Donal, I was not meaning to ignore your question. Got a bit distracted, s'all.

Donal wrote:

12 years ago, I sold an American made product for $8000. Today, I can sell
you the same (Chinese made) thing for $30.00. I can also afford to give you
a free "lifetime guarantee" because I have total confidence in the cheap
product.


I'm a little cynical about the whole "quality" issue.

I can see why, if the above is true. How do you account for this tremendous
change in price?


If these sails have a
high labour cost, then the Hong Kong version might be very good value. Of
course, if the material represents the bulk of the cost, then Hong Kong
Sails couldn't produce a good sail economically. Perhaps you could ask your
sailmaking friends what the labour percentage is, in a set of sails?

I'll ask, but I don't know if we'll get a meaningful answer. I don't think that
materials represents over 50% of costs, but I'm sure it's quite significant. And
the labor is still very expensive, enough that with all else being equal, Hong
Kong (or other cheap labor place) sails could be a good value. With modern
communication & transportation being what it is, you could have a local
sailmaker come on board your boat, measure the rig and design your sails, and
have them made more cheaply in Hong Kong (and split the difference)... hey wait
a minute, isn't that what some saimakers do?!?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King