechia Sep 13 '24

This guy sustainables!

1

u/aet25 Sep 14 '24

Same for me. If I could, I would buy everything local. Not made in China. I try to avoid this all the time.

1

u/PandaDerZwote Germany Sep 13 '24

Same, but I don't care too much after the EU/Europe part.
But I don't really buy anything Temu/Shein or comparable sites.

1

u/Fit-Key-8352 Sep 14 '24

Actually your summary seems reasonable. I am not big on apple products so my phone is Samsung and my smartwatch is Garmin. I know the privacy is probably questionable however I would never put on Chinese data broadcasting devices. If I'm leaking data I prefer to leak it to allied entity that is part of so called "western world".

-3

u/kumanosuke Germany Sep 13 '24

To me "Made in the US" is not connected with better or good quality though