It is becoming easier to be stylish and patriotic at the same time! With the renewed focus of many labels on U.S. based manufacturing, you can now look hip while doing your part to revitalize the American economy. In this spirit, we are starting a new blog series, pairing our own tees with other American made apparel to create U.S. of Awesome outfits.

Our first U.S. of Awesome outfit features our Motel tee paired with a boating-inspired ensemble.

Boat Shoes: Men’s Sperry Top-Sider Authentic Original Boat Shoe by Made in Maine
$300.00, Sperry Top -Sider

About the Company: Sperry Top-Sider is a true American Original that has been around for over 75 years. The concept for these iconic shoes began on an icy winter’s day in 1935, when Paul Sperry, a former naval officer, avid sailor, and part-time inventor, was inspired to design a proper shoe to safely navigate the slippery deck of his sloop. After watching his cocker spaniel run across the icy New England landscape without pause— due to his paws, he figured there must be a similar solution for humans. Today, Sperry remains the vanguard of the nautical lifestyle. From the world’s first boat shoe to its various product collections featuring characteristic design details.

Khakis: Chamois Cloth Pants, M2 Standard Fit Plain Front
$165.00, Bill’s Khakis

About the Company: Bill’s Khakis grew from Bill Thomas’ idea of starting a company that captured and celebrated the American ideal. A belief he held so strongly that he quit his advertising job in 1990 and moved to Reading, PA to start Bills Khakis. Today, Bills Khakis can be found throughout the United States at over 500 select men’s specialty stores. All products, including pants, shorts, jeans, shirts and jackets are produced in the U.S.

Belt: State Flag Belts
$55 each, Volunteer Traditions

About the Company: Volunteer Traditions started when a couple of Tennessee grad students tailgating and realized they needed a better way to show pride for where they were from. In 2006 they made their dream a reality, starting with quality products showcasing pride for Tennessee. Six years later, they have expanded throughout the South, developing a brand that takes the goodwill of what they had already created for Tennessee and moving it across the South with their Heritage Line that captures pride from Virginia to Texas.

With Flag Day and The 4^th right around the corner, we recently did some digging into the topic of flag etiquette and learned a lot. For you proud Patriots like us who plan to fly your U.S. flags high in honor of these upcoming holidays, you should know there are some do’s and don’ts when it comes to flag etiquette.

Most flag etiquette is actually dictated by the Flag Code, a section of Federal law dedicated to the when’s, where’s, how’s, and why’s of flag usage, care, and display. Here are some of the highlights from usflag.org:

• When displayed from a staff projecting from a window, balcony, or a building, the union (stars) should be at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff.

• When displayed from the same flagpole with another flag – of a state, community, society, or Scout unit—the U.S. flag must always be at the top. The U.S. flag should be the first flag raised and the last to be lowered.

• When flown with the national banner of other countries, each flag must be displayed from a separate pole of the same height. Each flag should be the same size. They should be raised and lowered simultaneously. The flag of one nation may not be displayed above that of another nation.

• When displayed over a street, the flag should be hung vertically, with the union to the north or east. If the flag is suspended over a sidewalk, the flag’s union should be farthest from the building.

• When displaying the flag against a wall, vertically or horizontally, the flag’s union should be at the top, to the flag’s own right, and to the observer’s left.

• Other flags may be smaller but none may be larger.

• The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman, and members of patriotic organizations.

• The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind.

• When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.

• The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.

So, what if you unknowingly wore a flag as part of a Halloween costume or accidentally let it brush the floor when taking it down? Don’t be too worried. Though these guidelines are U.S. federal law, there is no penalty for failure to comply with it due to a Supreme Court ruling that this would infringe on one’s right to freedom of speech. Flag etiquette is just good, old-fashioned respect for the Red, White, and Blue and for those who have fought for everything it stands for.

To view all of the rules, regulations, and etiquette on U.S. flag display and usage see The U.S. Flag: Federal Law Relating to Display document.

Photo Credit: NewsTalkKIT

While speaking with young German students during his first foreign trip as Secretary of State, John Kerry urged them to be “tolerant” and defended America’s civil liberties, including the right to be “stupid.” He used the example to illustrate all that is protected by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights—from freedom of speech to freedom of religion— and though his remark got a lot of laughs, it drove home a simple truth that is backed by the words in our founding documents and is too often taken for granted: we are free in pretty much every sense of the word.

Yes, America has room for improvement, but seriously, what other country actually has a formal declaration that protects its residents’ right to the pursuit of happiness? If you’re not pursuing what makes you happy, what are you waiting for, because the US apparently has your back.

Our founding documents are what this country is built upon today and one of the most important sources in our history, showcasing the traditional, philosophical, and political foundations on which we continue to shape our free society. At US of Awesome, we believe that educating our youth about the contents of these documents and their ideals is key to building the future of tomorrow.  We believe in this cause so much so that for every shirt you purchase, you may choose to donate $1 to the Bill of Rights Institute—an organization we carefully selected and whose mission we support wholeheartedly.

The Bill of Rights Institute strives to help the next generation understand the freedom and opportunity the Constitution offers. Since its birth in 1999, this charity has focused on providing educational resources on America’s founding documents and principles for teachers and students of American History and Civics. The tools and resources they provide are crucial to educating our future generations and we are proud to support their efforts. To learn more about the Bill of Rights Institute, visit their website.

Our good friend Jeff Carlson is a versatile artist, whose skills range from commercial illustration to sculpture and jewelry design.

Our first encounter with his talent was at a James Bond-themed party. One of the guests (a mutual friend) wanted to dress-up as the villain from “The Man with the Golden Gun” and required a third nipple . . . which, coincidentally, Jeff (who’s also an amateur FX makeup enthusiast) just happened to have in his makeup kit.

Jeff’s main line of work however is illustration. He’s one of those rare specimens who still draws by hand in addition to using contemporary electronic rendering techniques. When we were looking to do t-shirt designs inspired by old school flash art and roadside motels, we immediately thought of Jeff. We felt these designs had to be hand drawn.

He got started right away on initial drafts and after just a few exchanges he nailed what we had imagined for our Motel and Star Tattoo tees. We are really excited about these tees and look forward to working with Jeff again.

After many years in the U.S., I still have an outsized appreciation for colorful American license plates. From the interesting color combos, to the state mottoes, to the symbols or graphics unique to the states that issue them. And of course there are the vanity plates. Some are cheesy and some are pure genius. Do you have any good ones to share?

We love this time of year. As the holidays approach and the year draws to a close, it’s time to spend extra quality time with family and friends, reflect on the year that we’re about to end, and for the more fortunate among us, share our bounties with loved ones and those in need.

It is also the season for the most widespread display of Americana. For all the talk of American decline, there is no nation that outdoes us in at least one field: celebrating the holidays with exuberance. From the over-sized Christmas trees, to inflatable Frosties, to jolly Santas, kitsch becomes acceptable and even welcome for even the grouchiest of grinches. We love to sing along to the classics as we do drive-by’s of the most Griswoldian decorated homes and ooh and aah over the thousands of sparkly lights.

We have posted some of our favorite Americana images on our Pinterest board. Do you have favorites? Send them along.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus, we wish you an awesome holiday season.

We finally got around to seeing Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. It’s all we hoped it would be.

When we decided to dedicate a line of t-shirts to the sixteenth president, we were not aware that this movie was in the works. So when we found out the movie was in post production, we were very excited. Last week we finally got to put on our Lincoln tees and headed to the theater. If you haven’t seen it yet we highly recommend it.

We have discovered a new company that is planting its roots in Detroit of all places: Shinola. Yes, it’s the Shinola you might know from their shoeshine, or just the colloquialism: knowing s**t from Shinola. The name was bought by the founder of Fossil, who is planning to breathe new life into the brand. The reincarnation will initially be focused on leather goods, bikes and watches.

The company will be based in Detroit because, well, “made in Detroit” has a nice ring to it. Sounds like a good enough reason if you’re starting from scratch. It also helps that space is cheap in Detroit and Shinola will be located on the campus of Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, a hotbed of design talent.

We have seen a few of the prototypes and are eager to see what else Shinola will roll out. At U.S. of Awesome, we are avid bikers and we appreciate timepieces with mechanical movements. We are also excited to see the renewed focus on craftmanship, and hopefully the return of “Made in Detroit” as a marque of quality.

Photography from detroitlives.com

U.S. of Awesome believes in the common American experience and the many awesome things that unite us. One of those things is the right to vote! Left wing, right wing, chicken wing… it doesn’t matter how you vote – just exercise your right.

U.S. of Awesome is driven to effect change in a positive way. We try to make a difference through the messages on our shirts, the causes we support, and our choice to have our shirts be 100% American made.

One of the easiest ways to make change happen, is to exercise our right to vote. Our Love to Vote shirt professes our love for this hard fought right. It was only in 1920 that women received the right to vote. It was as recent as 1965 that there was the need for a Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices. In many parts of the world, true democracy still does not exist.

This year’s presidential election is highly contested, so every vote counts. We will be wearing our Love to Vote shirt when we cast our vote, and we hope you will make the trip to the voting booth this November too!