Founder Bayard Winthrop Headquarters San Francisco Type of business Private | Website www.american-giant.com Founded 2011 | |
American Giant is a San Francisco-based manufacturing company that makes American made clothing and sells direct to its customers exclusively through its website.
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History
American Giant was founded in February 2011 by Bayard Winthrop. Winthrop started the company to address what he saw as a lack of affordably priced high-quality American Made products in the market. He believed that by changing the economics of distribution and marketing, a business could re-deploy those savings into product made in America sold at mainstream prices. The company was named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company in 2015 and cited for “breathing new life into U.S. US Manufacturing”. Winthrop’s philosophy on the future of retail inspired him to co-author with Randy Komisar, I F*cking Love That Company, a book about the post-Amazon world of direct to consumer retail.
The company’s main investor is former PepsiCo CEO and chairman Donald M. Kendall and remains privately held.
The Original Product
American Giant launched with its Classic Full Zip sweatshirt, that was created by Philipe Manoux, a former industrial engineer at Apple. It is constructed of a heavyweight, 12.4 oz fleece and features reinforced elbow pads, a double-lined hood, custom hardware, a side-panel for mobility, and spandex woven into the cuffs and waist to hold shape and elasticity.