When you buy a WIlson football, you are purchasing the only American Made ball of any of the major U.S. sports leagues. Not only does Wilson manufacture the official NFL football, ‘The Duke,’ in Ada, Ohio, but they also make NCAA and Highschool footballs in their USA factory. The ball we’re reviewing today is the Wilson 1003 GST football. The construction of the ball we bought is flawless. Seams are tight and straight and the feel of the materials is top notch. The 1003 GST is unique in that the white stripes on the ball are sewed on to create another level of grip and texture. This additional attention to detail makes for a great feel and better ball control, especially if you don’t have the big hands of an NFL or NCAA quarterback. The composite leather laces have a slight rubberized texture to them as well adding to grip…Continue Reading
Infinity Surfboards has been shaping custom boards since 1970. They shape all sorts of boards from high-performance shortboards to longboards to Stand Up Paddle boards and Tandem boards. Founded by Steve Boehne, master shaper and owner, Infinity still manufactures, shapes and glasses their surfboards in the USA. The factory is located in San Clemente, California, The two story factory holds 7 shaping bays, an AKU surfboard shaping machine, and a full production glass-shop. If you’re getting a custom board made by Infinity, you can watch it get shaped right at the factory. FACTORY TOUR DETAILS: Cost: FREE Reservations: Required. 949.661.6699 Tour Duration: .5 hour (Longer if you’re watching your board shaped) Factory hours: No schedule. If you’re having a board made by Infinity, you can watch it shaped in their Southern California factory. INFINITY SURFBOARDS (Retail shop. Call for factory directions) 24382 Del Prado Dana Point, CA 92629
Karsten Manufacturing, better known as PING, is the only major American made golf club manufacturer. To this day, they still are casting past iron models and manufacturing their steel shafts in the USA. Many of their new models have been outsourced overseas, but production continues in the states on past models. No companies forge their clubs in the USA anymore due to EPA regulations. The process is amazing, and the fact that they have hung on for so long speaks to their desired commitment to Made In the USA. Hopefully, with some help from external forces, PING can bring all of their irons back to being manufactured domestically. If you’re in the market for a new set of irons, look at their G5 range, and some of the G10s, as they were still being produced in America and are still being sold at retailers. This factory tour is of the assembly…Continue Reading
Hillerich & Bradsby Co., better known as Louisville Slugger, got its start back in 1884. It began when a furniture maker’s son, Bud Hillerich, used the furniture shop to make a custom bat for professional baseball player, Pete Browning. Two decades later Louisville Slugger signed the first athlete to endorse a bat, Honus Wagner and the rest is history. Today Louisville Sluggers are used in every line up in the major leagues. They use Northern White Ash grown in their Pennsylvania and New York forests. Each year 40,000 Northern White Ash trees provide the timber for the 6,000-10,000 bats produced at the factory every day. That equals 8 million bats a year. The factory mixes tradition with technology, where old school craft meets modern CNC machine. The CNC machine used to make the major league bats is the only one of its kind in the world. From there the MLB…Continue Reading
Since 1941 every NFL game ball has been made by Wilson, and since 1955 all of those balls have been made in their Ada, Ohio factory. It is the only football specific factory in the world. The NFL is the only major sports league to make their ball in the USA. With a production capacity of 4,000 balls a day and over 700,000 footballs a year, it keeps all 120 factory employees busy around the clock. Most of their employees have several generations of factory employees in the family, with decades of experience. The above video is episode 1 of 3 for the Wilson Football Factory series. View Episode 2 and Episode 3. FACTORY TOUR DETAILS: Call 419.634.9901 for all info regarding the Wilson Football factory tour, as details change regularly. Cost: Reservations: Yes, call ahead: 419.634.9901 Tour Duration: Factory hours: Wilson Football Factory 217 Liberty St. Ada, OH 45810 Also, head on…Continue Reading
Today’s interview is with Steve Boehne of Infinity Surfboards. Infinity brings a unique perspective to 50 BUILT being a manufacturer, retailer and wholesaler of their products. Steve having been a shaper for 50 years now, and Infinity having been around since 1970, together bring an outlook that spans decades, economic times and technology. How did you get your start in shaping surfboards and how was the surf industry different back then? I would say that all American Surfboard makers started out as surfers in the first place, and that’s where the key to our success is, that we love the sport. With me, I started out surfing when I was 12 years old and that very same year I made my first surfboard. Within 10 years after that, by the time I was 20 years old, I was shaping professionally, at the same time I was going to college.…Continue Reading