What makes a clone not a clone?

Lol. Yeah, if anything Taiwan controls it. There's a really rich and interesting history about it. Schwinn went over to Japan to raise production because even with the factory running 24/7 couldn't keep up with demand. Their bikes were built so solidly that salesmen would stand on top of the kickstands to show how durable and Buy It For Life they were.

Japan turned out a pretty solid couple of products, namely the World and LeTour among a couple others with solid build quality for a reasonable price.

Taiwan did them one better, though. Both times, Schwinn sent their manufacturing experts out to teach them how to assemble, manufacture, run the lines, source good metals, etc., and they'd pay a licensing fee and keep going.

However, Schwinn got a bit big for their britches and began pushing around Taiwan who wanted to maintain good ties with Schwinn. Their manufacturing was so good that other bike manufacturers tried getting the then-called Giant factory to start making their bikes for them, provided no patent infringement was taking place. So far, Giant had honored their agreement to not violate patent laws, (which was a huge credit to them.)

Schwinn made several marketing mistakes. They'd done really well with the 20" wheelie bikes, but didn't transfer to BMX, even when the writing was on the wall, until it was too late and the boom was almost over. Same with mountain bikes and hybrids (though they did make great ones in the Mesa Runner, Neu Citi, Crossfit, Woodlands, High Plains, High Sierra, etc., almost none of them were made domestically. All of them were sourced through Giant in Taiwan, or Japan, because they were always reactive rather than predicting). Their one remaining domain was in road bikes, which were, in my opinion, the absolute best they'd ever made.

Unfortunately, they never modernised their factory in Chicago and had abandoned it. If they'd just gone Chromoly, gone alloy rims, and ditched the single piece crank, they could have kept the Electro Forged technology and had a well-sub-30 lb. Varsity for their entry-level offering for not very much more in cost, and ditched their reputation as makers of super-heavy bicycles that had fallen out of favor as the Tour de France became famous and everyone began scrambling for lighter weight bikes, and everyone remembered that Schwinn mostly made heavy tanks.

That said, nobody was noticing that out of their factory in Mississippi, they'd already ditched their super robust lineup of heavy-duty bikes in favour of some of the nicest bikes of that period, for some of the best price. They got their steel from Italy, and their parts from Japan (no longer making their own), but built the frames in the factory to an amazingly tight and affordable spec. Per dollar, they're some of the nicest bikes money can buy, even on the used market as the name brand has been run down to shit. They don't look like much, either, so they're a perfect "sleeper" bike you can use to knock "better" bikes down a peg or three.

But yeah, Schwinn eventually went bankrupt because Giant had them by the balls on every bike that people wanted to actually buy (hybrids, mountain bikes, and BMX bikes). Road bikes were just not exotic enough for the customers, and Schwinn bought in too much into superhigh quality steel without the reputation for it. Trek and Bianchi beat them at that, while aluminum makers like Klein, Raleigh's Technium, (and even some Trek models) entered the market with their aluminum frames, and even Giant began to innovate with its Cadex carbon fiber bikes. Schwinn was, for the last time, caught in a reactionary stage and had to import aluminum road bikes from Taiwan, this time under not very favourable conditions, and it ate their profit margins into nothing, finally burying Schwinn as a company.

Giant continued to grow. Now it makes things for every bike company you can think to name. Even they're trying to just keep China at bay.

Makers that rely on Giant:

GT, Diamondback, Fuji, Trek, and more.