
A guide to great things still made in the U.S.A - walterbell
http://www.acontinuouslean.com/the-american-list/
======
blhack
To the people asking the point of this list: because it's perfectly fine to be
proud of the place where you live.

The United States is something to be extremely proud of. The way we treat
workers, our regard for human rights, our regard for individual freedom, and
our willingness to overcome adversity.

I'm proud of my country. I think it's cool to buy products that support it's
continued prosperity.

Yes, there are countries that are better at many of these things individually.

On a pragmatic level, pride in where you live translates into emotional
investment in where you live, which benefits EVERYONE. In the case of the US,
that everyone is a global term.

~~~
djsumdog
Great? Really? The country that flys predator drones, runs the School of the
Americas, orchestrated the Bay of Pigs, sold guns to the Contras to fund a war
in Iran, funnels tons of guns and buys tons of drugs out of South and Central
America, driving people to flee their homes?

I'm not proud of this country. This isn't even a democracy. It's an oligarchy.
Only the opinions of the top 10% of income earners even remotely match policy
decisions. This isn't new now, it's been this way for longer than I've been
alive and longer than my parents have been alive.

Whether it's the Rockefeller funded WWF kicking tribes of their lands in
Africa to preserve "wilderness areas" or phone companies outsourcing building
phones to China so their countries turn into polluted wastelands instead of
ours, the high income countries of the world are only "great" because they
exploit everyone else.

~~~
ahartmetz
> the high income countries of the world are only "great" because they exploit
> everyone else

Man, I hate this trope. Let me fix it for you: high income countries are only
"great" because they have achieved a great deal of institutional, economic and
scientific sophistication.

This puts yes them in a position to do shitty things, and they do shitty
things, no question. But the actual source of wealth isn't exploitation of
other countries. There are plenty of high income countries that don't exploit,
and low income countries that do exploit. Also look at history: exploitation
or not made little difference except for the most successful colonial powers,
so more or less Portugal, Spain, maybe Netherlands, and the UK. Those things
are all over.

Progress is not a zero-sum game. Wealth can be created, if it exists it does
not have to be because it's stolen. I mean - how did the amount of wealth in
the world increase, anyway? Stealing is kind of lossy, it can't have been by
mutual stealing. Also, natural resources are not that important anymore. And
high income countries were/are doing just fine mining them on their own soil.

~~~
Arn_Thor
> high income countries are only "great" because they have achieved a great
> deal of institutional, economic and scientific sophistication

Wrong. High-income countries are "great" because they have been granted by
history (and luck) healthy-ish institutions, beneficial economic conditions
and have had the resources and foresight to conduct scientific exploration.

What the US has done with those factors (some individuals willingly and
deliberately and some entities due to economic push/pull factors such as being
beholden to shareholders and quarterly profit figures) is to exploit cheap
labor, first in the US and later on abroad.

This has been done with utter disregard for the health, safety and well-being
of workers and consumer. It has always taken at least one tragedy, or general
public outrage, for either the government or corporations to change course.

In simple but not simplistic terms: A significant share of wealth in the
United States is the direct result of exploitation of non-American labor.

Now, the US isn't alone in doing things this way. All countries and market
participants do this to some extent, because the economic incentive and
opportunity structure in the world encourages it. But to hell with anyone
pretending our (industrialized, western) wealth isn't built on the broken
bones of others!

------
jacquesm
This list is about as useful as a list of 'great things still made in
Albania'. Commerce is global, better get used to it. Products can be shipped
halfway around the planet and 'great things' can be made just about anywhere.

In the early 90's in Poland there was a 'dobra bo Polskie' (good because it is
Polish) effort to get people to buy local.

Only nobody did. Those that could would buy the best they could without giving
any consideration about the country of origin, everybody else bought simply
what they could afford.

~~~
baron816
True, you really shouldn’t care that much about where or who made your stuff.
People are people. They all need a way to earn a living. Being an American
shouldn’t entitle you to some quality of life that is far above what those
around the world doing the same thing are (equal pay for equal work and all
that, right?).

That said, many of those brands are of exceptional quality. I’ve been wanting
a pair of Alden’s for a long time and I was able to buy some just this
weekend. I’ve had a pair of Redwings for 5 years, treated them like shit, and
they still look great and feel great.

Not every American company makes top quality products, and there are companies
in other countries that make top quality products as well.

~~~
rayiner
I strongly disagree. There’s my people and there’s your people, and we can all
be responsible for taking care of the people in our own communities. Because
it’s impossible to actually care about people a world away in the same way you
care about your neighbors, we’ve developed into a society that’s just given up
on caring. We buy the cheapest crap we can find from countries that don’t have
labor and environmental laws because we don’t care about anyone.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
> There’s my people and there’s your people

That line of thinking leads to some pretty dark places.

~~~
rayiner
It also leads to happy tight-knit communities.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Tight-knit I can see, I'm not sure it makes any difference to happiness.

------
TheAceOfHearts
I'm unfamiliar with most of the entries on this list, but one of the companies
I recognized was Darn Tough, a sock company. I picked up a 3-pair set of
theirs a few years back and they're still my favorite socks.

I think what we really need are better review systems and product discovery
tools. There's some things where it's worth putting in a bit more money and
buying it for life, so you save money in the long-run. Surely we've all bought
cheap Chinese crap that falls apart after 2 or 3 weeks.

~~~
chungy
On a similar vein, I've been buying New Balance shoes exclusively for quite a
long time. The fact that they are made in the same country as myself is part
of the reason.

~~~
jordanb
I'm not a runner so I don't have much need for NB, but all my shoes and boots
are made by Thorogood, which is a unionized bootmaker from Wisconsin.

------
orf
What makes any of these things great, compared to 'great' ones made elsewhere?
Also I would sort the list alphabetically by the product rather than the
manufacturer, because that's what you're going to be using the list for

------
ukulele
I'd be curious to hear from the people on HN:

In your opinion, is there a valid moral/ethical argument for buying products
"Made in the USA" that doesn't fall apart when expanded to include other
countries?

~~~
ggg9990
It's taking care of your own before taking care of others. Same reason I'd
rather save my son's life rather than a million babies who are equally
valuable and deserving of life.

~~~
Veratyr
OP is asking for a moral/ethical argument though, not an emotional one. Saving
your son's life is emotionally justified but unlikely morally and certainly
not ethically.

------
swypych
Anyone else surprised how short the list is?

Also it looks like
[http://swansislandblankets.com/](http://swansislandblankets.com/) did not
survive.

~~~
new299
I think the list is quite biased. It seems to be mostly consumer goods.
Entertainingly the only "computer" item is a wooden computer case:

[https://www.blackboxcase.com/](https://www.blackboxcase.com/)

There is a bunch of stuff made in the US that clearly isn't on this list,
precision/industrial machinery etc.

------
peterburkimsher
Good to know what to avoid.

Since America and Britain stopped importing people, I'm doing my part to stop
them exporting products. I have a soft boycott on products made by those
countries' companies. No more McDonalds, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, chocolate
digestives, etc.

It's a soft boycott, because if someone else buys it for me or suggests it
then I don't mind. "I'd like a non-alcoholic drink." "Coke?" "Fine." But I
don't choose those products for myself. I try to support local companies
instead.

I extended the boycott to include Australia after the 457 visa got cancelled,
and New Zealand due to the tightening of quotas on the Skilled Migrant
Category.

Despite this, I've still been on holiday to some of those countries, and even
plan to move there if I'm one of the lucky ones who can actually get a visa.

I just think it's unfair to impose Western products on other nations, using
globalisation for profit, without accepting the social consequence of
increased immigration.

~~~
Veratyr
> Since America and Britain stopped importing people

As someone working in the US on a visa, with many coworkers in the same
situation, what do you mean?

> I extended the boycott to include Australia after the 457 visa got cancelled

The 457 visa wasn't cancelled, it was replaced by the TSS visa, which is
substantially the same.

~~~
peterburkimsher
The TSS is not the same as the 457 visa.

[https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/457-abolition-
replacemen...](https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/457-abolition-replacement)

"a requirement for visa applicants to have at least three years’ work
experience"

"a non-discriminatory workforce test to ensure employers are not actively
discriminating against Australian workers"

"new, more targeted occupation lists which better align with skill needs in
the Australian labour market"

"a requirement for visa applicants to have at least two years’ work experience
in their skilled occupation"

It's been a long, difficult, wandering struggle to find a country willing to
accept me for 3 years so I can get enough work experience.

Expanding on that would be my personal story. I have many friends at various
stages of education/work experience, all just trying to find a country to
welcome them.

Work experience requirements are a veiled age limit. This is persecution of
younger generations. The youth are not happy with the status quo, and are
resentful of older generations for these kinds of rules.

~~~
Veratyr
> It's been a long, difficult, wandering struggle to find a country willing to
> accept me for 3 years so I can get enough work experience.

Your home country?

> Work experience requirements are a veiled age limit. This is persecution of
> younger generations.

Hardly. It just means that someone has to have demonstrated their ability, not
just acquired a piece of paper.

~~~
peterburkimsher
I don't have a "home country".

It's not easy to "demonstrate one's ability" when one is not allowed to get a
job.

~~~
Veratyr
Oh, you're stateless? In that case you should be able to get in to many
countries on a humanitarian/refugee visa right?

------
Aloha
It'd be nice if we could help them update this list - I'd love a US made
source for white goods (small appliances), and more clothing options - I'd
love to get to the point that 95% of what I buy in dollars is made in a NAFTA
country (ideally the US, but I'll take what I can get ;-) )

------
millstone
Many of the companies behind these brands are tiny, like 1-10 people. For
example, Rogue Territory is just a husband-wife team. Corter is another
equally small brand.

When you purchase from these companies, you support artisans. They love their
craft and are continuing American heritage traditions.

You're not likely to find this sort of things as imports. Husband-wife teams
don't exactly have international presence.

------
rootusrootus
I will check it out, although I am not too nostalgic about "made in USA"
products these days. In my anecdotal experience, it tends to have evolved into
cheaply made garbage like anywhere else, or it's obscenely expensive.
Sometimes both.

I will say that I'm shocked by how many bicycle manufacturers there are in
Portland. I know we have a pretty active bike culture, but still, wow!

~~~
flukus
As an Australian I like American bicycles, the only negative is that I have to
own imperial sized tools. I wonder if traditions like that noticeably hurt the
export market?

~~~
analog31
I was about to say that American bikes have switched to metric tools, but then
I realized that I can't think of a part on a new bike that's actually sourced
in the US. There was a brief range of years when Schwinn sourced bikes in the
far east (Japan and Taiwan) but still used imperial fasteners on components
that were expected to be adjusted by the user, such as the stem and seat
height. I have one of those bikes.

I work in product development. In general, US manufacturers easily switch to
metric when there is a market reason to do so, or simply in the course of
normal product turnover.

------
p49k
FWIW, American Apparel products are no longer made in the US, despite being on
this list. You can easily confirm this by looking at the details in their
online shop and seeing “imported”.

------
sixsevenwheels1
I like the Texas jeans from the madeinamericastore Got some good socks also
but cannot remember the brand.

One could also look on stillmadeinusa or on madeintheusaforever

------
dclowd9901
Portland, represent!

I notice a distinct lack of car companies on here.

~~~
mikeash
By “things” they seem to mean something like “department store items.”

Aside from cars, as a list of great _things_ made in the US, it’s missing
important products like airliners, computer chips, and pharmaceuticals.

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
> computer chips

Do we make those?

~~~
mikeash
Sure. Have you heard of this little company called Intel?

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
On, you're right:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_si...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_manufacturing_sites)

I had assumed their actual production was elsewhere. Neat:)

~~~
mikeash
I can't blame you for that assumption. We hear this constant drumbeat of "The
US doesn't make things anymore!" After you hear that enough, you might start
thinking that it's true.

(The US is the second largest manufacturer in the world with about 17% of the
global total, behind China with about 23%, for those wondering where it
actually stands.)

It doesn't help that US manufacturing tends to build things that are less
visible to the average person. You buy some fancy new laptop made overseas,
but don't think about the fact that the highest value part of that laptop was
probably made in the US, and if it was shipped by air it probably traveled in
a US-made plane. (If Boeing's commercial airplane business were its own
country, it would rank around #33 in the world's largest manufacturing
economies.) We see "foreign" cars on the road and don't think about how many
of them are actually built here.

And of course manufacturing _employment_ isn't very high, because productivity
is growing fast. So most of us don't know many people who work in that sector,
which again makes it easier to forget how big it is.

------
rawrmaan
This could really use some better sorting, like by product category. It's
currently a nice monument but not actually useful.

------
jdonaldson
Since the list is mainly expensive hipster fare please consider adding Filson.

------
hrasyid
What's the criteria for this list? I mean, why aren't more recognizable
companies such as Tesla, Google, Apple, in it?

------
d--b
That list seems rather short...

------
digitalzombie
They have randolph engineering (great sunglasses) but not bravestarselvage.com
?

It's a good selvage denim company.

------
comicjk
The list is nice, but I don't see myself using it without a better UI. Maybe a
browser plugin that highlights relevant results in Amazon/Google Shopping
searches.

