Some people don't care, but I get tired of playing "hide the bologna" with these companies. The "assembled in" and "made in" game. Or they make it impossible to find that information (if made in China is OK with you, man up and say it's made there, bucko). A lot of the small, hard parts sold by most of these companies, like AN/NPT adapters, AN unions, etc. are made overseas and you just have to watch. The hose ends and hose are my main concern. "Where is this stuff made?" is one of the main questions I ask people at PRI every year. Most will be honest about it.

That said, I think that a company like Aeroquip will have stringent oversight and specifications for their stuff and/or their own facility for stuff made overseas. Not so much for the guy buying no-name, private label stuff from Phakin Junq Industries that he sources on Madeinchina.com.

My advice is pick one well known company - Aeroquip, Earls, XRP are about all I will let in the door - for your hose and hose ends to avoid compatibility issues. Stay away from the private label stuff for any of the rest of it unless you know where it comes from. Big Bubba's Race Car Parts on eBay is not making his own parts or selling decent -10 hose ends for $4. It's just not worth wrecking or burn a car up to use junk. There's different levels of "trouble", from pee poor threads galling when you put it together, up to losing the car because a hose end fractured. I have seen and heard enough to know it's happened more than once or twice.