I'd not by items from Igus just because of those ties! I can't say fashion is high up on my list of "things wot I know something about" but even I could do better than that.

I completely agree though Jazz, as long as you're prepared to do your homework the stuff coming out of China is just as good as the locally sourced stuff at a fraction of the price and often with similar delivery times. I'm sure Igus are making plenty of money at the moment but I can't help feeling they (and a lot of European companies) are leaving the door open for far eastern companies to come over here and eat their lunch.