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Top Holiday Gifts Made in the USA

已有 1985 次阅读2015-12-17 16:08

Cotton denim jean material with ‘Made in USA’ label. iStockphoto/Getty Images

There are many reasons besides mere patriotism to buy made-in-USA gifts this holiday season.

Buying local supports local economies, keeps the wheels of commerce turning, and helps keep you and your neighbors employed. The closer to home you buy, the more likely the purchase will support the economic health of your community.

Here are some of our favorite holiday gifts proudly designed and made in the United States -- products of all sorts that are made to last and that have the look, feel, and function that only a team that understands your crafted taste can put into their work.

All-Clad Cookware (Canonsburg, Pennsylvania)

Even if you're not the self-appointed chef of the household, you're likely familiar with the ubiquitous All-Clad Cookwarecompany. Professional and at-home chefs alike find themselves falling in love with All-Clad thanks to a long history of metal work. Founded by a metallurgist in 1967, the company's first product was bonded metal coins made under contract with the US Mint.

In 1972, the founder, John Ulam, established the current incarnation of the firm, All-Clad Metalcrafters, and focused primarily on making cookware using his patented method of joining several metals together to gain the benefits of each.

In this effort he succeeded. All-Clad pots and pans distribute heat evenly, seem never to stain, never warp even after long use, and are easy to clean. The handles give you plenty of flexibility in a busy kitchen, and they are neither too heavy nor too light. On top of it all (literally), the lids always fit perfectly.

The All-Clad Copper Core All-in-One Pan is a popular gift-giving choice. This everyday pan has a wide, flat cooking surface that is perfect for sautéing and searing meat. It also has sloped sides to avoid spattering.

The all-in-one pan has a four-quart capacity and an easy-clean stainless steel exterior, ideal for both gas and induction cooktops. The loop handles are convenient for moving the pan from the stovetop or oven to the dining table. It also comes with a snug-fitting stainless-steel lid.

Something extra: A ring of copper on the exterior adds elegance to this pan.

Shinola Watches (Detroit)

Manufacturing is back in Motor City, without much in the way of motors: Shinola, a bright young company founded by creative millennials specifically to make tangible goods in America, presents a line of wristwatches of all styles for both men and women. Though no one's cutting tiny gears in a clean room there -- the watch parts come from Switzerland -- the movements are assembled in Detroit, where Shinola also makes the cases, faces, bands, and, in short, every part you see or feel.

Prices range from moderately expensive to stratospheric, but nothing so crazy that it's in the "you have to ask" to know realm.

The Shinola Runwell Unisex is a great and fairly affordable choice.

The company is dedicated to hiring local folk whenever possible, and also makes highly-regarded bicycles (another good gift choice) and leather goods.

Waldsports (Maysville, Kentucky)

Shinola's decision to build bicycles grew out of the increasing importance of two-wheeled transport in the US as intractable traffic and long commutes took its toll on tax bases, street life, and personal health.

But a naked race bike isn't too useful for shopping or a morning jaunt to the cubicle; you need some way to carry stuff besides strapping it to your back. A simple, light, and often handsome answer is the bicycle basket, and while most bike gear is made overseas, at least one company has never torn itself off from its born-in-the-USA roots: Waldsports, founded in 1905, moved to Kentucky in 1924, and still builds sturdy and affordable bike gear that is prized for its utility the world over.

If your big-city pizza came to you by bike it probably rode in a Wald. And if your bike-loving spouse is looking to haul goods home by pedal power, they just might need one too. The Wald Giant Deliver Basketis a much-loved classic.

Buck Knives (Post Falls, Idaho)

Buck has been making hunting, fighting, and working knives since 1902, and if you have an outdoorsy type in the family, especially a hunter or hiker, they will, secretly or openly, lust for a Buck.

The classic Buck 110 Folding Hunter is an excellent gift for your nimrod: the positive locking mechanism, beautiful brass and nickel finishes, and warm wood-surfaced handle make it pleasing to the eye. Its perfect balance in the hand is pleasurable in itself, while making the knife safer and more effective when you need to cut.

Other knives may be slimmer, gaudier, and even "engineered in the USA," but when you heft a Buck 110 in the hand, you know you're holding history, as well as a tool that gets it done.

Maytag Blue Cheese (Newton, Iowa)

Yes, from the same Maytag family that brought us washing machines. One of their forebears was an agricultural hobbyist of sorts, who built up a prize-winning herd of Holsteins in the 1920s. In 1941, his son decided to put them to work and began making blue cheese using a new process devised at Iowa State University.

The cheese is hand-made then cave-aged and shipped all over the world. The late, lamented Pete's Café in downtown Los Angeles boasted Maytag-smothered fries as its signature dish, and they were spectacular; but the cheese, which uses the same penicillium roqueforti mold as its illustrious French mentors, is actually better suited for more normal consumption -- even by itself.

Richly-flavored and tangy but never harsh, it's a dangerous gift that may slaughter any hope of a post-holiday diet -- and it's worth the risk. Ships all over the US.

American Apparel (Los Angeles, California)

While this controversial company has seen its ups and downs, its difficulties have stemmed more from the hollowing-out of America's middle class in the run-up to the Great Recession. That hole has not been filled in yet, and the company's products are aimed at young working folk, whose discretionary income still flounders, at least outside the virtual borders of Silicon Valley. The company probably overextended itself with too many lines as well, but it still provides thousands of solid, well-paying working class jobs in the central LA region, and its signature products, such as the classic V-neck t-shirt, have become classics since the company was founded in 1989.

American Apparel t-shirts are more tailored than most, which makes them not only flattering but more comfortable than the run-of-the-mill competition. The textiles used are carefully chosen and have a soft hand, yet don't feel fragile -- and they're not. They'll last for years, and they'll never look out of style.

This company has become an American classic in its short life, and your purchase here will mean not only a big thank-you from the recipient, but the unconscious gratitude of that multitude of Southern California families who depend on the wages they earn in the company's clean and busy factories, a stone's throw from the glass towers of the West Coast finance district.

Filson (Seattle)

Another one for the outdoorsmen and women on your gift list, Filson has been making rugged (and lately not-so-rugged) clothing since 1897, and still has them sewn in the USA. Their famous waxed cotton "Tin Cloth" is sturdy, water-repellent, and breathable-and the water-repellent coating can be renewed. A Filson jacket is a gift for the recipient's lifetime -- and maybe beyond.

The Cruiser Jacket is a classic design that harkens back to the company's days as premier clothing supplier to the hunters, hikers, and prospectors of the Pacific Northwest. Full of pockets, gussets, and flaps, it's utilitarian while still retaining a handsome flair. There are similar lined jackets for those who venture into more daunting weather than a Seattle mist, and all manner of bags and satchels made of the company's Tin Cloth. They even sell watches -- made in the USA for them by Shinola!

Just get the size right. Or don't: the company has a customer-friendly return policy.

Lenox (Kinston, North Carolina)

Not everyone is hoping for a gift to accompany them into the great outdoors; some of the great joys of life are found around (and on) the dinner table. Good food, good drink, good fellowship, and the harsh world held at bay by the picture window; friends and family gathered to celebrate love and the march of the generations.

Some of us like a formal touch for such occasions, and, while elegant table settings aren't hard to find, they're usually made far from our shores. Lenox is the exception that proves the rule by making all of its china in the USA, ringing a nice ironic change on the name of that favored tableware. Founded in 1889, the company has never outsourced the production of its porcelain products, and its in-house research facilities (which have even developed military-grade ceramics) allow it to improve its domestic accouterments in ways both visible and hidden.

The platinum-banded place setting is just one example of the way they combine legacy elegance with unobtrusive technical excellence to help your table, and the love around it, glow. Get your best suit cleaned and plan a party now.

Stetson Hats (Garland, Texas)

You can't leave Stetson off a list like this one: for many people all around the globe, the cowboy symbolizes the way Americans approach work, life, and pleasure, and ties us to our outdoor heritage. While it's true that you can't imagine Abraham Lincoln wearing one, the Stetson represents that great wave of migration from the Appalachians to the far Left Coast, and joins the legacy of Manifest Destiny to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution.

And the fact is, it's a damned good hat. Especially if you're outside where the desert sun can be hot and cruel, or the long winds harsh as they blow down from Canada. And this can as easily be the case in the streets of a city as on the plains or far in the high wEstern deserts.

Stetson was founded in 1865, at the very beginning of the Wild West days, which lasted only a little over thirty years. The open range is gone, but the hat endures. This is a great gift for anyone looking for style and practicality.

Martin Guitars (Nazareth, Pennsylvania)

Since we just left cowboys behind, let us recall that Stetson hats aren't the only Old West tradition we can celebrate with a Made-in-USA product: the cowboys loved to pick their guitars and blow their harmonicas during lonesome nights on the trail. While no one makes harps in the US, the Martin company has been crafting guitars here since its founder immigrated from Germany in 1833.

Martin guitars are famous wherever vernacular music is played, and it's doubtful you'd find a western, bluegrass, or folk guitarist in the US playing anything else on stage or at home. Certainly in the days after World War II, moving up to a Martin was the dream of every aspiring folksinger -- and Martin's guitars, although primarily acoustic, can all be fitted with pickups for playing in an electric band.

The DX1AE "Dreadnaught" grew out of an original Martin design that rapidly became a standard in the travelin' singers arsenal, and is ready to ring out the chord changes with or without amplification...so your homegrown music man or woman can start a-pickin' it right out of the box-and maybe carry it onto the stage some day.