Zeagle - Made in USA?

[The Chairman]

ShakaZulu, one of these days you are going to shock us all and say something positive... but I am not holding my breath.

Kudos to Zeagle for their commitment to make the very best diving equipment possible and for doing it right here in Florida!!!

 

[ShakaZulu]

ShakaZulu, one of these days you are going to shock us all and say something positive... but I am not holding my breath.

Kudos to Zeagle for their commitment to make the very best diving equipment possible and for doing it right here in Florida!!!

I thought that was positive, I'm married, how can I be positive?????? At least they will sell for cheaper, competing with their Nese counterpart.

 

[MikeC]

Well, if it is, probably not long before they will be outsourced to some foreign location. Then we can await the arrival of a new cheap knockoff, available on some on-line site.

You mean like that certain BC and wetsuit maker in VietNam that doe NOT mention the name of the country on their web site???




I bought Zeagle in '94 or '95 and love the stuff.

 

[circusoflife]

Yes, but anything of foreign origin must be labeled "Made in China" (or wherever...) So the rare item with no markings is most likely of US origin.

My Zeagle BCD not only has a US flag, but the mfg tag inside says Made in USA, thus it must meet the regulations for an "unqualified claim".

My Atomic Regs are also US made. I will grudgingly purchase cheap foreign bits, but I try support US and North American manufactures for most major purchases.

The intent of my query isn't to say that whether a product is made here or there is better or not from a quality/society/business standpoint (It's more engineering and quality control I think personally,though certain countries certainly standout in certain product categories), I guess, it is more to find out what is the purpose of the flag on the BC.

Not that I want to stray too far off topic...as for things of a foreign origin being labeled, as I look around my home practically every item has a permanent label or had a sticker. Speaking of content.....strangely one of the largest if not the largest imports we consume everyday which is not labeled at all despite its "high overseas content" is gasoline or high plastic content items made from petroleum byproducts. I'm still looking for the sticker at the gas station that says Made in Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, not to mention any countries in Arabia. Somehow I think that would be bad PR. Though I guess if you equated refined with made, then I reckon most all gasoline is Made in the USA!

http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/rankindex.htm

 

[Albion]

I'm still looking for the sticker at the gas station that says Made in Algeria, Angola, Nigeria, not to mention any countries in Arabia. Somehow I think that would be bad PR. Though I guess if you equated refined with made, then I reckon most all gasoline is Made in the USA!

You might be suprised how much is refined in the country of origin these days.

I bought a jacket in china which has both a North Face and a Columbia label on it hows that for value, dont know where it was made though

 

[crpntr133]

I have seen many Zeagle products with the Canadian flag on them...several post here about it also. I think it is a destination flag. If enquiring minds really want to know..PM Scott Zeagle. If he doesn't know then nobody knows.

 

[CUunderH2O]

My Zeagle Ranger has a Canadian flag on it. I believe when the LDS orders it they request it from Zeagle.

 

[Chad Carney]

Kudos to Zeagle for their commitment to make the very best diving equipment possible and for doing it right here in Florida!!!

Netdoc,

Thanks for the words of praise!

Zeagle certainly found out what it's like to invest years into promoting products we didn't build and then have them yanked away. (Apeks made our earlier Tech series regulators, until Aqualung bought them out.) So now whenever possible Zeagle will produce products in-house so that we can keep control and availability of parts.


The flags are pretty much cosmetic, we make many BCs for stores that have their own patch put on them. Some also leave the Zeagle logos on and some have not. Zeagle has also produced BCs and parts for many other manufacturing companies over the years.

I really can't tell you guys and girls where every grommet or piece of cloth comes from, but that's not really the point, they are sewn and assembled right here at home. With a large part of our competition buying their products complete, from out of the country, who's to say if we can continue this 20+ year tradition? I doubt many people give it much of a consideration when shopping for dive gear.

Scott/Zeagle does all the purchasing for the company now, but he's been a little busy making a new product personally. (He and Amanda just had their second son this week.)

I have used their BCs since just about day one, decades before I started as a sales rep for them. (It's not my only business, I also teach diving and spearfishing, among other things.) Sure I'm Zeagle biased, but it was their products that have lead the way to where we are today.

Chad
chadc@zeagle.com
727-423-7775

 

[crpntr133]

I did make "made in the USA" a big deal when I bought my BC, that is one of many reasons that I bought a Zeagle Brigade. I hope that this is my first and last BC. Many of my Db's look at it and have positive comments on it.

When ever Scott gets back here...congrats Scott

 

[scubatoys]

As anyone on the board is aware... I'm probably one of the number one fans of Zeagle... and the made in the USA has a larger benefit to my customers and me than just the economic concerns. I can custom order a part, or get something fixed in a matter of days. If something falls apart on a foreign made jacket, I normally get the "Well, we'll have to find some place to get that fixed, or ship it to Baglavia to get it fixed."

Anytime there is a problem in manufacturing a product from overseas, the supply pipe is so long, that by the time a problem is discovered, there are so many of them floating around on ships that the manufacturer cannot afford to make a change unless it's a potential law suit type of problem. With US manufacturers, the user is closer to the manufacturer both geographically and time line wise, so if there is any issue, I've seen them handled much faster and better.