The 100 Best American-Made Products
The phrase “American-made” should be simple. But as we’ve seen in the 21st century, it’s anything but. In the last couple decades, the label has been a marker of quality as much as a marketing gimmick, and a point of contention as well as a political cudgel.
We wanted to compile the 100 best American-made products to cut through the noise and get back to the root of it all. Why do we recommend the goods on this list that’s been painstakingly compiled by our staff? Because they’re some of our personal favorites, and because they’re the life’s work of our fellow Americans. It really is that simple.
Our collection will probably not look like the other lists out there. The reason for that is threefold: We wanted to include more than the typical heritage goods you see on these types of roundups (but those too); we didn’t want to repeat brands; and we’re including items that are on the full spectrum of U.S-made, from 100% American labor and materials to items that were assembled by a domestic workforce (KitchenAid’s stand mixer is synonymous with a well-stocked kitchen, so we’re not going to sideline that icon and the workers who assemble it because it uses imported components — but we get that the FTC has to take a harder line).
We hope this index — which includes individual features on 10 products we feel especially strong about — helps you realize the breadth of beautiful, useful and ingenious things still being made in this country. More than that, though, when you buy something here that catches your eye, we hope you end up recommending it to your friends and family, not necessarily because it’s made in America, but because it made your life richer. — Alex Lauer
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