Quote from
Ortlieb's site:
"
All products of our high frequency welding line are produced at our headquarters in Heilsbronn. All ORTLIEB products are backed by a 5 year warranty against defects in material and manufacturing."
This refers to all their bike panniers, bike bags and messenger bags.
Quote from
Tubus' site:
"
The tube carriers are produced by our subsidiary tubus China Lt D in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. About 65 workers produce all flexing and welding parts there, strictly following German maintenance of industrial health and safety standards and working hour regulations. We follow the principle of equality of all our staff, no matter in which country or department they are employed. Each of our Chinese co-workers has a similar health-, accident- and pensions-insurance as their colleagues in Germany. We employ - if possible - only local workers, who are integrated in local social networks through their families.
Of course our Chinese colleagues earn nominally less than their German co-workers, but in both countries the salaries are higher than the standard tariffs and all staff members are involved in the companies success!"
I'm glad both companies put this information on their websites.
That may or may not apply to all of their panniers and other products, and I have been told by an Ortlieb employee that some of their panniers are made in Asia -- and that production has moved more and more to Asia.
The quality, in my experience, of products that were once manufactured in Germany or Japan, and then manufactured in other parts of Asia, is often not the same.
The Tubus racks are well made, but if one compares them directly with Gordon's, there is a noticeable difference in quality of construction and finish.