By Farah Siddiqi
Ohio News Connection

Ohio small businesses say a growing interest in American-made products is helping strengthen local manufacturing as the holiday shopping season gets underway. 

A new national poll shows most consumers prefer goods made in the United States, and several Ohio companies are featured in this year’s Made in America Holiday Gift Guide. One of those companies is Kikilu House of Style, a Cincinnati-based apparel brand that designs and produces small-batch clothing through Sew Valley, a zero-waste nonprofit garment factory.

Kimberly Anderson, founder and chief style officer of Kikilu House of Style, said she launched the brand after years of styling clients and noticing a gap in quality and long-lasting clothing for women, and she added that keeping production at home was a conscious choice, even when cheaper overseas options were available.

“I could have made my first million had I offshored,” she said. “This is a passion project. I’m OK with that. Why? Because I really want to speak to the people that maybe are saying, ‘Is college for me? Maybe the trades are for me. Maybe setting up a factory and the skills of the people that work at my factory are off the charts.’”

Kikilu House of Style is one of several Ohio manufacturers included in the 2025 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide, released with new polling showing 78% of Americans prefer U.S. made goods and 82% would choose them over similar imports when available. Another Ohio company featured in the gift guide is Ohio Flame of Columbiana. The business, owned by Matt Skillman, manufactures firepits from steel tank heads, and American made is the company’s niche.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing has published its gift guide for 12 years, highlighting companies from all 50 states and encouraging Americans to support local producers.

Scott Paul, president of the alliance, said despite headlines about tariffs or concerns over prices, the desire to buy American-made products remains overwhelmingly strong.

“There’s been a lot in the news about tariffs and cost, but it’s striking to find that Americans still strongly value products that are made in the United States,” he said. “[They] want to seek them out, want to see more of them and feel very strongly about it.”

Paul added that increasing visibility for American-made options, especially in major retailers and online marketplaces, could help more consumers follow through on that preference. For Ohio makers featured in the guide, the exposure offers another boost at a time when reshoring and small-batch domestic manufacturing continue to gain momentum.

Pictured at top: Kikilu House of Style labels.

The Business Journal contributed to this report.