Import Restrictions To Be Lifted

[Ries]

You must buy clothes from different places i`ve been too because I cant find anything in Argentina to compete with elsewhere for clothes.

I bought my kids jeans 3 years ago in the UK for £8 each ($12us) they are still going strong. The few pairs we`ve bought here all have holes in the knees and they were 5x the price.
Same goes for socks, underwear, t-shirts,coats,shoes, etc. Everything we`ve bought here for our kids is terrible quality and expensive. Socks have holes in, underwear is stretched and faded, coat zips broken and t-shirts ripped at seams. We`ve bought branded items from cheeky that are falling apart after 3-4 years. I can go through my kids clothes and pull out all the stuff we bought in the UK and its all still fine apart from the odd sock with a hole in. And its all cheap stuff from asia, 3 pairs of socks for £2 from primark.

I`ve had kids shoes fall apart in under a year and yet the ones we bought from the UK are all still perfect. I`ve had leather shoes bought from here that have fallen apart, my wife included. And they werent cheap neither.

We find everything here is at least double the price but at least half the quality. Maybe things in the U.S are different quality but then I went to Miami last year and bought some shorts for $30 that were far better quality materials than anything I have from legacy which is double the price.

I am not a kid.
I am 60.
So I cannot comment on kids clothes.
My kids, when they were young, destroyed ANY clothes I bought them about the same time they outgrew them, in about a year.

But $12 blue jeans? I was buying blue jeans in the USA in 1970, and they cost more than twelve dollars then.
Again, I wear double knee Carhartts, and they can easily cost $50 a pair.

I think it may have something to do with where you shop, for sure. I am a pretty dedicated shopper- I have been involved with textiles all my life, and I look around a lot, and can tell good from bad based on years of experience sewing, knitting, crocheting, and actually making clothes myself.
But I just dont find it that hard to find good clothes here.
I have a semi-dress coat I bought from Mancini, in Palermo, at least 6 years ago, for about 30 bucks US off the sale rack, and it still looks good, I still wear it a fair amount.

I dont buy from big chains, pretty much anywhere, and, as I said, I buy smalls in Once, from the wholesalers.

Cheap Chinese will certainly flood the market if import restrictions are lifted, and, depending on the tax scheme, you should be able to find cheap kids clothes and socks in Argentina if that happens. (although, realistically, most really cheap clothes these days are no longer made in China- the chinese have moved upmarket, and the cheap stuff is more likely to be Vietnam, Bangladesh, or India.)

 

[Gringoboy]

The last two pairs of jeans I bought last year were from some dodgy character at a car boot sale for $150 each.
They've almost fallen apart, but I think I got my money's worth.
Apparently jeans are now around $1000 in the shops, so I'll be paying another visit to the dodgy character pretty soon.

 

[Ries]

Its interesting to see whats happening in the US, where for most practical purposes, there are ZERO import restrictions on consumer goods.
I can go on Amazon, and order, say, a cat bed, for 8 dollars.
It gets drop shipped from mainland China, and the shipping is basically free- a dollar, perhaps.
This is because the Chinese government is subsidizing the freight, I guess.
It arrives in the US within 3 to 5 days.
There is no apparent inspection- certainly, the package isnt opened. It may have been scanned for radiation or something, but I doubt it.
NO import duties or taxes.
Just direct drop shipping from China in a few days.
This is the modern world- Which is 40 years in advance of the Correo in Argentina.
Of course, you pay with a credit card online.

This compares to a US made Cat bed, which might cost 3 to 5 times the price, plus shipping that is much more.
Now, this does have an affect on US companies that manufacture.
Just as, if this sort of transparent online buying, and direct shipping was possible in Argentina, it would have an affect on local manufacturers of many things- and, theoretically, protecting those manufacturers is what the import restrictions are for.

 

[Gringoboy]

I'm glad you added 'theoretically' because this regime is famous for putting whacky theories into practice whilst we all scratch our heads and go, wtf!

 

[mc kenna]

Oh yes shifty eyed dodgy characters lol gotta love 'em how else do you get ammo these days?

 

[ben]

It gets drop shipped from mainland China, and the shipping is basically free- a dollar, perhaps.
This is because the Chinese government is subsidizing the freight, I guess.

Actually the USPS is subsidizing it. Fascinating details on the system, which seems to have a few warts, here.

This compares to a US made Cat bed, which might cost 3 to 5 times the price, plus shipping that is much more.
Now, this does have an affect on US companies that manufacture.
Just as, if this sort of transparent online buying, and direct shipping was possible in Argentina, it would have an affect on local manufacturers of many things- and, theoretically, protecting those manufacturers is what the import restrictions are for.

If that was the case, reasonable duties would do the trick of evening out prices. The deal here goes WAY beyond duties.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Cheap Chinese will certainly flood the market if import restrictions are lifted, and, depending on the tax scheme, you should be able to find cheap kids clothes and socks in Argentina if that happens. (although, realistically, most really cheap clothes these days are no longer made in China- the chinese have moved upmarket, and the cheap stuff is more likely to be Vietnam, Bangladesh, or India.)

When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was a synonym for cheap and shoddy. Times change, but Argentina doesn't.

 

[Joe]

When I was a kid, "Made in Japan" was a synonym for cheap and shoddy. Times change, but Argentina doesn't.

Now in Japan people get Forehead Bagel injections:

 

[ARbound]

The general theme of this thread would be:

imagina un país sin Peronismo/Kirchnerismo...

 

[camberiu]

Pero Argentina es Peronismo/Kirchnerismo...