US Groove guides consumers towards Made-in-USA products and aims to boost economy

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Hand-knitted tube socks and Amish wooden toys are not the only things made in the USA, and a new website called US Groove has researched, assembled and reviewed an array of all-American products.

Products like high-efficiency appliances, stylish sunglasses and surround sound speakers are just a few examples of the items featured. The site, a labor of love by Eric Brian Smith and Mary Tayloe Yang, founders of XY3D in downtown Palo Alto, uses big, bold photo spreads accompanied by light-hearted and unbiased product reviews, linking the user to company websites.

Smith reminds companies that outsource their production that there are consumers out there who care about American jobs. It's not just the U.S. economy, but Smith and Yang are also concerned about the environmental harm from global shipping and transportation.

"It's a myth that outsourcing is the only way to make a profit," he commented. "The only things that tend to make financial sense importing are products with billions of interconnected parts." He jokingly offers corporate outsourcers the "Party Pooper Award." "Once you know what the U.S. is good at making competitively, it becomes easier to shop American and help pull the U.S. economy back together and put it back into the groove," Yang remarked.

"America has some pretty sophisticated products at competitive prices," Smith said. He cites injection-molded plastic parts, cast metal and glass, stamped metal and clothing--"pretty much anything we use."

They say they are not here to slap people on the wrist for buying imported products, but simply to show them there are tons of great, and stylish, American products.

Smith, with a background in Industrial Design and Architecture, regularly turns products over to find the "Made in USA" label. "You start to get pretty good at guessing the items made here," he continues. "Sometimes I am surprised though, and give the United States a mental high-five for making great products at shockingly low prices." 

The founders are currently looking for companies that would like to have products tested and reviewed for site inclusion.

"We are always looking for feature suggestions, and also love to help out the budding young enterprises that keep their manufacturing and production in the States. We are even exploring software companies, as it has become popular to outsource programming and graphics," Yang said.

Media Contact: Eric Smith usgroove.com, (415) 786-6748, eric@usgroove.com

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SOURCE US Groove

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