jsh1120 said:
And as a former resident of the Bay Area I know how difficult it is for low and middle income folks to live in San Francisco. The fact that Waterfield Designs consciously tries to support their neighbors with a living wage in a very expensive city makes a difference to me, too.
But it is also worth remembering that iPads, as an example, are manufactured in China (albeit to a high level of quality), and shipped worldwide via Hong Kong SAR. But with so much economies of scale for companies to outsource manufacturing, it's simply good business sense and it brings costs down for consumers. If Apple had manufactured their products in the US and had to charge double or triple their asking price, how many people would be able to afford?
Timbuk2, for example, allow customers to design their own bags, which are handmade-to-order in San Francisco and cost full price. You'd expect to pay, for example, $130-150 or more for a customized, SF-made messenger bag --
Timbuk2 Custom Bags. But their regular mass-market designs are made offshore by a South-east Asian country, and the same item costs half as much e.g. on
Amazon --
Amazon: Timbuk2 Messenger Bag