 For Douglas Clark, the darkest part of working for Nike in the 1980s was watching American shoe manufacturing "evaporate" in the Northeast in a mass exodus to Asia in pursuit of cheaper labor. 对于道格拉斯·克拉克来说，上世纪80年代是为耐克工作的最黑暗时期，那时他眼睁睁地看着美国东北部的制鞋企业“蒸发”，大批企业涌向亚洲，寻求更廉价的劳动力。  "As a true Yankee — and my father was a Colonial historian — you know, it was heartbreaking," he said. 他说:“作为一个真正的北方佬——我父亲是一位殖民历史学家——你知道，这真是令人心碎。” Clark would go on to a long career in footwear, at Converse, Reebok, Timberland, then his own line of shoes at New England Footwear. 克拉克在匡威、锐步、天伯伦等鞋业工作了很长时间，后来又在新英格兰鞋业创立了自己的鞋业系列。 And there, he would devote eight years to one mission: creating a model to make shoemaking in America profitable again. 在那里，他将用八年时间完成一项使命:那创造一种模式，让美国制鞋业再次盈利。 This was a tall order. 这是一个艰巨的任务。 At a time when President Trump speaks of rebuilding American manufacturing, footwear is a telling example of how hard it is to turn back time. 在特朗普总统谈到重建美国制造业之际，鞋类就是一个生动的例子，说明了让时间倒流是多么的困难。  These days, 99% of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported, many of them from China, Vietnam and Indonesia. 如今，在美国销售的鞋子99%是进口的，其中许多来自中国、越南和印度尼西亚。 China's share has declined in recent years, but it remains a key source of America's shoes and shoe parts. 近年来，中国的份额有所下降，但它仍然是美国鞋类和鞋类零部件的主要来源。 "We'd love to make shoes in the United States," Steve Madden CEO Ed Rosenfeld told us. 史蒂夫·马登的首席执行官艾德·罗森菲尔德告诉我们:“我们很想在美国自己生产鞋子。”  But "it's very hard to envision a scenario where we'd make the types of products that we make, at the prices that we make them, in the United States." 但“很难想象我们会在美国以我们现有的价格生产我们所生产的产品的类型。” For a shoe-factory job paying $12 an hour, the actual cost of shoemaking — when adding benefits — grows to $16 an hour, compared with about $3 an hour in China, said Mike Jeppesen, head of global operations at Wolverine Worldwide, which owns brands like Merrell, Sperry and Keds. 拥有迈乐、帆船鞋和科迪斯等品牌的金刚狼系列全球运营主管迈克·杰普森表示，对于一份每小时12美元的制鞋厂工作，如果加上福利，制鞋的实际成本将升至每小时16美元，而在中国，这一数字约为每小时3美元。 And that cost of making shoes in America quadruples after wholesale and retail markups, he said, ballooning into a $50 price difference between a pair made in the U.S. versus in China. 他说，在批发和零售加价后，在美国生产鞋子的成本增加了四倍，美国制造的一双鞋与中国制造的一双鞋之间的差价飙升至50美元。  "There's really very little commercial reason for why you would make footwear in the U.S. today," Jeppesen said. 杰普森说:“今天在美国真的没有生产鞋子的商业理由。” He acknowledges one exception to that: factories that work to meet constant demand for American-made shoes by the U.S. military. 他承认有一个例外:为满足美国军方对美国制造的鞋子的持续需求而工作的工厂。 Indeed, many of the remaining 200-some U.S. footwear factories serve the military, said Tom Capps, whose Capps Shoe Co. in Virginia mainly makes uniform shoes for the government. 汤姆·卡普斯说，实际上，美国剩余的200多家制鞋厂中有很多都在为军队服务，他在弗吉尼亚州的卡普斯制鞋公司主要为政府生产制服鞋。。 Capps said he employs 125 to 175 workers, depending on the factory's workload. 卡普斯说，他雇佣了125到175名工人，这取决于工厂的工作量。 That's on the high end for an industry where most firms employ fewer than 10 people, according to the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. 根据美国鞋业分销商和零售商的数据，对于一个大多数公司雇员不足10人的行业来说，这是一个很高的水平了。  Owners of U.S. factories that make nonmilitary shoes in America said they found their own reasons to stay. 在美国生产非军事鞋的美国工厂的老板说，他们也找到了自己留下来的理由。 Many cited their love of the craft and tradition. 许多人说他们热爱这项工艺和传统。 Capps said he also found a niche by offering a large selection of sizes. 卡普斯表示，他还通过提供大量的尺寸选择，找到了一个市场缺口。 Olivier Marchal, of Sense of Motion Footwear in Colorado, worried about the environmental impact of shipping shoes and materials from across the world in Asia. 科罗拉多州运动鞋业的奥利维尔·马尔查尔担心，将鞋子和材料从世界各地运往亚洲会对环境造成影响。  But U.S. factory owners also listed two major challenges of domestic footwear manufacturing: finding skilled workers and affordable parts and materials. 但美国工厂主也列出了国内制鞋业面临的两大挑战:寻找熟练工人以及价格合理的零部件和材料。 New Balance is known for still making or at least assembling some sneakers in the U.S. But the company gets "some components for our domestic manufacturing from China, as well as other countries, due to a limited U.S. supply chain," executive Monica Gorman told U.S. trade officials on Monday. 新百伦以仍在美国生产或至少组装部分运动鞋而闻名，但该公司高管莫尼卡·戈尔曼周一对美国贸易官员表示，“由于美国供应链有限，我们国内生产的一些零部件还是来自中国和其他国家”。  As shoemaking jobs disappeared, so did the support network for the industry. 随着制鞋工作岗位的消失，该行业的支持网络也随之消失。 Suppliers of things like the little metal eyelets and colorful leather followed the industry overseas. 小金属扣和彩色皮革等产品的供应商也追随了这一行业的脚步。 Many shoe factories turned into warehouses and offices. 许多鞋厂变成了仓库和办公室。 Dan Heselton runs Maine Mountain Moccasin out of one such factory that vacated during the exodus. 丹·赫塞尔顿经营着缅因州山区的一家摩卡辛制鞋工厂，这家工厂在大批工厂迁出期间空置了。 "We'll post jobs," he said, "and it's very seldom that someone under the age of 40 is coming in the door to apply." “我们也会发布工作岗位招人，”他说，“但很少有40岁以下的人来应聘。” Among the workers who remain, arthritis is a common struggle. 在留下来的工人中，关节炎是一种常见的疾病。 "A lot of the people have said multiple times that they definitely don't want their son or daughter doing this," Heselton said. 埃塞尔顿说:“很多人都说过很多次，他们绝对不希望自己的儿子或女儿做这个。” "That's tough to hear." “闻者伤心啊。” With the higher costs of U.S. labor and materials, the remaining manufacturers tend to rely on their shoppers choosing to pay more for the "Made in America" brand. 随着美国劳动力和材料成本的上升，剩下的制造商往往依赖于他们的消费者选择为“美国制造”品牌支付更多的钱。 "We know that we can't make a $19 shoe to be sold at Target or Walmart. ” “我们知道，我们无法生产出售价19美元的鞋子在塔吉特或沃尔玛销售。” That's just not going to be possible for us," said Nancy Richardson, CEO of SAS, a midsize company that has been making shoes in San Antonio since the 1970s. 这对我们来说是不可能的。”SAS的首席执行官说，SAS是一家中型企业，自上世纪70年代以来一直在圣安东尼奥生产鞋子。  "So we focus on having people feel like they get an $800 pair of shoes for $150 or $200." “所以我们的重点是让人们觉得他们花150或200美元就能买到一双800美元的鞋子。” The mass-market companies, meanwhile, have been turning their U.S. operations more toward design and marketing, leaving all the cutting, gluing and stitching to manufacturers overseas. 与此同时，面向大众市场的公司已将美国业务更多地转向设计和营销，将所有的裁剪、粘合和缝合工作留给了海外制造商。 Clark wanted to change that. 克拉克想要改变这一点。 On his mission to return mainstream manufacturing to America, he zeroed in on the cost and complexity of the labor involved in shoemaking. 在他将主流制造业带回美国的使命中，他把注意力集中在制鞋劳动的成本和复杂性上。 U.S. factory owners often say they wish people realized just how many parts and processes it takes to make a shoe. 美国的工厂主经常说，他们希望人们能意识到制造一只鞋需要多少零件和工序。 There are multiple layers to create the sole alone, including lots of heavy-duty sewing. 光是鞋底就有有多层，还包括许多重型缝纫工序。 Securing the bottom of the shoe takes multiple steps. 搞定鞋底需要多个步骤。 By the time the shoe is ready to wear, dozens of people might have worked on it. 当鞋子准备好穿的时候，可能已经有几十个人经手过了。 Clark knew about this, and about the U.S. manufacturers' struggles with materials, parts and workers. 克拉克知道这一点，也知道美国制造商在材料、零部件和工人方面的困境。  But he also knew that history was already starting to repeat itself in China. 但他也知道，历史已经开始在中国重演。 Wages have been going up there. 那里的工资一直在上涨。 Footwear companies have been moving — yet again — to other countries, chasing lower costs. 为了降低成本，制鞋企业又一次开始迁往其它国家。 This could be the opening for America's comeback, Clark thought. 克拉克想，这可能是美国制鞋业复兴的开端。 But for it to work, the process had to be simplified — maybe a dozen parts instead of 50 — and more automated. 但为了实现这一点，制鞋过程必须被简化——也许是十几个零件而不是五十个——而且更加自动化。 Maybe then, he said, the manufacturing could be "where the markets are, instead of where the labor is." 他说，也许到那时，制造业就会追随“市场所在，而不是劳动力所在”。 A few years back, he got a contract with a big brand and a grant to get started. 几年前，他得到了一个大品牌的合同和启动资金。 He began with making top parts, or uppers, "that didn't involve a lot of labor," he said. 他从制作鞋面开始，还说:“这并不需要很多劳动力。”  Footwear manufacturing has long included machines — cutting or gluing soles. 鞋类制造业长期以来一直都需要机器——进行鞋底的切割或粘合。 But higher-level innovation? 但高层次创新呢? Ironically, factory owners said that's happening where the industry is — overseas. 具有讽刺意味的是，工厂老板们表示，这种情况发生在该行业所在的地方——海外。 Major brands, like Nike and Adidas, have been developing new technologies, including in the U.S. 耐克和阿迪达斯等主要品牌一直在开发新技术，在美国国内也是。 But they still rely heavily on factory workers abroad. 但是他们仍然过度依赖国外的工厂工人。 Because unlike humans, robots aren't nimble — they can't notice imperfections or quickly switch to a new fashion style. 因为与人类不同，机器人并不敏捷——它们不能注意到缺陷，也不能迅速切换到一种新的时尚风格。 "Robots are not forgiving," Clark said. “机器人不懂得宽容，”克拉克说。 For Clark, the story had a frustrating end. 对于克拉克来说，这个故事有一个令人沮丧的结局。 Developing automation got very expensive and progressed more slowly than expected. 开发自动化变得非常昂贵，而且进度比预期的要慢。 He was draining his funds and agreed to sell his factory to a technology company, which knew a lot about robots. 他耗尽了资金，最后同意把工厂卖给一家对机器人非常了解的科技公司。 The factory is now closed. 工厂现在关闭了。 Clark had signed a noncompete agreement, so now "I'm essentially retired unwillingly," he said. 克拉克签署了一份不具有竞争力的协议，所以现在“我基本上是不情愿地退休了，”他说。 He had hoped his legacy would be reviving American shoe manufacturing. 他曾希望他的遗产能重振美国制鞋业。 Instead, he is now in real estate. 现在他转投房地产了。 问题 美国鞋业被移到海外的原因来自于？ A.设计 B.成本 C.机器人 留言回复正确选项，前十名朋友可以获得红包奖励哦，赶快来试试吧！ 感谢关注 跟amber一起看世界 |
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