American Made Matters Day: A Call-to-Action for American Consumers

ADAMSTOWN, Pa., Sept. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- American Made Matters® (AMM), an organization dedicated to educating consumers on the importance of buying American-made products, has declared November 19, 2013 the first annual American Made Matters® Day. On this day, AMM is encouraging consumers to buy at least one American-made product to show their support for American manufacturing. Additionally, the event will kick-off a movement encouraging Americans to buy products made in America throughout the upcoming holiday shopping season.

"American Made Matters has a list of nearly 200 member companies that use the AMM logo on at least some of their products," said Don Rongione, founder and president of AMM. "We have doubled our member list in the past year and see clear momentum for the American made movement."

AMM has two criteria for allowing its member organizations to use its label on goods: at least 50 percent of the product's cost (labor, materials and overhead) must be incurred in the U.S., and its final assembly or transformation must take place in the U.S. "When you're shopping, take an extra second to look at tags and labels," Rongione suggested. "You may be surprised to find out where the products you buy are coming from, and also how easy it is to replace them with something U.S.-made."

The National Retail Federation estimates that the average American family spends $700 on holiday gifts; if just nine percent more of this was spent on American-made goods, 200,000 jobs could be added to the U.S. economy.

"It's amazing that creating jobs can be as simple as looking at the country of origin tag on a product," says Joy Petty, director of marketing, vacuums at Tacony Corporation, an AMM member company. "The power to strengthen the U.S. economy lies in millions of little decisions consumers make each day. By asking consumers to purchase one US-produced good on American Made Matters Day, we're hoping they will realize just how easy it is to do good for the economy." About American Made Matters®: AMM was launched on July 4, 2009 by the Bollman Hat Company, America's oldest hat manufacturer. It is the only organization committed to promoting American-made goods that is run by manufacturers. It has nearly 200 member companies in a variety of sectors. For more information, visit www.americanmadematters.com, or like them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmericanMadeMatters.