Made in USA vs. Assembled in USA vs. Crafted in USA: What the Labels Mean

If you have ever shopped for American-made clothing, you have seen a handful of phrases that sound almost identical: Made in USA, Assembled in USA, Crafted in USA. They are not the same thing, and the difference matters if you are trying to put your money behind American manufacturing.

"Made in USA"

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission holds an unqualified "Made in USA" claim to a high bar: the product should be made in the U.S. from start to finish, using U.S. materials and labor, with only a negligible amount of foreign content. For clothing, that usually means the fabric and the sewing both happen here. It is a hard standard to meet, which is exactly why it carries weight.

"Assembled in USA"

This generally means the final assembly happened in the U.S., but some or most of the parts or materials came from somewhere else. It can be a perfectly honest label. It just is not the same as made-from-scratch domestic.

"Crafted in USA"

This is how we describe our products today. We are an American brand, and we are being open about the fact that we are still working toward the strictest standard. Our stated goal is to become fully Made in America within our first year.

How to read any label

• Look for the qualifier. "Made in USA with imported fabric" and similar phrases tell you what is domestic and what is not.
• Check the sewn-in tag, not just the website. Country of origin has to appear on the garment label.
• Ask the brand. A brand that is proud of where it makes things will tell you in plain words.

Why we care

We wrote about why in NAFTA '94: American apparel manufacturing lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, and we think the brands people know and love can make their clothes here. They are just choosing not to.

If you want to see what we are building, start with our polos, our t-shirts and our hats.

Good Days, Better Tomorrows.