SIGarmed, Don't get discouraged by made in China. The days of Far East goods as being generally being poorly constructed has been worn out. Its too competitive a market for a factory to base their buisness on quantity over quality. Think: All the ills and benefits of capitalism. Today, the best made outdoor footwear is being made the Far East, specifically there's a group of 10 factories/contractors that are the best in the world. Before, Europe was the bastion of quality footwear. Today that has turned 180 degrees. Only the factories with longstanding ties still remain in buisness. The cheap labor goods Thailand, Korea and Singapore were associated with, are now found in Chech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Ukraine.
The other equation of manufactured goods is astute sourcing. In the manufacturing world, its the sourcing managers who hold the cards: acquisition of materials, its cutting/shaping and most important its assembly. Poor buisness sense, a lack of understanding of your market and poor support from the R&D group is a recipe for crappy products. We've all seen it, we've discussed it here on the boards. Vasque being a large company (subsitiary of Red Wing), has contracts with factories all over the world. I would bet their Sundowners, Super Hikers and the like are produced in at least 3 different factories.