For Three Decades We’ve Enjoyed Ultra-Cheap Asian-Made Goods but They’re About to Disappear | by Charlie Brown | The Point of View | Oct, 2023 | Medium

For Three Decades We’ve Enjoyed Ultra-Cheap Asian-Made Goods but They’re About to Disappear

Which is bad for no one.

Charlie Brown

Published in

The Point of View

5 min read

1 day ago

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (CC license)

It’s gross that we let it happen for so long.

For three decades, we’ve lived through an era of ultra-cheap stuff. Stuff shipped over in bulk from the factory powerhouses of China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and India.

Whilst these products might feel great for our pockets, they have come at the expense of millions of workers. We’ve all seen the pictures of the sweatshops and the appalling conditions workers are subjected to so you can buy $15 pants.

Like I say. Gross.

But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the end of the cheap stuff era is coming.

Not just because of wars ruining supply chains. Not just because of inflation. Not just because Millennials and Gen Z want better quality goods.

No. Because factories can’t get the staff.

They’re off doing more interesting, better-paid things — like becoming Insta-famous, working in the service economy, or caring for an aging population — that don’t keep them in dangerous working conditions for 11 hours a day.

In fact, some would rather be unemployed than work in the factories their parents knew so well.

And the effects of this are soon going to be felt around the globe.

Fabulously famous, not factory fodder

China isn’t immune to the siren call of becoming an internet influencer. This is the home of TikTok, after all.

Influencer marketing in China is growing at a remarkable rate — it’s projected to hit 3.9 trillion yuan ($540 billion) before the end of the year.

Let’s face it. The thought of being fabulously famous is infinitely better than factory fodder.

As the CEO of Lovesac Furniture — whose factory is based in China — says:

Once they can see the Kardashians, they don’t want to do that [factory] work anymore.

It’s not just how people can make money using social media, it’s what social media shows them. People have access to billions of image-crafted lives…