Made in the USA: The Dream
Once upon a time we used to manufacturer apparel in the United States of America. But we failed to hold our ground.
Our vision at Arena is to take some of that back.
Our dream and vision is two fold.
One is to get a manufacturer up and running producing both hats and bags. We will start small, just me, then expand the team, equipment and overall output.
This is the easy part.
The second part is sourcing materials.
Most Made in the USA brands source their material from overseas. It's why you see a lot of "Made in America with imported parts" or "Cut, sewn and assembled in America".
You can make a hat with equipment in America but if the actual fabric and other parts like snapback closure, bill, etc. are not also Made in the USA then it technically fails to be Made in the USA.
And if you claim to be Made in the USA but are not you can get sued into oblivion. A small brand cannot survive litigation.
Cotton Fabric Problem
With apparel this problem is even more difficult. Since we abandoned our ability to farm and make yarn out of wool and cotton, that process has all but been lost.
Hats use cotton canvas, cotton twill and more. That material is very rare and hard to find.
The 100% Made in USA Dream
Our dream is to one day be able to work with a company that does the farming to fabric or become one ourselves.
We attempt to find all of our parts we need for our goods to be here but sometimes it's just not possible.
We will change that.
And be a 100% made in the USA brand.