The consumer-focused program is meant to promote the state’s significant manufacturing sector.

Some news out of Sacramento last month: “Made in California,” a new statewide labeling and marketing program, was launched by Gov. Gavin Newsom to promote products that are “substantially made” in the Golden State.

Eligible manufacturers that apply to the program will be able to use the “Made in California” label and tap other resources to improve their visibility with different consumer groups. The program is temporarily waiving application fees to encourage participation.

“Whether the company makes surfboards or salsa, beer or biotech products, as long as it is substantially made in the Golden State, manufacturers big and small have the opportunity to add the valuable ‘Made in California’ label to their products,” reads the press release that accompanied the program’s launch. “And for consumers, the label makes it simple: look for the logo and know you’re buying a product made by California workers, right here in California, to California standards.”

As such, this is very consumer-focused program, one in which the state government is committing to promote an important part of its state economy, which by itself is one of the world’s largest. According to the release, California manufacturers produced $385 billion in economic output in 2025, or 9% of the state’s GDP. What’s more, nearly 90% of California’s manufacturers qualify as small businesses. It’s all a long way of saying there’s a lot of manufacturing employment and manufacturing activity taking place on the west coast, and Gov. Newsom – perhaps with his eye on higher office someday – recognizes the political expediency in promoting his stater’s manufacturing sector.

Nothing wrong with that. This program is a step in the right direction: Seeing a “Made in California” label on more consumer goods puts manufacturing activity at top of mind for shoppers and will remind them that localized manufacturing improves local economies by providing local jobs and generating significant economic activity nearby. At a time when companies are intentionally making it more difficult to find American-made goods (let alone California-made goods), this kind of promotion should be applauded.

You can find more information on the Made in California program here, and a database of participating manufacturers here.

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It’s hard to resist the lure of a good photo opportunity, but all these press events show politicians know manufacturing matters.

Between the August recess, the Labor Day holiday and the looming federal midterm elections, Congress is in a relatively quiet period of their legislative calendar. Our elected officials are at home in their districts and states getting local, meeting with constituents. And there’s nothing they like more than touring a manufacturing facility.

Are they trying to glean a little common-person credibility getting their picture taken on a shop floor or in a hard hat? Probably. But do they also recognize how important manufacturing activity is for the local economies they represent? Definitely. One illuminating measure is manufacturing’s multiplier effect; every dollar spent in manufacturing results in $2.69 in spending elsewhere. Manufacturing begets economic activity. Hence all these Congressional photo opportunities.    

So who was out there shaking hands with factory workers?

Here we have Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Penn.), who visited W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery and its parent company Zippo, maker of the ubiquitous lighter, at their manufacturing facilities in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Case was featured in our 2024 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide, and we profiled Zippo on our blog last year.

Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) visited the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to tout the program’s benefits. We’re big fans of the myriad extensions of the MEP, which have helped lots of small- and mid-sized manufacturing companies gear up and stay in operation over the years.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), meanwhile, visited the Arkema facility up the road from Geneseo, N.Y., where dozens of workers make chemical products that go into all sorts of stuff from food packaging to PVC pipes and vinyl siding.

And Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) visited RoMan Manufacturing, which makes electric transformers that have applications in industries like glass, semiconductors and auto manufacturing. That last one’s especially important in a state like Michigan, the historic home of the U.S. auto industry, and RoMan is one of thousands of parts suppliers that would face a significant market disruption if vertically integrated Chinese automakers gain access to the United States.

That’s just a sampling of the manufacturing tours and photo-ops undertaken by our Members of Congress in the past few weeks (Google turns up plenty more). And while these visits could fairly be called PR or campaigning, again: It’s good to see manufacturing being valued by elected officials. Now, when they come back to Washington, they can take up work important to domestic manufacturing; like, for instance, passing a Buy America-compliant surface transportation infrastructure bill.

If you’ve got an end-of-summer excursion planned, please appreciate the country that workers built for us by buying American while you travel!

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer, but the holiday is about more than a three-day weekend. Celebrated this year on Sept. 7, it honors the contributions of American workers, a tradition rooted in the labor movement of the late 19th century and made a federal holiday in 1894.

Whether you’re planning a road trip, a hike through a national park, a beach day or time spent somewhere new entirely, here’s how to make it an American-made adventure – from the gear you pack to the places you visit and the souvenirs you bring home.

Pack American-made for the Road

We got you covered for this. Start with a cozy blanket from Vermont Flannel Company, hand cut and sewn in the U.S. Bring a deck of Bicycle playing cards from the United States Playing Card Company and let Audeze headphones, made at its California factory, settle any playlist disputes.

Pack Purell for rest stop visits. It’s made primarily in Akron, Ohio, though some is manufactured in France, so check the label. For snacks, Purely Elizabeth granola, RXBARs and Jackson’s Sweet Potato Chips are all solid American-made picks with a variety to satisfy many.

Don’t Forget Fido

If the dog has claimed the back seat, bring the Made in America fun along too. Atlas Pet Company makes leashes, harnesses and collars, West Paw makes toys, and Pooch Paper offers sustainable dog waste sheets, all part of AAM’s favorite American-made pet gear.

It’s a Perfect Time to Visit a National Park

Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion may come to mind first, but the National Park System includes 433 units (“parks”) across more than 85 million acres in all 50 states, D.C. and U.S. territories, from monuments and battlefields to historic sites.

Some are tied directly to America’s labor history. Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, honors the workers who powered wartime production. Pullman National Historical Park in Chicago traces a story woven into American industry and the labor movement, and Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park marks the start of the Industrial Revolution. Add in Thomas Edison National Historical Park in New Jersey, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park and Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas, and it’s clear a Labor Day adventure doesn’t require hiking boots!

Also worth noting: While all buildings inside our national parks are subject to procurement rules set out in federal Buy America laws, some of the more iconic structures – specifically, those built during NPS’ “parkitecture” period – incorporated locally sourced building materials (like whole logs) in order to emphasize the rustic design aesthetic. As such, these structures are very much American-made.

Bring Home an American-made Souvenir

Once you’re at the gift shop, keep the theme going. The National Park Service has backed American-made merchandise in its concession shops for years. New concession contracts include language encouraging these sales, and concessioner performance reviews take them into account. Federal rules even offer concessioners a financial incentive to sell authentic Native handicrafts and bid proposals for retail services typically ask how a company plans to promote these items.

Concessioners have leaned into this! Many now stock American-made merchandise, label it clearly, and set aside entire sections for “Made in America” products. The National Park Hospitality Association has gone a step further, forming a Retail Operations Task Force so concessioners can pool resources, including a shared database of American made vendors.

Finding purely domestic products isn’t always simple. Some items visitors want just aren’t manufactured in the U.S. anymore, so many concessioners buy from American-owned wholesalers who finish imported goods domestically through embroidery, silk screening, printing, engraving and similar work. So remember: Always check labels, even in NPS gift shop.

Still, a few parks go out of their way to promote Made in USA. At Mount Rushmore, visitor feedback led Xanterra Parks & Resorts to retrofit part of the gift shop into a dedicated “Made in USA” section, complete with signage pointing people toward it. At the Statue of Liberty, concessioner Evelyn Hill has carved out “Made in America” areas in both the small shop at the statue’s base and the larger shop on Liberty Island, stocked with American made T-shirts, figurines, flags and coffee mugs. Death Valley’s Nugget Gift Shop, run by Ortega Family Enterprises, carries Native American jewelry, weavings and pottery made by local tribal artisans alongside other U.S. made souvenirs. At Bryce Canyon, Forever Resorts buys directly from local and Native American artists for its handicrafts and highlights the connection with signage throughout the shop, and Delaware North Companies has gotten nearly all of the merchandise at Shenandoah’s Big Meadows Lodge gift shop down to American-made, including postcards for which it spent years tracking down a U.S. printer.

Before grabbing the first magnet you see, flip it over and check the label. Your souvenir spending can support American workers too.

Celebrate American Workers, Wherever You End Up

Labor Day is ultimately about the people whose work keeps the country running. Pack something made here, visit a factory, walk through a park, or visit a monument that tells a piece of America’s labor story, and check the label before you buy that souvenir.

Wherever the road takes you this weekend, it’s worth remembering the workers who helped make the journey possible.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing does not receive a commission from purchases made through the above links, nor was the organization or author paid for favorable coverage.

Labeling Note: This story is intended to highlight companies that support American jobs and that make great products in the United States. We rely on the companies listed to provide accurate information regarding their domestic operations and their products. Each company featured is individually responsible for labeling and advertising their products according to applicable standards, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s “Made in USA” standard or California’s “Made in USA” labeling law. We do not review individual products for compliance or claim that because a company is listed in the guide that their products comply with specific labeling or advertising standards. Our focus is on supporting companies that create American jobs.

For more on the Federal Trade Commission’s standards for “Made in USA” claims and California’s “Made in USA” labeling law, please also read this guest post by Dustin Painter and Kristi Wolff of Kelly Drye & Warren, LLP.

Washington, D.C. — U.S. factories gained 16,000 jobs in August, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said:

“Factory hiring is steadily rounding into form, which is good news for workers. Manufacturing added 16,000 jobs last month and is up 58,000 since the December jobs report. That’s some nice momentum after significant drops over the past few years. I’m on the lookout for potential roadblocks to continued growth: jacking up interest rates, letting China off the hook, and energy price shocks all come to mind.” 

U.S. manufacturing has gained 58,000 jobs since December 2025, when factory employment dropped to its most recent nadir.

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For Jenny Sebring, the ultimate goal is making Made In USA accessible to consumers.

There is a certain irony in selling American-made clothing. The harder you look for it, the harder it can be to find.

Jenny Sebring discovered that firsthand.

When she launched her online boutique Classy Cozy Cool in February 2021, she was looking for a way to learn the wholesale clothing business. What she found instead was a much bigger challenge: finding enough clothing actually made in the United States to build a business around it.

“I decided I was going to go into only Made in USA because it was really hard to find,” Sebring said. “I felt there was an opening in that market because I can’t find it and it is so difficult. I try to buy Made in USA all the time and it can be hard.”

That difficulty became the foundation of her business.

From her home in Woodstock, Georgia, 51-year-old Sebring has built Classy Cozy Cool into a clearinghouse for American-made women’s apparel. Some products are manufactured by other U.S. companies and sold through her website. Others are private-label pieces made for her. And increasingly, she is developing her own collection under the Jenny J USA label.

“I’m starting to really promote my own products and line, but I also have to continue to source Made in USA,” said Sebring. “Some of it is private label and some of it is not. They’re just brands that I work with. I find a manufacturer, they make it in the USA and they sell wholesale, and sometimes I put my label on it.”

Her own Jenny J USA collection grew out of that search.

About two and a half years ago, Sebring began developing pieces including Pikes Peak pants, cotton shorts, tunics, tank tops, pocket leggings and pocket skirts. A California manufacturer produces some of the garments using U.S. cotton and fabric, while other pieces are now being cut and sewn in Georgia.

“If I’m going to make clothes, I have to find somebody to sew them because I can find the fabrics,” she said.

That search for fabric has become almost as important as finding the people who sew the clothes. Sebring looks for American-milled fabric and, whenever possible, cotton grown in the United States. One order uses cotton grown in Texas and milled in North Carolina. When a previous supplier began sourcing cotton overseas, she found another company.

“I would prefer the cotton to be grown in the USA,” said Sebring.

The philosophy extends beyond the garment. Sebring dyes some pieces in small batches and makes a point of keeping those products American-made. Even the ribbon used in her packaging is sourced domestically.

That commitment became more important as she watched American manufacturers disappear from her list of suppliers. After a couple of years in the business, Sebring found that some of her favorite sources were no longer producing domestically.

“I would go to a show and they would say they no longer make their products in the USA,” she said. “I was like, are you kidding me? They would say they had some problems and started sending their work to China and Mexico. So, I would then find new sources.”

Today, Classy Cozy Cool carries her Jenny J USA collection alongside other American-made brands, including Boathouse, WSI Sportswear and Retrolicious. Some companies ship directly to customers, while most of Sebring’s inventory is shipped by her Classy Cozy Cool boutique.

“Every single item I have has the label Made in USA,” Sebring said. “I have my own personal label. If it doesn’t say Made in USA, it gets sent back to the manufacturer. I follow up on my orders to make sure it is Made in USA.”

For Sebring, the label is more than a marketing tool. It represents the people cutting, sewing, dyeing and producing clothing in American factories and workshops. She wants to help keep those businesses alive.

The same manufacturer I use in Atlanta is making $800 shirts for a company in New York. If I want to have this high-end, expensive line, I could work on doing that, but that’s really not what I want. I really want to keep the price point as good as possible for my customers.

— Jenny Sebring

“The manufacturers that I buy from are still doing it in America, and I’m helping them stay in business because I want them to stay in business,” she said. “I want them making stuff in America.”

That mission also shapes the price of her clothing.

Sebring says she works hard to keep prices reasonable because American manufacturing costs more. She has seen the difference between domestic production and the prices consumers often expect.

“The same manufacturer I use in Atlanta is making $800 shirts for a company in New York,” said Sebring. “If I want to have this high-end, expensive line, I could work on doing that, but that’s really not what I want. I really want to keep the price point as good as possible for my customers.”

Her goal is to make American manufacturing accessible rather than turn it into a luxury category.

The collection reflects that philosophy. Sebring carries classic pieces alongside contemporary styles, women’s clothing alongside newer men’s items, and seasonal products alongside garments designed to stay in a wardrobe.

“I try to make a well-rounded selection for older people and younger people,” she said. “I try to do hip styles for younger people and lots of classic conservative styles that anybody would wear.”

There are dresses, leggings, work pants, sweatshirts, sweaters and seasonal pieces. T-shirts are often printed to order, with patriotic designs performing particularly well around the Fourth of July and America 250 celebrations. She also creates college Game Day designs by using just the name of the schools and avoiding college trademarks.

But the graphics are only one part of the business.

The larger goal is to create a place where customers can find an entire wardrobe without having to hunt through dozens of stores to determine what was actually made in America.

Sebring grew up on a farm outside Evansville, Indiana, raised by a single mother. She later attended Indiana University, lived in Indianapolis and eventually moved to Woodstock, where she has lived for 21 years. She is self-taught in the clothing business and began Classy Cozy Cool after years as a stay-at-home mother.

Sebring believes American manufacturing should never have been sent away in the first place. She sees domestic production as a matter of jobs, economic strength and independence.

“I am so patriotic and believe that our country can do better and that we should never have sent our manufacturing away to begin with,” said Sebring. “I want our country to be self-sufficient.”

She knows a clothing boutique will not rebuild American manufacturing by itself. But Sebring believes individual choices accumulate.

“This is my little speck,” she said. “Doing clothes is my little speck, but it hardly makes a difference. I’m not doing medical supplies and medicine, things I think we absolutely have to have Made in the USA. But then I think everything needs to be Made in the USA.”

For Sebring, the danger is not simply that a shirt is sewn somewhere else. It is what happens when a country gradually stops producing the things its people use.

“I feel like it takes jobs away from Americans and we’ve become just consumers and not producers,” she said. “Then are we ever truly self-reliant?”

That question is stitched into the business she has built.

Classy Cozy Cool gives Sebring a way to offer variety. Jenny J USA gives her a way to put her own ideas into American production. The other brands she carries allow her to support companies that have continued making clothing domestically.

It is a small business taking on a large problem one garment at a time.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing does not receive a commission from purchases made through the above links, nor was the organization or author paid for favorable coverage.

Labeling Note: This story is intended to highlight companies that support American jobs and that make great products in the United States. We rely on the companies listed to provide accurate information regarding their domestic operations and their products. Each company featured is individually responsible for labeling and advertising their products according to applicable standards, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s “Made in USA” standard or California’s “Made in USA” labeling law. We do not review individual products for compliance or claim that because a company is listed in the guide that their products comply with specific labeling or advertising standards. Our focus is on supporting companies that create American jobs.

For more on the Federal Trade Commission’s standards for “Made in USA” claims and California’s “Made in USA” labeling law, please also read this guest post by Dustin Painter and Kristi Wolff of Kelly Drye & Warren, LLP.

“If marketplace AI systems are steering consumers toward foreign-made goods, obscuring reliable Made in USA information, or failing to surface domestic alternatives, they risk turning public concern about AI into a concrete marketplace harm.”

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the shopping tools attached to some huge online retail platforms, following explosive allegations that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to divert consumers away from American-made products.

You’ve gotta remember this one. In late July a report released by a Columbia University Law School program found the AI chatbots that Amazon and Walmart have plugged into their shopping apps and websites are intentionally suppressing “Made in USA” products in their search results. What’s more, the report found those chatbots could detect instances of “Made in USA” fraud in their inventories … but don’t.

Why?

Walmart’s chatbot told the researchers it doesn’t “because the legal risk has historically been low—the FTC [Federal Trade Commission] pursues relatively few cases against retailers (as opposed to manufacturers), so the practical pressure to build proactive compliance systems has been limited. That’s a business calculation, not a legal justification.”

“Ask Amazon’s own chatbot why it does not act, and it will not blame a technical limitation. Instead, it points to its seller base—of which 40% to 50% is based in China—and says a real ‘Made in USA’ filter ‘would visibly redirect shoppers away from a very large portion’ of the site’s products,” concludes the report. “In other words, the AI has been tuned to protect the visibility of Chinese-manufactured goods over American ones. That is a design choice made by an American company, running American AI, fraudulently sold to American shoppers at the expense of American manufacturers.”

There are laws that apply to this sort of activity. In our letter to the FTC, AAM notes “the Commission has long recognized that country-of-origin claims are material to consumer purchasing decisions. The FTC’s Made in USA standard requires that unqualified Made in USA claims be truthful and substantiated, and that products marketed as Made in USA be ‘all or virtually all’ made in the United States.”

What’s more, “the Commission also has broad authority under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to police unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including misleading advertising and representations that affect consumer purchasing decisions.”

In short: The FTC should do something about this.

Concerns about AI are roiling the United States right now. December 2025 polling conducted by Morning Consult found that nearly seven in 10 respondents were concerned that AI could negatively impact domestic manufacturing employment. That should matter to the FTC, we write, because “Americans are not merely concerned about AI in the abstract.” From the letter:

“[Americans] are concerned that AI systems could be deployed in ways that weaken job creation, disadvantage domestic production, and further tilt markets against American workers and manufacturers. Those concerns become more immediate when AI shopping tools appear to make it easier for consumers to find products made in China while failing to provide comparable visibility for products made in the United States. If marketplace AI systems are steering consumers toward foreign-made goods, obscuring reliable Made in USA information, or failing to surface domestic alternatives, they risk turning public concern about AI into a concrete marketplace harm.”

We list several questions the FTC should explore regarding these AI shopping tools, including (but not limited to):

1. Whether they provide accurate and consistent country-of-origin information when consumers request Made in USA products, Made in China products, or products from other foreign sources;

2. Whether they’re more likely to identify, recommend or promote foreign-made products, including products made in China, than comparable American-made products; and

3. Whether representations that country-of-origin information is unavailable or inaccessible are accurate when such information appears elsewhere on the platform, can be inferred from product data, seller disclosures, import information, or listing content, or appears on an imported article or its container.

The whole letter can be found here.

And, it should be noted, there is an existing legislative proposal to modernize U.S. country-of-origin laws. AAM supports Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wisc.) Country of Origin Online Labeling (COOL) Online Act, which would require clear country-of-origin disclosures for products sold online, giving consumers the same basic transparency in digital marketplaces that they receive in brick-and-mortar stores. The findings of that Columbia report are just more evidence the COOL Online Act should be passed by Congress and signed into law.

For Immediate Release: September 3, 2026

Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, urging the agency to investigate whether AI-powered shopping assistants used by online retailers, like Amazon and Walmart, may be steering consumers to imported products while making it harder to find American-made alternatives.

“Consumers should not have to outsmart an algorithm to find American-made products,” writes AAM President Scott Paul. “Nor should online marketplaces be allowed to benefit from vague, inconsistent, or contradictory country-of-origin practices that make it easier for foreign imports to compete against goods made by American workers.”

The letter follows reporting that AI-powered shopping assistants may provide inconsistent country-of-origin information to consumers and may struggle to identify American-made products while readily finding foreign-made goods. Meanwhile, these AI assistants appear to be capable of identifying conflicting or potentially deceptive “Made in USA” fraud within the retailers’ own product listings.

The letter argues that country-of-origin information is material to consumers’ purchasing decisions and that AI shopping tools should provide accurate, accessible and non-misleading information when consumers seek products made in the United States. 

An overwhelming majority (83%) of Americans would buy more American-made goods if the products were more widely available, according to polling conducted by Morning Consult on the Alliance for American Manufacturing’s behalf.

MORE KEY POLLING:

• When given a choice between a U.S.-made product and a similar imported product, 82% of Americans said they would select the American-made option.
• The majority (76%) of Americans prefer to buy products made in the U.S.
• Although 51% of Americans state that it is easy to determine where a product is made, 35% report that finding this information is difficult.
• Three-in-four (77%) Americans support requiring online retailers to display country-of-origin labels as physical stores do, with nearly half (45%) expressing strong support.

BACKGROUND:

On July 8, 2025, the FTC warned both Amazon and Walmart in separate letters that they must “monitor, identify, and take corrective action against third-party sellers who make false or misleading ‘Made in USA’ claims on your online marketplace,” as well as identifying several examples of this fraud via third-party sellers on their websites.

The FTC regulates “Made in USA” claims under its authority to prohibit unfair or deceptive acts or practices in advertising. If a company markets a product with a “Made in USA” label, the agency mandates that “all or virtually all” of the product’s parts and processing are of U.S.-origin. If the product fails to meet that standard, the FTC may require marketers to fix deceptive advertisements or impose civil penalties.

Find AAM’s letter to the FTC here and Made in America poll results here.

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The federal PAIL Act would expand the U.S. Department of Justice’s ability to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes.

A bill to create a trade crimes unit inside the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday. That’s a major milestone in the journey to turn this legislation into law.

The Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes (PAIL) Act (HR 1869) would establish a dedicated structure within the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes.

It would effectively strengthen the federal government’s ability to investigate and prosecute customs fraud, duty evasion, illegal transshipment, and other trade crimes that harm U.S. workers and manufacturers. And it passed the House unanimously.

“Whether it’s dumping below-market iron and steel, flooding our markets with illegal vapes or violating the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, this trade fraud task force will send a clear message that these illegal trade practices must end now,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) on the House floor. Krishnamoorthi cosponsored the legislation with Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa); Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House’s Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party; and a number of other lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

The PAIL Act has been a long time coming. A version of the bill was first introduced in the last Congress and also advanced out of the House. The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) was supportive of the legislation then and is supportive of the PAIL Act now. After its passage in the House on Monday AAM President Scott Paul said:

The Alliance for American Manufacturing applauds the House’s passage of the bipartisan Protecting American Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act. Customs fraud, duty evasion, and other trade crimes harm domestic industries, destroy jobs, and put law-abiding manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. This vote is an important step toward holding trade criminals accountable and ensuring fair competition for American workers and manufacturers.

The legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate. We’ll be watching its progress.

Family-owned Dehen 1920 caters to the sharp dressed man.

Dehen Knitting Company owner Jim Artaiz describes the upscale men’s clothing manufacturer as “a hundred-year-old startup company.”

It sounds like a contradiction, particularly for a business founded in 1920, but spend some time considering what the Dehen 1920 brand is doing today, and the description begins to fit.

The company has more than a century of history behind it, generations of family involvement and a manufacturing operation that has survived dramatic changes in the American apparel industry. At the same time, Artaiz says Dehen has had to approach the modern marketplace with the energy and uncertainty of a much younger company.

“We have reinvented ourselves,” said Artaiz, owner and president of the third-generation, family-run Portland, Oregon apparel manufacturer.

The clothes, however, are still made the old-fashioned way.

“We are a knitter,” Artaiz said. “We actually knit fabric. We then press, cut and sew so that we are making sweaters from yarn into a finished product right here in the building.”

That building is a 20,000-square-foot factory in Portland where the company employs about 26 people. It is where much of the Dehen 1920 collection comes together, from the heavy wool sweaters for which the company is known to varsity jackets, overshirts and other pieces of bespoke American-made menswear.

In an apparel industry increasingly defined by global production, enormous quantities and rapidly changing fashion, Dehen has chosen a different path.

The company has concentrated on making fewer products, making them well and finding customers willing to appreciate the difference. It is high-end men’s garments that have kept Dehen in business for 106 years.

If there is one material that best represents Dehen, it is wool.

“We make a heavy, 100% wool knit from custom-dyed yarns,” Artaiz said. “We buy those yarns on the East Coast, in the Carolinas, and they are shipped to us as yarn and then we knit fabric here in the building.

“We are wool-centric for sure.”

That might seem like a narrow proposition in a clothing business dominated by synthetic fabrics and inexpensive blends, but Artaiz sees renewed interest in natural fibers as an opportunity.

“Wool has had a nice resurgence,” he said. “There is a lot of product out there with wool because it is a natural fiber and it keeps you warm, keeps you warm when it is wet and there are a number of benefits to it.”

Dehen does make cotton products, including spring jackets in cotton corduroy, but the company remains closely identified with wool.

“If you don’t like wool, we get it,” Artaiz said. “We do offer some cotton products, springtime jackets in cotton corduroy for instance as opposed to wool. We do develop items that are not wool but, again, we are known for the wool.”

The same philosophy applies to the company’s apparel. Dehen is not trying to chase every fashion trend. Instead, it makes clothing designed to remain useful long after the season in which it was purchased.

The Dehen varsity jacket is a good example.

“We do make varsity jackets,” Artaiz said. “We have an inventory of multiple colors. A black-on-black varsity jacket is ubiquitous out in the marketplace; black body, black leather sleeves. We feel like we make them as good or better than anybody else.

“It’s a substantial piece, like a lot of things we make. If you take care of it, you’ll have it your entire life.”

That idea of longevity is central to Dehen’s identity.

“It’s not a ‘buy it this year and move on,’” Artaiz said. “You have this jacket and it becomes part of your repertoire. It’s in your wardrobe to be used year after year.”

Dehen garments were known for their durability from the very beginning.

“The company was founded by Peter and Celia Dehen,” Artaiz said. “It’s a family-owned business created in 1920. Peter Dehen had worked for Jantzen here in Portland as a knitter and he started his own business.”

For decades, Dehen manufactured clothing for other labels. The work kept the factory running, but consumers rarely knew the company behind the garments.

“About 15 years ago we introduced Dehen 1920 as its own label,” Artaiz said. “For many years we were doing private label goods, custom work sometimes with a Dehen label but most times without a Dehen label in the garments.”

That decision changed the company’s direction.

“Today, 98% of what we make has the Dehen 1920 label in it,” Artaiz said. “So, we are producing for ourselves, for direct-to-consumer sales as well as wholesale sales just building equity in our own name, in our own ability instead of manufacturing for other labels nobody knew that Dehen was making.

“It is all about Dehen 1920 at this point and we are much more focused than we have ever been certainly during this generation.”

The company still works with Harley-Davidson, an important customer given Dehen’s connection to motorcycle culture.

“We are not doing any private label anymore,” Artaiz said. “We do some work with Harley-Davidson as one customer. Their label goes in that garment, and we put our label in the side seam. That remains an important customer for us.”

Dehen was once one of hundreds of small regional manufacturers producing clothing for local customers.

“Dehen was like hundreds and hundreds of manufacturers around the country that produced products for their region,” Artaiz said. “Whether it be high school varsity jackets or sweaters for their clubs, but they weren’t big companies. They were all kind of mom and pop businesses like us.”

Many disappeared as the economics of apparel manufacturing changed.

“It just so happens that Dehen has survived and chosen to continue to make what we’ve always made,” Artaiz said.

That survival has become part of the company’s appeal.

“A lot of times in the processes the way we make our jackets and sweaters is very similar to the way it was done 50, 60, 70 years ago,” he said.

But Dehen has not simply preserved an old manufacturing process. It has developed new products while maintaining its identity.

The Chrissman overshirt is one example.

“Our designer, Nathaniel Chrissman designed this garment 11 years ago and immediately it was successful,” Artaiz said. “We’ve continued to make the same garment with minor tweaks and improvements over the last 11 years in different colors, in different fabrications, some lined, some not.”

The overshirt can be dressed up or down, and versions are made in wool, cotton and waxed cotton.

“They are water resistant and take on a real patina as they are used,” Artaiz said.

That aging is part of the appeal. Rather than treating wear as a flaw, Dehen builds garments that can acquire a history of their own.

The company’s N1 Deck jacket pushes that philosophy even further.

“Another garment that is super popular for us and is hard to keep up with demand is our N1 Deck jacket,” Artaiz said. “So, if you look online at that piece, it’s over the top built. It’s a luxury garment that is not a practical purchase per se, but people buy this thing to be seen in it. It’s just luxurious.”

The jacket has a sheepskin liner and waxed cotton exterior and is based on N1 Deck jackets worn by the U.S. Navy during World War II.

“It’s a balancing act finding the right market for our products and we’ve been able to do that thus far,” added Artaiz.

About 60 percent of Dehen’s sales are direct to consumer, with the remaining 40 percent coming from wholesale accounts in the United States, Europe and Asia.

“You can’t be everything to everybody, and I think once you find what you are good at generally speaking you stay focused there and build around the edges but don’t try to do too much,” Artaiz said. “We are not trying to set trends nor are we following trends,” he said. “We’re very proud of what we make.”

The result is a company that is both old and new at the same time.

It still makes clothing much as it did generations ago, but it sells through a modern direct-to-consumer operation and reaches customers around the world. It still makes heavyweight wool sweaters and varsity jackets while developing newer garments that give the company room to move forward.

“It’s not about growth and making a big splash in the marketplace or being well known,” Artaiz said. “Dehen is one of those ‘if you know, you know’ kind of things.

“We’re happy in the niche that we’re in. We’re content and proud that we have been able to survive and do this work.”

The Alliance for American Manufacturing does not receive a commission from purchases made through the above links, nor was the organization or author paid for favorable coverage.

Labeling Note: This story is intended to highlight companies that support American jobs and that make great products in the United States. We rely on the companies listed to provide accurate information regarding their domestic operations and their products. Each company featured is individually responsible for labeling and advertising their products according to applicable standards, such as the Federal Trade Commission’s “Made in USA” standard or California’s “Made in USA” labeling law. We do not review individual products for compliance or claim that because a company is listed in the guide that their products comply with specific labeling or advertising standards. Our focus is on supporting companies that create American jobs.

For more on the Federal Trade Commission’s standards for “Made in USA” claims and California’s “Made in USA” labeling law, please also read this guest post by Dustin Painter and Kristi Wolff of Kelly Drye & Warren, LLP.

AAM’s Scott Paul gets into detail live on C-SPAN.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely noticed that tariffs – a certain president’s favorite word – have been in the news a lot recently. And tariffs can have a significant effect on U.S. manufacturing activity. So, how to analyze manufacturing’s outlook? Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) President Scott Paul was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal program last week, where he tackled that question and others.

You can watch the entire segment here. Or see a couple of clips from the appearance below:

How are America’s factories faring in 2026?

Paul wrote about this recently on AAM’s blog.

“There was a period where manufacturing was having some challenges. I think we’re out of that now,” he said. “You’re seeing some of the results of the factory construction boom. Some of this goes back to the Biden administration, there’s evidence of a lot of factory construction that started in 2022 and 23 with respect to semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, some other goods like that, and has been continuing, although at a slightly lower rate, and now people are coming to fill jobs in those factories.”

AI is Bringing a New Generation of Workers to U.S. Factories

“Young people for a whole generation have been conditioned not to look at manufacturing for a career and there’s strong evidence that is changing, particularly as AI hits those entry-level positions that are white collar and all of a sudden the idea of putting on a tool belt or going to trade school and potentially making 80 or 100,000 dollars as an electrician at a factory looks a lot more appealing,” Paul said.

Manufacturing is a ladder to the Middle class

“I think there has been an imbalance between labor and capital that’s been well documented, that has expanded over the last couple of decades,” Paul said. “I do think manufacturing is an industry where you can still find good wages in the United States and particularly for the majority of Americans who won’t have a four-year degree. It’s a ladder to the middle class.”

China’s currency is crushing U.S. manufacturing

“There have been active efforts over the decades to keep the value of the Chinese currency low in order for them to gain a trade advantage. It makes their goods cheaper to send overseas. I wish the Trump administration did more on currency, particularly with respect to China,” Paul said. “I think that’s necessary to have a better relationship moving forward. Hopefully Trump will raise that with [Chinese leader Xi Jinping] when they meet in September.”

Are Chinese autos coming to the United States?

Don’t let ’em in, we say.

“What the Carney government in Canada has done, I think, is defeating for the Canadian auto industry, and that is to turn to China and to say to some of the Chinese auto companies, ‘come in. We’re going to allow you to import some cars into our market. You can enter into joint ventures with some of our companies,'” Paul said. “And what we’ve seen happen in other places around the world that have tried to accommodate that is that it has completely wiped out the auto industries and the Chinese companies are taking over. That’s happening in real time right now in Europe. It’s happened in the UK. It happened in Australia.”

U.S. national security depends on strategic tariffs

“[National security] is the basis for the tariffs that have been in place since 2018 on steel and aluminum. That was under section 232,” Paul said. “And those have been durable. Biden kept those tariffs on. And when you hear Members of Congress raise concerns about tariffs its generally not those steel and aluminum tariffs, it’s some of the other trade actions the administration has taken. That’s not universally true but I think generally true. I completely agree we have to have a baseline productive capacity for critical metals like steel and aluminum that go into defense purposes.”  

You can find the entire C-SPAN segment here.