Top 10 Made-in-America Gear Brands

Today, Amy Hatch shares with us some seriously stylish undiscovered outdoor clothing brands changing their communities and the world one garment at a time. She discovered these made-in-America gear companies while laying the foundation for her new business Garage Grown Gear, an online magazine and e-commerce store. Swing by its website to check out more innovative, high-performing and wildly cool outdoor gear!

Shredly

“Mountain biking is awesome, but the selection of riding apparel for women is not. It has a terrible case of the B’s – black, boring, baggy, and to be honest, still looks like it’s made for the boys. Women are rad and there’s no reason why they can’t look good and feel good when they’re tearing up the single track.”

Amen to that, Shredly. The company makes shorts and jerseys in vibrant colors and jazzy designs – best described as mountain biking meets modern art. All clothes are USA Made and designed for multi-sport. Now you can mountain bike in the morning and don the same styles while cruisin’ around on the SUP in the afternoon.

Give’r

This Jackson Hole, Wyoming, company inspires us to give life your all through its line of shirts, hats and accessories. It borrows a Canadian term used like this: “Go out and Give’r” or “Just Give’r.” In other words, fully commit. Give’r has a variety of super rad designs for both men and women. A couple of our favorites are the Give’r Gloves and the Bamboo22. The former is a soft leather glove perfect for shoveling snow, shreddin’ on a spring day, or chopping wood. As a bonus, it can be customized with your initials. The latter is a long-sleeve shirt made from a blend of viscose bamboo and organic cotton with a trout painting on the back.

TwoAlity

TwoAlity makes a transparent rain boot with a variety of interchangeable and colorful liners. This means you can match your boots to any outfit or mood. Get snazzy with bright colors or play it sleek with black. TwoAlity boots are 100% USA Made. These unique and fashionable boots grew out of a high school DECA project. At the age of 19, twin sisters Brynne and Bailye Stansberry had patented their clear boot concept, and now that they’re out of college, they’re devoting themselves fully to their business. Rock on!

Recaps

Recaps is a small grassroots hat company out of Driggs, Idaho, on a mission to keep it green with recycled caps. It uses old clothes and reclaimed yarn in several of its models. It also makes trucker hats with hand-carved block prints. This company is more or less a one woman show, and owner Anneka Herndon strives to make each hat as unique as the person who chooses it. Having sold through retail stores for the last several years, Recaps just launched its online store, so now you can buy direct. Our favorite style is the company’s original cap featuring a small brim and panel top (not yet available online), but we hear the trucker hats and winter beanies are quickly becoming top sellers.

Melanzana

As long as you like Poratec fabrics, Melanzana is about as awesome as they come. Based in Leadville, Colorado, a team of a dozen or so employees designs, cuts, sews and sells everything made under the Melanzana label. The company takes a “less is more” approach to its designs going for functional simplicity. We have *yet* to test out Melanzana clothing ourselves, but are keenly eyeing the Micro Grid Ultra Mini fleece running skirt.

Burgess Custom

Burgess Custom makes a variety technical outwear and lifestyle clothing, but the company is best known for its signature brightly colored patchwork snowpants. Just as the name says, Burgess Custom makes all of its snowpants custom. So not only can you get the exact colors and design that most resonate, you can also get a perfect fitting waist and inseam. (Take note if you’re someone who has trouble finding clothing in typical sizes). Burgess Custom sews everything out of its small shop in Victor, Idaho. Props to USA Made!

P.S. Check out Burgess Custom’s Kickstarter campaign going on NOW!

Skida

This Vermont company makes hats, headbands and neck warmers in vibrant, colorful designs with names like “blush paisley” and “berries ‘n cream.” Don’t worry men, Skida has you covered too with plaid and camo designs. Skida’s story goes something like this: a Vermont skier Corinne Prevot picked up some fun fabrics and started making hats for teammates and friends. Word got out. Requests came in. Mom helped to keep the business crankin’ while Corinne finished school. The duo grew the business together. Now Corinne is focused full-time on running a thriving business that supports cottage industry sewing in Vermont.

Synergy

We first noticed Synergy while at a bluegrass festival. The skirts and dresses featuring hand-stitched mountains, peacock feathers, poppies, sailboats and butterflies just jumped off the rack. We had to have one, actually more than one. But Synergy is actually quite a versatile company with stylish outfits for a night out as well as a line of yoga apparel. It calls itself a “fashion forward” company, producing sustainable and organic fair trade clothing.

Red Ants Pants

Red Ants Pants makes workwear from women, and it does it with flare. Its website has sayings like these:

“We know butts, we know hips, we know curves. In fact, we celebrate them.”

“We believe in feeling good about our bodies; in our workpants, in our pretty aprons, and even skinny dipping.”

“All of our products are designed to fit, function, and flatter…and they are all made in the USA. Heck yeah America, let’s bring it back.”

Located in a small Montana ranching town, Red Ants Pants is best known for its work pants, but also check out their beautiful aprons and hugely successful summer music festival.

Open Arms

Open Arms is a triple bottom line company focused on empowering refugees who have fled to the USA. How? By providing them with a living wage to sew garments; a toast to that! To add to the good karma, Open Arms uses repurposed T-shirts to create its one-of-a-kind upcycled products. This Austin, Texas, company sells skirts, dresses, blouses, leggings, scarves and headbands. The scarves, in particular, stand out from the crowd. Their unique and colorful styles could be worn to the office, for a night on the town, and while shivering in the cold at your kids soccer game.

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If you could pick one thing on this page that was your FAVORITE, what would it be?!