Eder Flag Urges Buyers to Verify Made in America Claims

OAK CREEK, WI - October 03, 2026 - With municipalities, schools, and veterans organizations placing flag orders ahead of Veterans Day, Eder Flag is urging institutional buyers to verify claims of "Made in America" flags by checking specific characteristics visible on the flags themselves. The company, which has manufactured flags in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, since the flag-making side of the business began in 1903, argues that these checks can help buyers ensure the authenticity of the claim.

Eder Flag points out that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) holds unqualified "Made in USA" claims to an "all or virtually all" standard, meaning final assembly, all significant processing, and all or virtually all components must be domestic, with no or negligible foreign content. For textiles, the FTC's guidance turns on whether the final product is manufactured in the United States from fabric manufactured in the United States. A finished flag imported and relabeled does not meet this test, and a buyer looking only at a website cannot tell the difference.

Eder Flag recommends four specific checks to verify the origin and quality of a flag: 1. Stitching at the Fly End: A flag built for service carries four or more rows of lockstitching, while a flag built to a lower price carries two. 2. Embroidered Stars and Separate Sewn Stripes: The flag should have embroidered stars and separate sewn stripes, not a single printed layer, which is a different product with a different service life and should not carry the same price. 3. Canvas Header: The canvas header along the pole edge should be marked with the maker's name and the size, a hallmark of a domestically manufactured flag. 4. Plant Location: A supplier that names the plant and allows it to be visited is more transparent than one that answers in adjectives.

Eder Flag, founded in 1887 by seven brothers from the Eder family, has grown to become America's largest manufacturer of both flags and flagpoles. The company produces over twenty thousand different products and manufactures more than five million US flags per year. Its About page records that buyers can feel secure knowing both flag and pole were expertly crafted in the USA from American materials.

The company notes that flags procured by the federal government are required to be entirely American made, which is why federal practice is a poor guide to what is available on the open commercial market, where domestic and imported flags sit side by side at comparable prices.

For a purchasing officer, the practical consequence is a short list of questions to put in writing before an order closes. Where is the flag cut and sewn? Where is the fabric woven? Is the flag printed or sewn? How many rows of stitching are at the fly end? What is the maker's name on the header?

Eder Flag's position is that any manufacturer able to answer these questions in writing is a supplier worth considering, and a supplier unwilling to answer them has given the buyer the answer anyway.