The 100 Best American-Made Products

By Alex Lauer, Bonnie Stiernberg, Paolo Sandoval, Amanda Gabriele, Kirk Miller, Logan Mahan, Mike Conklin, Joanna Sommer, Lindsay Rogers, Aaron Cohen, Hanna Agro, Tanner Garrity

The phrase “American-made” should be simple. But as we’ve seen in the 21st century, it’s anything but. 

Made in the U.S.A. labels have cropped up everywhere. Part of that has to do with younger Americans picking up the mantle of previous generations and reinvesting in the manufacturing of quality clothes, gear, furnishings and other goods in our own backyard, rather than relying on products packed into container ships that sail from the other side of the world. But part of this patriotic proliferation also has to do with marketing: companies realized they could wave the red, white and blue and gobs of people would type in their credit card info.

Surge | $150 by Leatherman | Oregon

Oregon native Tim Leatherman was inspired to start his namesake company back in 1975 during a trip to Europe with his wife when “we needed to repair the car, and also fix the bad plumbing at our cheap hotel.” His solution? A pocket-sized multitool with pliers, which would replace a scout knife he always carried. He saw his new variation as offering “the utility of a toolbox with the portability of a pocketknife.” 

Today, his multi-million-dollar brand offers over 50 varieties of multitools and everyday carry (EDC). Our favorite? The Surge, originally introduced in 2005 and updated in 2013. The best-selling model features 21 built-in tools, including extra-large scissors, full-size knife blades, four outside-opening blades, replaceable wire cutters and more. — KM

Classic Perfecto Steerhide Leather Motorcycle Jacket | $945 by Schott | New Jersey

In 1913, brothers Irving and Jack Schott started making raincoats in a basement in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood, and street peddlers sold them door-to-door. They were the first brand to put a zipper on a jacket, and in 1928, Irving designed and manufactured the first leather motorcycle jacket. It was named the Perfecto after his favorite cigar, and it retailed for $5.50 at a Long Island Harley-Davidson distributor. Today, it’s still the brand’s classic signature style, made at the company’s factory in Union, New Jersey. Schott is still a family-run business, helmed by fourth-generation COO Jason Schott.

Work smarter, not harder is quite the mantra these days, and we don’t always disagree with the sentiment. But when you put on a Schott jacket, its superiority is apparent, not something that can be achieved by cutting corners. “My family has been making our jackets on the same machines with the same patterns since 1913,” Jason says. “A Schott family member is on the factory floor overseeing production every single day. We know no other way of doing things. And while it’s undoubtedly the hard way, it’s the only way for us.” — AG

Slub Classic Tee | $45 by Buck Mason | Pennsylvania

“As curious, passionate designers and product makers, the idea of doing it yourself always is the ultimate dream,” says Kyle Fitzgibbons, Buck Mason’s chief creative officer. He’s referring to Buck Mason Knitting Mills located in Eastern Pennsylvania, where the Venice Beach-founded brand produces its Slub Classic Tee along with its Pima and Toughknit T-shirts. About four years ago, he says the brand became excited about the prospect of owning a factory.  

The company received a call from a friend who alerted them of a small factory in Mohnton, Pennsylvania and an accompanying mill in the neighboring town of Shillington. The facility — which originally opened in 1873 and produced hats, then in the early 1900s switched to sewing knitwear — had just shut down after 150 years. Buck Mason acquired the historic factory, mill and its experienced workforce, and this tee is the result. — LM

Alexander Selvage Raw Jeans | $445 by Raleigh Denim Workshop | North Carolina

While many denim companies buy from international mills, Raleigh Denim Workshop’s Alexander Selvage Raw Jeans use a hardy fabric specially sourced from Vidalia Mills in Louisiana, which acquired and uses the same Draper-X3 looms that created the legendary selvedge at the now-shuttered Cone Denim White Oak plant in Greensboro, North Carolina. The subsequent construction process is done by hand in Raleigh’s workshop in North Carolina, down to a personal signature on every pair of jeans. Founder Victor Lytvinenko estimates that, from start to finish, upwards of 11 employees contribute to the denim in some way, in a process that takes 20-30 times as long as mass-produced factory jeans.

The result of all that work? A pair of hardwearing American-made jeans, built using the same techniques employed 75 years ago but updated for modern life. It’s the only appropriate way to make jeans, if you ask Lytvinenko. “What we say on our labels is that we make things with love, we take our time and we love what we do. We’re taking whatever time it takes to make it right.” — PS

Cabin Wool Throw | $195 by Faribault Mill | Minnesota

The Cabin Wool Throw from Faribault Mill may look like any other blanket, with its conventional striped pattern and color options that only get as eccentric as honey, orange and olive, but once you run your hands along the surprisingly soft wool and drape it over yourself, like Harrison Ford in 1923, the difference in quality becomes immediately apparent. But the first impression isn’t the point here; 30 years later, when you’re sitting next to a roaring bonfire under the stars and under the same Faribault blanket, that’s when you’ll truly appreciate what this 159-year-old factory, one of just two vertically integrated woolen mills left in the U.S., has to offer.

“I would put our product up against any product made anywhere in the world because, as I tell people all the time, if we weren’t one of the best makers and manufacturers of blankets in the world, we would have been gone a long time ago,” Ross Widmoyer, Faribault Mill’s president and CEO, tells us. — AL

Finally, a bar cart actually made for entertaining! Available in a rainbow of colors, easy to roll and impervious to inevitable spillage. 

Lollygagger Bar Cart | $1,295 by Loll Designs | Minnesota

The woman-owned, Nebraska-based home goods brand has hand-poured some of the most potent, comforting candles we’ve lit. 

Classic Candles | $16 by Wax Buffalo | Nebraska

No. 10 Cast Iron Skillet | $170 by Smithey Ironware | South Carolina

When Isaac Morton founded Smithey Ironware and set out to design a cast iron skillet, the first of which was the No. 10, he kept coming back to the phrase “Use it well.”

In creating a beautiful piece of cookware, which features an enchanting bronze-colored polished interior, their California quail logo on the handle and bottom, and a signature helper handle with three holes, he wasn’t trying to fashion a piece of art to collect dust on the wall, like the vintage Griswold skillets he collected; instead, he was hoping to use beauty as an entrypoint to daily use in the kitchen.

“One of the coolest things I think about Smithey, and cast iron broadly, is that it requires care,” he says. “Once the owner has seen it change to a well-seasoned machine, it takes on a life of its own and someone has a psychological bond to it. That’s one of the things that I experienced as someone that enjoyed cast iron, and I want our customers to experience that same thing.” — AL