Nokona

There's something kind of poetic about a company that refused to budge when everyone else ran for cheaper shores. Nokona, headquartered in Nocona, Texas, is a major baseball glove manufacturer that's been doing things the hard way since 1934-and they're still at it.

Here's the thing about Nokona: During the 1960s, many sports manufacturers moved from the United States to Asia, where materials and labor are cheaper. But Nokona? They stayed put. The founder basically said he'd rather go fishing than close up shop and move production overseas. And that stubbornness-or maybe it's integrity-has made them the last company in America still handcrafting baseball gloves entirely on U.S. soil.

Since 1934, Nokona has been handcrafting ballgloves in the USA, using its legendary leathers, and they're not cutting corners. Every Nokona item is individually cut, stamped, stitched, laced, and embroidered by skilled American workers, which gives each one its own unique identity and feel. Notice how they don't say "assembled" in America-they mean made, from start to finish.

The company's got an interesting origin story, too. Established in 1926 as the Nocona Leather Goods company by the Storey family in Nocona, Texas, the company first began selling wallets, purses, and belts. In 1934, The Nokona baseball glove was trademarked (spelled with a "k" when the United States Patent and Trademark Office would not allow the name of an incorporated town to be registered). So yeah, they had to get creative with the spelling just to trademark their own hometown's name.

On July 18, 2006, the 80-year-old factory burned to the ground creating a loss of over $5,000,000. The fire was started by an overheated box fan. Ten days after the fire, Nocona Athletic Goods was back in production, and none of their employees lost any wages. Ten days. That's not just resilience-that's a company that knows what it stands for.

These days, Nokona's expanded beyond just gloves. Apart from baseball gloves, Nokona recently reintroduced "Nokona Leather Goods," selling leather products such as belts, wallets, bags, backpacks, and footwear (boots, flip-flops); all made in the United States. Their ShowBelts have become particularly popular with MLB players-so much so that they've been called "the unofficial belt of the MLB."

The gloves themselves aren't cheap. You're looking at anywhere from $250 to over $700, depending on the model. But here's what you're paying for: Nokona gloves are unique, having been handcrafted in the United States since 1934, and made with a wide range of specialized leathers. Unlike most other companies who started producing offshore fifty years ago, Nokona gloves are still produced in the very same town in Texas by Americans who carefully cut, stamp, stitch, lace, and embroider each glove by hand. Unlike many overseas facilities that use mass-production techniques to create "cookie-cutter" products that are exactly the same, no two Nokona gloves are identical.

You can actually visit the factory in Nocona, Texas-it's about a two-hour drive north of Dallas. They offer tours on Mondays and Fridays where you can watch the whole process unfold. And honestly, if you're into baseball or just appreciate craftsmanship, it's worth the trip to see how these things are made the old-fashioned way.