Visiting ORIGIN USA – An Eye-Opening Example of Onshoring Manufacturing

Shopping in the digital age, we no longer really appreciate where our apparel comes from or how complex the manufacturing and sales journey is. These days, most kids don’t head to the neighborhood board shop to pick up the fresh pair of boardshorts and the surf wax they need for a sun-splashed summer playing in the waves. Products are just a click away and arrive on your doorstep as if out of nowhere.

A closer connection to your local clothing store

We were also shop kids. We would bug the older kids who worked in the local snowboard, surf, and skate shops, pestering them with questions on this or that new model, board flex, binding setups, and any other gear topic imaginable. We’d cut lawns all summer to make a little extra money and buy that new Burton for the upcoming season. 

It’s a shame that connection with your local shop and staff has largely disappeared. In large part, it’s just a few specialty shops in the fishing and outdoor industries that have been able to hang on. But that may be changing.

This last fall, I had the privilege of visiting a US brand that’s heavily invested in reversing the decline of local, community-focused manufacturing. ORIGIN USA is one of a small but growing number of brands bringing production and manufacturing back to the USA. Founded in 2011, in Farmington, Maine, the brand has gone from strength to strength, offering a compelling vision for a different way of doing business.

Putting Farmington and its people back on the map

In many ways, Farmington is similar to where I grew up in the north country of New Hampshire. These are tight-knit communities, nestled in the mountains and surrounded by granite faces and cold, slow-moving rivers tucked deep in the valleys. If you’ve ever been in New England in the fall, you may well have experienced the cornucopia of color and delicious fall festivals celebrating the changing seasons. It’s a beautiful time of the year.

However, Farmington and towns like it have had their challenges over the last 20 years. A lot of the main employers, particularly the paper mills, closed for good, leaving residents without work. For long periods, shops on the town’s red-brick main streets stood empty and boarded over. These were tough times. Fortunately, fresh blood has moved into these valleys to reopen restaurants and breweries. Recreational enterprises have sprung up, and some long-dormant industries are beginning to stir. 

In Farmington, this resurgence is arguably best typified by ORIGIN USA founder, Pete Roberts. After discovering a historic loom in an old barn and powered by his belief in the American Dream, Pete decided to get the old plant up and running. The aim? Creating a US-based gear and clothing brand that would reinvigorate a local industry and the town in which it is based.

ORIGIN™ USA – changing the narrative

Our family road trip took us to the ORIGIN manufacturing plant to discover how the brand was bringing Roberts’ vision to life. We were met by ORIGIN’s Director of Manufacturing, Dennis Iler, who was generous enough to give us all a tour of the facility and walk us through the manufacturing process. The mill he oversees makes all of ORIGIN’s jiu-jitsu gi’s, compression apparel, and other specialty orders. Down the street, they have an impressive boot manufacturing facility as well.

We were all blown away by the experience. My kids were fascinated by the raw yarn spindles, comparing them to those from Sleeping Beauty, and loved seeing how they were placed on the loom and fed through, with yards of new textile rolled out on the other side. We watched as they were cut and printed before being sent upstairs for further cutting and sewn into patterns for the ORIGIN GI pants, tops, and other selected styles on order. The incredible seamstresses shared their work, and it was awesome seeing the kids’ eyes open as they really began to register what was happening in front of them.

It was a visit my family will not forget in a hurry. Understanding how our clothes and gear are manufactured, seeing the raw materials turned into world-class products, and recognizing that it is real people – neighbors, friends, family – who make that happen, is an incredibly valuable experience. Online shopping may mean we’re losing that connection with local shops, but it’s good to know that some manufacturers are putting community back at the heart of what they do and building those all-important relationships again.

Polygiene’s proud partnership with a visionary US brand

Polygiene has now fully onboarded ORIGIN and is proud to announce the arrival of a series of Polygiene-treated collections this season. Polygiene’s performance-enhancing textile technologies contribute to ORIGIN products’ durability and ensure they are even better suited to hard-wearing, rough-living, and non-stop everyday use. 

Leveraging both Polygiene StayFresh™ and Polygiene OdorCrunch™ solutions, the brand’s products benefit from long-lasting odor protection, providing greater value to consumers. 

Key Polygiene-protected styles for this summer and fall include:

Polygiene is super-excited to partner with a business that guarantees the best for its customers, is invested in ensuring long-lasting and durable odor-control, and ensures community is central to its brand values. We would like to thank all at ORIGIN USA, and Dennis Iler in particular, for enabling us to tour the facility and making my family so welcome. 

Learn more about ORIGIN USA.

Learn more about Polygiene Freshness technologies.