Rogue Industries: Leather Wallets and Bags Made in Maine
Stand up for a second and pat your back pocket. If you feel a brick back there, you already know where this is going. Most of us have been sitting on a lumpy leather sandwich of receipts, expired gift cards and that one punch card for a sub shop we haven't visited since 2019. It is uncomfortable, it wrecks the shape of your pants, and according to one guy in Maine, it might be doing a number on your back too. Continue reading
Nello: Healthy Drink Mix Superpowders Made in the USA
Most of us have a drawer somewhere with a half-used tub of powder in it. Maybe it was a greens blend that tasted like lawn clippings. Maybe it was a sleep aid with an ingredient list in six point font and a "proprietary blend" doing a lot of heavy lifting. You bought it, you tried it, you quit. Nello is built on the idea that you should not have to choke down your health. They make drink mix powders out of Utah that actually taste like something you would want to drink, and they make them in the USA. Their tagline gives you a pretty good read on the personality of the company: Continue reading
Rickenbacker: Legendary Guitars and Basses Made in Santa Ana, California
Put on "A Hard Day's Night" and listen to that first crashing chord. Then put on "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds, or anything off the early Rush records with Geddy Lee's bass growling like a muscle car at a stoplight. Different bands, same badge on the headstock. Rickenbacker has been building electric instruments in Southern California since 1931. Not designed there and shipped in from somewhere else. Built, start to finish, in their own factory in Santa Ana. Continue reading
American Tent: Commercial Event Tents Made in Green Bay, Wisconsin
Buy a commercial party tent from most sellers and you are buying a shipping container. Somebody overseas cut the vinyl, somebody else stacked it on a boat, and twelve weeks later a 40x80 pole tent shows up at your dock with a bill of lading and nobody to call when a seam is wrong. American Tent sells the opposite of that. They cut and sew their tents in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and they put the pitch about as plainly as a Wisconsin company can: Continue reading
Argonaut Cycles: American Made Custom Carbon Bikes Built in Bend, Oregon
Almost every carbon fiber bicycle in America comes from the same handful of factories in Asia. Not similar factories. The same ones. Brands you think of as rivals are frequently sharing a molding line and arguing over paint. Argonaut Cycles builds no more than 200 bicycles a year in a shop in Bend, Oregon, and their founder has a line about why that is worth the trouble. "We never outsource. We know the name of every person who touches our frames." Continue reading
Spot Hogg: American Made Archery Sights and Releases Built in Harrisburg, Oregon
There is a line at the top of the Spot Hogg website right now, and it is not a sales pitch. "Due To High Demand Orders for Sights and Releases Ship in 4 - 6 Weeks From The Time of Order." Think about what that admits. In a world where a brand can have a container of sights on a boat by Tuesday, here is a company telling you to wait a month and a half. They could fix that tomorrow. They would just have to send the drawings somewhere else. Continue reading
Axe Equipment: American Made Engine Stands and Spray Washers Built in Council Grove, Kansas
Everybody who has spent time in a shop knows the sound. You have a big block hanging off a bargain engine stand, you go to rotate it, and somewhere down in the base the tubing groans and the whole thing takes a half inch step sideways. Nothing falls. This time. But for the rest of the build you find yourself standing a little off to one side. Axe Equipment has a photo of one of those stands on their engine stand page, orange and skinny with a block hanging off it, and the caption under it is short and to the point: "This cheap engine stand was made offshore. Not all engine stands are created equal." Continue reading
Brinkley RV: American Made Travel Trailers and Fifth Wheels Built in Goshen, Indiana
There is a word RV owners use for their first year with a new trailer. They call it the shakedown. What it actually means is that you handed over six figures, and now you get to spend twelve months discovering everything the factory missed. Ask around any campground and you will hear the same list. Trim that pops loose on the second trip. Wiring nobody can trace. A slide that groans. Somewhere along the way the industry decided that was normal and moved on. Continue reading