Par for the course
-Rico Norris, May 2015
A viscous cycle indeed. One that I’d like to fight against as much as I still can… Much good buying a toy yoyo will do 
Someone who just wants a yoyo will pay no mind to lofty thoughts of where the yoyo comes from and all it’s creation entails. I don’t subscribe to the doomsday scenario of no more yoyo brands. If the new yoyo brand is Paul Dang hand whittling killer throws from a cylinder of raw aluminum
Word David, just - word.
I don’t know where half my yoyos are from anyways. So, like others have said, unless it is in a sweatshop with unfair wages, I couldn’t care less if it was made in China. So in conclusion. I buy a yoyo if I like the design and it gets good reviews. If not then I won’t buy it, whether it’s made in the US or not.
I bet YoyoFactory makes more product in the U.S.A. than the other yo-yo manufacturers who produce only made in the U.S.A. throws. Maybe even, at times, a few of them combined. I am patriotic, but I see no need for the United States to hog it all. A company that is based in the U.S.A., pays taxes in the U.S.A., employs Americans, and makes product here too, deserves every bit as much support. Producing some product in China does not make it less deserving of support from the U.S. consumer.
On the issue of quality, I could show some photos of the “so-called” more quality U.S.A. made throws that might surprise you. Keep in mind, that when things are produced in high volume, there might be more flaws, because more items exist to potentially have any flaws. If you find flaws in 10 out of 100 products, or 100 out of 1000 products, it’s the same thing. We should never fault the company making 1000 for having the same percentage of error.
I honestly could care less where a Yoyo is made. If the Yoyo plays good for it’s price it’s a good Yoyo. A Yoyo is a Yoyo. If it’s made In America that’s great! More money in the US. If not Its still fine and the world still goes around.
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Huge respect, especially the line “Since i accept this as a fact of life, I don’t care where things are made.”
First time I’ve heard this, but it’s also pretty true. The end product is what matters most, taking into consideration the workers that put out these products. Humane and fair treatment are what makes up a lot of the best things in the world, in my opinion. It’s just life so we’re still figuring it out.
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I used to not care at all. There is a global economy for sure. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care where your money goes.
Once again - cause, reason, blah blah etc.
YYF makes good yoyos. CLYW if they made some in China would make good yoyos too. No argument there. YYF making more volume in the USA also probably means they make more volume in China too. So if those are the apples and oranges we are attempting to compare - they probably void each other out - but we’d have to define worth of the apples and oranges first.
Ugh I wish I still didn’t care and wish I didn’t think yoyos were special
I’d take that bet but there is no way to prove it one way or the other. Ben says they only have one shop making yoyos in the US. Do you think that shop makes yoyos every day 16 hours a day like we do? Doubt it - I’m sure yyf is just one of their clients. But again, that’s a huge assumption.
Not that it really matters one or the other.
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In terms of volume, diversifying production and making many yo-yos here in the U.S.A., and some in China, does not void anything out at all. Especially, if the Chinese yo-yos are coming back to the United States to be sold by American retailers (they make money), enjoyed by American consumers, and the profits help pay salaries of American employees. With all that involved, I don’t see anything of great significance eliminated to consider making things in another country canceling out what is done here in the U.S.A. And, to be fair, if we want to support “made in the U.S.A. only,” we should not be buying yo-yos made in Canada, Italy, Germany, or Japan either. If we make any blanket statements about a country’s factories, practices, politics, in a way that influences whether we will do business, we would have a lot less stuff to buy.
I really love yoyos. I really love CLYW.
I’ll cheerfully do whatever I genuinely feel is best for both of those things.
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Yeah, you’d take the bet for sure, because neither of us could prove it. But,the main point was that it should be considered a possibility. No one should make presumptions about how much money YoyoFactory contributes to the American economy. It might be more than One Drop does, you never know.
Yup we agree that we just don’t know.
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Just wanted to clarify this statement… (I had just woke…)
We live in a world that is more connected than ever before. Things are made everywhere and sold everywhere. At one point this was not the case.
Patriotism and Protectionism are separate ideas. It is easy for a consumer to mistake one for another though. Companies often use their national identity as an integral part of their marketing. It becomes the cool thing to support the homegrown. This leads to an important question. Can one truly embrace a native company that outsources?
The answer is different and often complex for most people. For myself, the answer lies in the answers of other questions.
Do I trust this company to treat its workers abroad fairly?
Are there other services that this company provides besides selling product?
Is the company approachable, active, and helpful among its community members?
If I can answer yes to these questions, then why shouldn’t I support such a company?
If I can’t answer yes to these questions, why should I support such a company?
In the cases of CLYW and YYF nothing would make me think twice… They are both super active, approachable, and helpful. They sponsor contests, go on tours, host clubs, and teach. I also trust Steve and Ben to employ machine shops that are humane.
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Here’s my take on the whole thing, going to be as friendly as possible about this while expressing an opinion.
First off, I have yoyos made from Canada, Australia, China, and home-sweet home USA. I can’t really say that I limit myself to what’s made here at home but I do tend to favor if a company’s yoyos were made based out of it’s country’s origins. Let’s look at an American-made throw. While I’m all for lower costs (hey, I can be frugal/budget-conscious too 
) I would love to see an American company flourish and would love to see more potential job opportunities here. With how more populated we are getting, there seems to be not enough work to support what we have.
I would be fully supportive for other countries and what’s beneficial to their economy - more local jobs to their people the better!
In the end I’m honestly not worried about quality control issues as I assume things would be under close supervision to make sure it’s how they intended it to be. Not going to lie, back in the late 90s when I primarily had Duncans, I felt that the “Made in USA” stamp meant a lot…especially when I played some other junk yoyo from the grocery store. One day I saw a “Made in China” label on a Duncan and I questioned myself…why are they now made in China? Eventually picking up a bearing yoyo (Freehand 2010 to be exact) and played it, I still felt that Duncan quality thus brushing off the fact that they’re made overseas.
Now if these yoyos were being made in sweat shops where employees were being unfairly treated, that’s another story and I highly doubt this is even the case.
YYF has several yoyos made in China…but they feel like they were made here. I honestly don’t know…were the Shutter and the Horizon made in China?
Being recently in love with CLYW throws, I’d love to see more budget-friendly yoyos come from them. As I mentioned above, I’m budget conscious and would most definitely buy their budget-friendly models. This would only help the company out. Making smaller runs of higher end models can be tough. They can continue to produce their higher end yoyos/return tops in their homeland while being able to reach out to a broader audience.
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This topic has run its course. Move along please.