Made in America
Labor Day reflections on small American manufacturers
I recently had the opportunity to visit Origin Maine, where Americans make the best boots and jeans in the world. I was inspired to watch free men and women learning, improving, innovating, and making. The space was infused with an almost electric buzz of energy. Every maker seemed to have bought into the owners’ ethos of hard work without complaint.
And the one piece of graffiti in the whole factory:
Jocko Willink’s timing getting these factories up and running was critical because the expert craftsmen who used to manufacture in Maine are now in their seventies. Jocko was able to hire them in time to teach men and women in their teens and twenties how to make things again. It is reviving a town and an industry that could have been lost forever. If you’re in the market for jeans, boots, a belt, wallet, hoodie, or jiu jitsu gi, you can buy it from Origin Maine and get the highest quality made by free people instead of slave labor. This doesn’t need a new law or new government; we can simply vote with our wallets.
While Jocko is bringing back the footwear and apparel business to Maine, Brant & Cochran is bringing back the world’s best tools, starting with axes. While most of the best axes are made in Scandinavia, Maine has a rich axe making tradition as well. B&C restores vintage axes and makes three of their own design — a belt axe, camp axe, and (my favorite) double bit axe. It says “sold out” but if you ask the owner (mferguson@bnctools.com) nicely he’ll make you one. This company shares an ethos with Origin — bringing back a whole industry, educating young people on valuable trades, and offering customers products that will last for generations. Origin highlighted them in this five minute video.
My (other) home state of Connecticut used to be a manufacturing powerhouse, but is now left with rotted out shells of cities that don’t make much of anything. It is a pretty bleak business environment, but there are a few brightly glowing embers. One is my favorite motorcycle company, Audette. Their founder, Tony Audette is a war hero who came home to make the best possible bike. He came up with the Velos. It has 128 BHP of max power and 2,147 cc of max displacement. It is a beast and one with numerous bespoke components found nowhere else. Tony’s story is told in this fifteen minute video.
Connecticut used to be a firearm manufacturing hotspot, but that has atrophied through the years as makers sought cheaper labor and friendlier governments. Beretta left last decade leaving almost no one. But Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing Company makes one of my favorite 12 gauges. Not cheap but worth every $0.01.
I was born in Pennsylvania, another once and future home to some great American makers. RGM Watch Co makes the Pennsylvania Tourbillon which is on par with the finest Swiss handmade watches. Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Cast Iron is also bringing back cast iron skillets; with proper care they’re the best way to cook and they’ll last longer than you will. The best kitchen knives are hand forged in Vermont by Orchard Steel’s Moriah Cowles. She literally can’t make them fast enough, so one has to sign up for her occasional lotteries to get one. Worth the bother.
And last but not least, when you have a seasoned cast iron skillet and razor sharp carbon steel knife, you will need something to cook. I look to source all of my meat directly from ranchers that avoid antibiotics and growth hormones and allow their animals fulltime access to pastures. At Five Marys, owner (and college friend of my wife’s) Mary Heffernan says that her animals have “just one bad day”. It is impossible to get something bad from Five Marys but my favorites include their tomahawk steak and some harder to find items such as marrow bones and liver but if you have the cold storage space, the best way to order is by a beef share.
If you want to live free among free men and women, then you need to pay up for what they make, even when it costs more than you would pay foreign companies willing to treat their labor, environment, and animals less — sometimes much less — well. Quality costs more. But over time, my kitchen knife cost a fraction of a penny per meal and my boots cost a fraction of a penny per mile. They scar and age as I do but become part of my life in a way that nothing cheap and temporary ever could. This Labor Day, we can each choose to be a small part of an American manufacturing revival so that someday our kids can inherit a freer country along with some high quality goods.
Disclosure: while I know a number of these makers personally, I have zero financial interest in any of them, am not affiliated and am not participating in any referral program. They don’t even know I’m writing about them. In fact, some of them might get irritated at me for mentioning them because they already have more demand than they can supply.
