Made In The USA: How To Buy American Products At A Great Price

Summer is here, and months after ditching my New Year’s promises, I’ve decided on a “Fourth of July” resolution: to buy more products made in the United States. So I’m going to score some fireworks, sing the Star-Spangled Banner and show my Fourth of July pride by bagging some great products made right here in America.

Buying American-made products is a great way to support our country

The Easiest Way to Buy American

When it comes to patriotic purchasing, it’s pretty hard to find out where the things we wear, eat, and use actually come from. After pouring over news articles, online databases, and company profiles, I resigned myself to mindlessly searching Google for “made in the USA”.

It turns out, this keyword search is a quick and easy way to find American made products online. If you’re looking to snag some shoes, try visiting the popular site 6pm.com. Search “Made in USA” or just “USA” in the search bar, and the site pulls all its products made right here in America.  From there, you can refine your search by style, color, and price. With a few clicks, you’ve got a whole collection of American-made shoes within your specifications.

Here some other popular shopping sites for easily finding American products:

An easy way to search for products made in the USA

Search “Made in USA”:

• Macy’s
• Nordstrom
• Home Depot
• Land’s End
• Williams Sonoma
• Dick’s Sporting Goods

Search “USA”:

• Alloy
• West Elm
• Crate and Barrel
• Destination Maternity

Hundreds of sites let you search like this, but always make sure read the product description. Sometimes “USA” denotes the item is simply shipped to the USA, and clothing, although produced in the USA, is usually made from imported fabrics and materials. But for someone that wants to quickly find American-made items, nothing beats this simple search method.

Search By “Made In USA” Checkbox:

Some stores make it one step easier by including a special “made in USA” check box on their site. Here are a few that deserve a shout-out for showing us their American-made goods without any extra work:

• The Container Store
• Overstock
• Drugstore.com
• REI

Popular (and Surprising) Products Made In The USA

It may seem like everything from your socks to your cell phone charger displays “Made in China”, but there are many popular products that are still made right here in America. Here are some of the best products we found:

The KitchenAid stand mixer…an American-made classic!

• Allen Edmonds: 98.5% of the shoes we buy are made abroad, but this high-end shoe company has been making their footwear in America since 1922.
• Burt’s Bees: This line of personal care products is made entirely in the USA, with 95% of their production in Durham, North Carolina.
• Fiesta Dinnerware: All 39 colors of Fiesta dinnerware are produced in West Virginia, where the line was first produced 75 years ago!
• Weber Grills: Except for two inexpensive gas models, Weber grills are all made in Illinois, where Weber is headquartered.
• Florida’s Natural Orange Juice: Unlike almost all other major brands, Florida Orange Juice doesn’t get its oranges from Brazil or Mexico, but from (you guessed it) Florida!
• KitchenAid mixers and blenders: America’s favorite stand mixer is made in a Greenville, Ohio factory, where production has been based since 1941. KitchenAid’s line of blenders are also American-made.
• USA Pans: This Pennsylvania-based company makes a variety of non-stick baking sheets and pans (Sara Lee and Pepperidge Farm use their bakeware). You can find many of their products at Chefs Catalog and Macy’s.
• Hershey’s Chocolates: Although it’s a worldwide brand, around 90% of the Hershey’s chocolate sold to Americans is made in the USA, with production still based near Hershey, Pennsylvania!

Libbey glassware made in the USA

• Libbey Glassware: This popular and affordable line of glassware, sold at Bed Bath & Beyond and JCPenney, is almost exclusively made in the USA (a few items are made in Mexico).
• Anchor Hocking: Another great line of affordable glassware and housewares, Anchor Hocking has been making glasses, barware, serving trays, and more since the Great Depression. These days, you can bag it at your local Walmart.
• Adriano Goldschmeid: This luxury denim brand, founded in 2000, is made in the USA. You can grab of pair of their jeans at Barneys.

Do you know of any other great products made in the USA? Do you think it’s worth searching out American-made items? Let us know in the comments below!

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Photo: Lemsipmatt (Flickr). Some rights reserved.

About the Author: Marisa Lang

Marisa is an editor and blogger at BradsDeals. She loves cheap home decor, hunting down hard-to-find sales, and figuring out how to travel anywhere on a budget.