The United States is the third-largest cotton producer in the world. It is also one of the largest exporters of raw cotton. And yet most "Made in USA" t-shirts are made from imported cotton. How is that possible? The answer is that "made in USA" refers to the garment, not the fiber — and the American cotton supply chain has some strange gaps.
Where American Cotton Grows
Most American cotton comes from the "Cotton Belt" — a band of states running from Texas east to Georgia and South Carolina. Texas alone grows about 40% of the US crop. Other major producers include Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and California (long-staple Pima cotton from the San Joaquin Valley). USDA - Cotton Production Data
The US produces roughly 14-17 million bales of cotton per year, depending on weather and prices. One bale equals 480 pounds. That is somewhere around 7 billion pounds of raw cotton annually. Plenty of supply to make a lot of American clothing, if the rest of the supply chain existed.
The Broken Middle
Here is where it gets strange. The US grows cotton, and the US sews some garments. But the steps in between — spinning raw cotton into yarn, weaving yarn into fabric, knitting yarn into jersey — are mostly gone. They moved offshore, starting in the 1970s and accelerating through the 1990s and 2000s.
What is left of American spinning and weaving:
- Parkdale Mills. Gastonia, NC. The largest yarn spinner in the United States. Still operating at scale. Supplies yarn to domestic and international markets. Parkdale Mills
- Cotswold Industries. Central, SC. Specialty cotton fabrics, including shirting and workwear.
- Contempora Fabrics. Lumberton, NC. Knit fabric producer supplying American t-shirt manufacturers.
- Carolina Cotton Works. Gaffney, SC. Dyeing and finishing of knit fabrics.
- Mount Vernon Mills. Georgia and Alabama. Denim and workwear fabrics.
That is most of what is left. Compare to the 1950s, when North Carolina and South Carolina had hundreds of mills employing hundreds of thousands of workers. Today, a few dozen mills remain, employing roughly 50,000 people across the Carolinas combined.
Why the Fiber Leaves
Most American cotton goes to overseas mills — in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Turkey, Bangladesh, and Mexico. It is cheaper to ship a bale of Texas cotton to Vietnam, spin it into yarn there, weave it into fabric there, and cut and sew it into a shirt there than it is to do any of those steps in the US. That shirt then gets shipped back to the US as a finished product. Cotton Incorporated
The economic logic is straightforward. Labor costs in the US are 10-20x higher than in Bangladesh. Even accounting for shipping and tariffs, an imported shirt lands cheaper than a domestic one. This is the central challenge facing anyone trying to rebuild American textile manufacturing.
"Sewn in USA" vs. "Grown in USA"
Here is the distinction that confuses most buyers. A t-shirt can be:
- Grown, spun, knit, and sewn in USA. Rare. About 3-5% of what is sold as "American-made" apparel. Full vertical supply chain. Brands like American Giant, Goodwear, and Todd Shelton work hard to stay in this category.
- Grown in USA, sewn overseas. Common. The cotton came from Texas, went to a mill in Vietnam or Pakistan, was spun and knit there, cut and sewn there, and shipped back. Labeled by country of final assembly (Vietnam/Pakistan/etc.), not the US.
- Grown overseas, sewn in USA. The most common form of "Made in USA" apparel. Cotton from India or Egypt, milled overseas, the finished fabric imported to the US, cut and sewn in an American factory. This is legally "Made in USA" under FTC rules if the assembly work meets the "all or virtually all" standard — and fabric sourcing counts, but the rule is complex.
- Grown and sewn overseas. Everything else. Most mass-market apparel.
The second category is where American cotton farmers end up when there is not enough domestic milling capacity to buy their crop. Most of the US crop goes this route.
Fully Domestic Brands
Brands that source American cotton and keep the entire supply chain in the US are a small but growing group:
- American Giant. North Carolina. Uses US-grown cotton spun at Parkdale and knit at Contempora, then sewn in NC. American Giant Supply Chain
- All American Clothing. Ohio. Traces the cotton back to the specific farm with a "traceability code" printed on every garment tag. Unusual transparency for the industry.
- Todd Shelton. New Jersey. Made-to-order garments from US-grown cotton fabric.
- Goodwear. Massachusetts. Small operation, heavyweight tees from American cotton.
- Royal Apparel. New York. Blank t-shirt manufacturer using American cotton for their "USA Made" collection.
- Buck Mason Pima Tees. California. Uses California-grown Supima cotton for some lines. Not all products are fully domestic — check each product.
The Supima Distinction
Supima is an American-grown extra-long-staple cotton, a variety of pima cotton grown in California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. It is the premium end of the American cotton crop — longer fibers mean smoother, stronger, more durable fabric. Supima is a branded certification, like Angus beef, and brands that use Supima pay a premium for it.
Brands that use Supima cotton at scale: Buck Mason, Everlane (partially), and some Brooks Brothers lines. Supima itself is American-grown, but the spinning and weaving often happen overseas. "Supima" tells you the fiber origin but not where the fabric was made. Supima Cotton
Why It Matters
A fully domestic cotton supply chain matters because it keeps both the farming and the manufacturing alive. American cotton farmers need mill capacity to buy their crop at scale. American mills need garment factories to buy their fabric. American factories need buyers to keep running. Cut any one of those three legs, and the others become unstable.
When you buy from American Giant, All American Clothing, or Goodwear, you are paying for all three legs at once. That is why the prices are higher. The premium does not go to marketing — it goes to sustaining a supply chain that barely exists.
Bottom Line
"Made in USA" and "American cotton" are not the same thing. A garment can be one, the other, both, or neither. If full domestic sourcing matters to you, look for brands that publish their supply chain, mention specific mills and farms, or use traceability codes. For picks, see American Giant, All American Clothing, and best American-made t-shirts.