I used to think that the Olympics was a time celebrate our nationality, a time to proudly wear our red, white and blue and revel in our American-ness.

But this year, as I’m watching Bob Costas lead us through two weeks of Olympian coverage, I’ve been struck by how un-nationalistic our world has become. There’s a gymnast on the German team who is from Uzbekistan, a gymnast on the U.S. team who was born in Moscow, a swimmer for Zimbabwe who went to college in Alabama.

All of this talk of cultures and countries during the Olympics has been reminding me a lot of our own home furnishings industry, where, for some consumers and home accessories retailers, a product’s origin is its most valuable asset.

There are some consumers who will not buy any item that isn’t made in the United States. My mom is one of those consumers who will stand in a store checking the bottom of each item she picks up off the shelf, just to see where it’s made.

Then there are other consumers who will pay more for items that they think are made with true Italian leather, French lace or German engineering. In fact, according to Pam Danziger, a retail expert who tracks consumer trends, consumers will pay more for items from Italy than from any other country.

The question I have is why? Why are nationalities so important to consumers? Is it really fair to label a product “good” because it comes from Italy or “bad” because it comes from China?

You might cringe and argue yes, products from China are cheap for a reason — their factories have poor quality control, and everything is mass-produced.

But I think a product’s origin is much more complicated than that. If a product is designed in New York, marketed by a company in San Francisco, made with materials from Malaysia, assembled in Taiwan and sold at a boutique in Santa Fe, where did it come from, exactly?

The world is not divided into good and evil, and in this era of global commerce, nations are simply defined by lines on a map.

Olympic gold medals aren’t won because competitors are dressed in the colors of a certain country; they are won based on the heart, soul and talent of the competitor himself.

And home accessories should be judged on their own value, not on what country they have on the bottom.