this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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Economics

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In a corner of Kentucky just outside of Louisville, family-owned shoe company Keen is opening a new factory this month.

The move fits neatly into the "America First" economic vision championed by the Trump administration - an emblem of hope for a manufacturing renaissance long promised but rarely realised. Yet beneath the surface, Keen's new factory tells a far more complicated story about what manufacturing in America really looks like today.

With just 24 employees on site, the factory relies heavily on automation -sophisticated robots that fuse soles and trim materials - underscoring a transformation in how goods are made today.

Manufacturing is no longer the labour-intensive engine of prosperity it once was, but a capital-heavy, high-tech enterprise.

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Well that'll definitely be able to employ everyone in the US. Pack up boys. We did it.