Where are OmegaStrap Ratchet Straps made? This is a very common question and one deserving a long response. The short answer is China and India. Soon we will be 100% in India. Please read on for the long and informative version.
It is easy to understand that you as a potential buyer may believe that OmegaStraps are made by some large corporation who is just seeking to maximize profit by using cheap overseas labor. It is much the opposite. The strap design is the result of regular-user’s frustration with the straps being marketed and the desire for something better. It was founded with a shoe-string budget and great financial risk.
When OmegaStrap was first designed, we headed out into the ratchet strap manufacturing world of the USA to have ‘that” company begin making ours. We found there is no such company. The ratchet strap names you may know are merely marketers of straps provided by makers in China, Vietnam, and some in Indonesia. The custom straps that are marketed by US companies are assembled domestically with parts sourced from overseas. In fact, when we first went to a metal works company to investigate manufacturing, we were told: “That’s a fantastic product idea. Now finish the drawings and buy a plane ticket for China, because they aren’t going to be made here.” (This is where you declare that we are wrong and that a brand is made here. We welcome that company to contact us so that we identify them as the exception.)
So, we went to China and visited 4 different plants. Those plants were churning out vast numbers of straps, and we watched as they were being placed into packaging with flags and banners shouting “USA”. That artwork was only descriptive of where they were headed. At one such plant we were advised that 80 large containers, (about 2 million), had been sent to the US over the previous year to one of the companies whose website had more US flags displayed than a flag store, and they claimed to be: “Proudly made in the USA!” It was quite disturbing.
So how does a couple with a good idea and a drive to bring it to market make it happen? You sell the toys, fully mortgage the house, max the credit cards, hit-up the relatives, take a crash course in business, and worry. Creation of a new plant without growing sales to a scale that can finance it is not possible. So, it was determined that we must partner with one of those US marketers of straps who have grown to that scale, and we could jointly build a plant to make them in the USA. Calls and contacts were made to such people, and we got two answers: “Why would we want to do that?”, and, “NO!”
We came to realize that the old saying, “That’s a million-dollar idea”, really means that if you want to take a good idea to market it will cost at least a million dollars to get it there! Inflation has driven that old saying to a five million-dollar idea! Out-sourcing was the only way we could afford to get started.
It would be really cool to get to the point where all of our ratchet strap manufacturing could be in the USA. It is a goal of OmegaStrap. We settled for making them non-communist for a while and contracted with a company that is now equally committed to make the best quality ratchet tie down straps on the market. They will be made in India with only India source materials. It’s the world’s largest democracy. Buy some straps and help us grow! We share and appreciate your patriotism! Thanks.
