Pledging 'Allegiance' to always being Made in the USA

I haven’t yet become a customer of Allegiance Flag Supply, but it’s only a matter of time.

The Charleston, S.C., company began in 2018 with a mission to produce high-quality U.S.-made American flags. The one flying in front of the Stay global headquarters (our home in downtown Hershey, Pa.) is relatively new, so I’m not currently in the market for a new Stars and Stripes.

But I was drawn to Allegiance’s trucker hat. I emailed the company to ask of its origin, fearful that Allegiance might have gone the import route with an accessory. My concern proved to be unfounded.

“Yes, our trucker hat is made by the same seamstresses that sew our flags!” wrote Allegiance co-founder Max Berry.

We started Stay in 2017 with a commitment to only ever sell Made in the USA products. After all, chronicling some of our favorite U.S.-made brands was the reason we launched Stay in the first place. We wanted to play a small role in the resurgence of American manufacturing.

It’s always disheartening to me when a brand that touts its U.S.-made bona fides, and often with good reason because it makes fantastic products, doesn’t follow through on its brand promise with incidental goods. It cheapens that brand and my experience with it.

When I like and respect a company for its U.S.-made products, I don’t want to have to guess whether it’s true for everything it sells. I don’t want to scroll down to learn that something is “designed in the United States,” which always means it’s not manufactured here, or “responsibly imported,” which is euphemism for “made cheaper somewhere else.”

As explained on Allegiance’s website, Berry and co-founders Wes Lyon and Katie Lyon were first-time homebuyers who couldn’t find a U.S.-made flag to their liking. So they took matters into their own hands and started a company. From showallegiance.com:

Their mission was to scour the country to find the highest quality materials, sewing processes and accessories made in America so the customer doesn't have to. Not long after the company’s inception, they began working with a third-generation, family-owned factory where many of the seamstresses had seen their jobs disappear as American textile manufacturing moved overseas. After tirelessly testing fabrics and exploring sewing techniques to create the perfect flag, Allegiance was born, contributing to a resurgence in American textile manufacturing along the way.

My hat’s off to Allegiance for being true to the red, white and blue.