Made in Italy, Made in... China?

We received a small end-of-year bonus at work, and when I say small, I do mean small.
It was half the amount of last year's, and to add insult to injury, it came with a letter from the company owners in which they used the word "duel" when they meant "dual".

Fighting my initial impulse to wipe my ass with the check and flush it away ("money is money...") I cashed it at their bank, that day, and spent it all in one place (not hard to do): Kate Spade. I don't love a lot of Kate Spade, but I liked this distressed gold and pink wallet, and I'd been using a thin case that only holds an ID, bills and two credit cards. Coins were always loose in my purse and the ID case is insubstantial.

For the price, you would think this little number would be made domestically or in a country where workers are paid a decent wage! Kate Spade is made in China, and a rather obtrusive white tag with MADE IN CHINA was firmly attached to the inside of the coin section of the wallet. Tacky. My friend Ruth carefully cut it out with a very sharp pair of scissors without leaving any white behind and without cutting the seam of the pouch (now there's a pal!). I don't know how I feel about that annoying detail of Kate Spade stuff. Of course, the wallet was, to me, free. Of course, someone with more money sense might say I should have added the small bonus to a Roth IRA or something; ha ha. (As we said in junior high: "Not!") Well, the wallet is super cute and very functional, and my ATM card and bus pass are both bright lime green, which looks pretty with the hot pink lining. So, I'm happy.