buy american

Whenever possible, I try my best to support American manufacturing. Here’s a short list of stuff that I’ve bought, used, and am happy with.

Biking

• Vornado 293 heavy duty fan - for staying cool while exercising indoors

Bikepacking

One thing I appreciate about the relatively new sport of bikepacking is there seems to be some emphasis on building in America.

• Original StrapPad - a neat little mount that fits on your water bottle cage bosses. I use it to hold my titanium cook pot. Handmade in Arizona.
• Revelate Tangle frame bag - fits my bike, carries my stuff. Not much more to say. Revelate have a pretty interesting and transparent manufacturing statement. The Tangle still seems to be made in the US, but not all their bags are.
• Voile straps - these straps are the gold standard, and you can never have too many of them. They’re made in Utah.

Camping

• Platypus QuickDraw Microfilter - personal water filter. It’s competitive with the Sawyer Mini, which is also made in the US, so you can’t really go wrong here.

Car Stuff

• etrailer Trailer Hitch Receiver - says it was made in the USA. Read more on my campervan page

Kid Stuff

• Twin mattress - for the kid bed

Additional Reading

• Tech Companies Slowly Shift Production Away From China - Vietnam seems to be the winner, and the article says that Foxconn is offering $300/month vs $650/month in China. Over 10 years, workers in China have managed to triple their pay to $9300 annually.