The bare essentials is what Naked Longboards of Vancouver, Washington is all about. The boards are simple, durable and classy. And while they aren’t (yet) 100 percent made in the United States, the team is working on it.
The decks and wheels are American made and they’re looking for local truck and bearing suppliers. And when they say “they” they mean Jabien Letlow, the one man team that owns and operates Naked Longboards, who choose the name to emphasize that the boards feature no extra graphics, with exposed wood and clear grip tape. Even the logo is laser-etched to provide that “tattoo on board” look.
We like what we see.
We’ve been posting about Made in America items for nearly two years and in that time we’ve seen a lot of great items from across the country. This week concludes Made in America as a weekly Friday update, but we wi’ll still continue to report on American made products. In fact, we see so many products that deserve calling out that it just makes sense to do so outside of a weekly update.
Those individuals who choose to start a business during these difficult economic times have my admiration, especially those who chose to start one in a market that some view as being very saturated. Adam Browning is one such individual who took his 20 years of passion for the sport of snowboarding and has started the Evergreen, Colorado based company, OZ Snowboards. During this the SIA Demo Days at Winter Park, OZ Snowboards took the opportunity to show off their new line of boards for the 2012/13 season. 
In a country of over 300 million people, the United States has very few manufacturers making shoes for all of those feet. Most of those jobs have headed outside our boarders into countries with lower wages and lower environmental regulations, but not all have left. In fact, there are some companies that have started up and are thriving based on the idea of creating a niche product instead of trying to become overly diversified. One such company is Okabashi Brands, Inc. of Buford, GA. Their low-cost, environmentally friend shoes are 100% recyclable and are made in America. 
The day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. officially kicks off the Christmas shopping season. Some of you might have been proactive and have gotten all of your shopping out of the way, but if you are like many, you haven’t even started to even think about it. If you have not started your shopping yet and there is a toddler or even a big kid on your list, you might be interested in checking out the tricycles from Dirt King USA.
