Made in Holland wordt Dutch Design

In November 1999, Vredestein decides to move the loss-making bike tyre factory in Doetinchem to a low-wage country. This is why the marking on the tyres changes from `Made in Holland' to `Dutch Design'. Filmmakers Maarten Schmidt and Thomas Doebele observe the entire process: the work in the seemingly empty factory, where the labourers perform the motions they have practised for years, the meetings with the ever-cheerful manager, and the selection procedure for the new factory in India, where merely the suspicion of being a union member is sufficient for rejection. The loyal Dutch Vredestein workers, who in many cases have worked in the factory for decades, downheartedly acquiesce in the situation. They are often immigrant workers who once came to Holland as cheap labour themselves and now see their jobs disappear. Schmidt and Doebele, using a scrupulous and detailed registration, reveal the human dimension of the economic globalisation.