two things:
1) caleb: you are completely wrong about the cost of shipping destroying the savings in production costs.
shipping costs are reasonable, and they don't override savings in production. shipping to north america via containers out of the port of Hong Kong, or even Shanghai, costs relatively nothing should you wish to compare it to the cost of manufacturing almost any product in North America. you have to consider some of the factors in north american production that don't really exist in China. things like worker's compensation, insurance, minimum wage, powerful unions etc. the cost of shipping really doesnt override any of these savings. it's not as if line is flying their skis back to North America on a private jet. hang out in the port in hong kong for a few hours to see what is being moved out on some of the dirtiest boats in the world. Nike, Adidas, North Face and so many others. none of these successful businesses would be importing products in such a manner if they weren't saving tons of cash.
As for problems with quality, I can almost guarantee that Line does NOT OWN a factory in China. Chances are, they outsource to a factory owner who is already making similar products for other companies. Quality control in that type of relationship is extremely difficult: not only are factory workers more prone to error ( for a bunch of reasons I won't bother getting in to), but more importantly, it is exceptionally difficult for a north american corporate representative to establish a successful relationship with the factory owner, who himself most likely doesn't even live in China, but in Taiwan or Korea. It's a question of trust on the ski company's part that they have selected the right manufacturer for their products.
To sum up, doing business in China is insanely complex, especially in the manufacturing sector, and newly established production relationships can be difficult to manage. While tons and tons of money is being saved by avoiding production in North America, so many other factors play into these relationships that it is super difficult to move production without a bunch of hiccups along the way.
as for what karma said about dropping prices for the consumer's benefit, i think that he/she couldnt be more wrong. Line has moved production to Asia for its own benefit; it's a question of fiscal survival when every other competitor has outsourced its production. As soon as one company makes the jump to asia, all of its competitors really dont have a choice but to do the same. at the end of the day, it's a question of Line's survival. Small companies can't afford to maintain North American factories when their competitors are producing the same stuff for a tenth of the price elsewhere.
think about it...
