American Made Office Supplies
Office supplies are one of the more heavily imported categories on this site, so this page started short. Two brands that came up in our initial research, a notebook maker and a composition book brand, didn't hold up under verification: one manufactures overseas including in China, and the other lists Vietnam as its country of origin on product data. Neither is included here. What's below is what actually checked out, plus Sharpie, whose reshoring story is genuinely worth featuring.
Quick Comparison - American Made Office Supplies
| Brand | Category | Made In | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appointed | Notebooks & planners | New York State | Minimalist, high-end paper goods |
| Field Notes | Pocket memo books | Chicago, IL area | Everyday carry, quarterly collectibles |
| Humanscale | Monitor arms | Piscataway, NJ (M2.1 model) | Ergonomic desk setups |
| TOPS | Legal pads | Tennessee | Everyday legal pads at retail prices |
| Sharpie | Permanent markers | Maryville, TN | A reshoring story, not just a marker |
| Musgrave | Pencils | Shelbyville, TN | One of the last US pencil makers |
Appointed
Made in: New York State
Appointed was founded in 2015 by Suann Song, a graphic designer who spent 18 months developing what became the company's signature product, The Notebook, before launching on Kickstarter. The brand originally manufactured out of Washington, D.C., then relocated production to a larger facility in New York State in February 2025 specifically to expand manufacturing capacity. Appointed sources materials from American companies and small businesses where possible, including 100% cotton bookcloth made domestically. The paper itself is produced using two-thirds renewable energy, more than half generated on-site through biomass and zero-emission hydroelectric power, and is acid- and chlorine-free. The company is hands-on through every step of production, from raw material sourcing to final packaging, and remains woman-founded and woman-led.
Best for: Buyers who want a minimalist, design-forward notebook with real sustainability credentials behind it.
Recommended: Appointed Hardcover Notebook - around $34
Check Price on AppointedField Notes
Made in: Chicago, Illinois area
Field Notes was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between Aaron Draplin's Draplin Design Company and the Chicago firm Coudal Partners, drawing inspiration from vintage agricultural memo books once handed out by seed and tractor companies. Every memo book is printed and manufactured in the United States, produced at four or five different printers around the Chicagoland area rather than a single factory. Paper is sourced almost entirely from Great Lakes region mills, with most body paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and covers are printed with soy-based inks. The company has stuck to that sourcing model since its founding, even as it expanded into quarterly limited editions using specialty printers for foil stamping, letterpress, and other techniques, always kept domestic.
Best for: Everyday carry users and anyone who wants a simple, honest pocket notebook.
Recommended: Field Notes Original Kraft 3-Pack - around $13
Check Price on AmazonHumanscale
Made in: Piscataway, New Jersey (M2.1 model specifically)
Humanscale designs its products at a studio in New York City and manufactures across four global facilities: Piscataway, New Jersey; Fresno, California; Nogales, Mexico; and Dublin, Ireland. That means not every Humanscale product is domestically made, so the specific model matters. The M2.1 monitor arm, the brand's most popular arm, is confirmed manufactured in the United States and carries a 15-year warranty. It uses a counterbalance spring mechanism rather than a friction knob to hold a monitor's position, letting it be repositioned with one hand and stay put without retightening anything, a real functional difference from the friction-based arms that dominate the budget end of the category. Humanscale's core product lines also hold Cradle-to-Cradle certification, requiring documented, audited material sourcing rather than a self-reported claim.
Best for: Desk setups that need a monitor arm that holds position without constant knob-tightening.
Recommended: Humanscale M2.1 Monitor Arm - around $345
Check Price on AmazonTOPS
Made in: Tennessee
TOPS Products manufactures its full line of legal pads, from the basic Legal Pad brand to the heavier Docket Gold line, at its Tennessee facility, with country-of-origin data confirming domestic production across the catalog rather than just a headline product or two. The pads use double-stitched leatherette binding at the top and a sturdy chipboard backer, letting them be written on away from a desk, with perforated sheets designed to tear cleanly for filing or handing off. TOPS is one of the more mainstream, widely-stocked brands on this page, sold at Amazon, Walmart, and most major office supply retailers at prices comparable to imported alternatives, which makes it an easy substitute rather than a specialty upgrade.
Best for: Anyone who wants an ordinary legal pad at a normal price without an import.
Recommended: TOPS The Legal Pad Writing Pads, 12-Pack - around $15
Check Price on AmazonSharpie
Made in: Maryville, Tennessee
Sharpie's classic fine-tip permanent marker, in all 93 colors, is one of the more notable reshoring stories in consumer goods, not just office supplies, and exactly the kind of shift we track on our About page. Newell Brands, Sharpie's parent company, had moved significant production to China by 2018, then reversed course and invested nearly $2 billion into automation and worker retraining at its existing Maryville, Tennessee plant. That factory now runs around the clock, producing 1.8 million fine-tip markers a day, more than 500 million a year, from a single US facility. Five of the marker's six components are sourced domestically, with only the felt tip imported from Japan. In 2024, Newell brought the retractable Sharpie line back from China as well, after engineers solved a quality problem that had plagued the Chinese-made version. Retail price has stayed roughly $1 per marker throughout.
I’ve always tried to remember to carry a Sharpie. They are so light you almost don’t notice carrying one, and at close to a dollar apiece, losing, forgetting or giving one away is no big deal. I like the bold strokes of the standard Sharpie, but you might prefer the fine ones.
Best for: Anyone who wants proof that reshoring can work without raising prices.
Recommended: Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers, 12-Pack - around $8
Check Price on AmazonMusgrave Pencil Company
Made in: Shelbyville, Tennessee
Musgrave has manufactured pencils in Shelbyville since 1923, and is one of only three or four pencil makers left in the entire United States, the last survivor of a town once called "Pencil City" for its half-dozen competing pencil factories. The company is still family-owned, five generations in, and employs around 112 people who groove, glue, shape, paint, and print every pencil on-site. Worth being direct about sourcing here: much of Musgrave's wood now comes from Asia rather than domestic cedar, after a former West Coast slat supplier moved its own operations to China, and the graphite core is imported as well. What stays genuinely domestic is the actual manufacturing itself. A limited Tennessee Red line, made from real Tennessee cedar sourced from salvaged decades-old slats, is the one product that's domestic end to end.
I got a great smelling box of the Tennessee Red pencils about four years ago, and that cedar smell is the detail that's actually stuck with me. When I sharpen one, the shavings smell strongly like real cedar, not the generic "pencil smell" most brands have, since Musgrave uses salvaged Tennessee cedar rather than the imported wood in their standard lineup.
Best for: Buyers who want to support the literal last pencil factory standing in the US.
Recommended: Musgrave Pencil Co. No. 2 Pencils - around $16
Check Price on AmazonBrands and manufacturing locations verified as of July 2026. Manufacturing moves; we revisit listings when it does.