> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://american-made.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 99% of shoes sold in America are imported. Military boots can't be. Here's why. - URL: https://american-made.ghost.io/99-of-shoes-sold-in-america-are-imported-military-boots-can-t-be-here-s-why/ - Published: 2026-07-27T14:13:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-07-27T14:13:39.000Z - Description: The Berry Amendment. Since 1941. Every military textile, boot, flag, and MRE must be entirely American-made. $2.4 billion a year in protected purchases. - Author: American Made - Tags: #Import 2026-08-17 12:34 ## AMERICANMADE ### This Startup is Growing 23X Faster than Nvidia Dear Reader, See this document below? ![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80,width=1920,height=3840/uploads/asset/file/0e5b1733-d32c-4301-8186-633122465b26/image.jpeg?t=1785244238) Elon Musk just revealed what I believe is the biggest investment opportunity of the year when he filed this official document with the SEC. Because on page 146 he revealed the name of a startup that’s set to be… **[The next monster IPO on Wall Street. 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But I found a way for you to claim your stake before the IPO… starting for less than $50. **[Click here to see the details, including the name of this startup, completely free of charge.](https://american-made-focus.com/anthropicplan?utm%5Fsource=americanmade.beehiiv.com&utm%5Fmedium=newsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=99-of-shoes-sold-in-america-are-imported-military-boots-can-t-be-here-s-why&%5Fbhlid=08944d91a76b02dd300bf2a0f5c2f4315fd03348)** Yesterday we traced where your $25 goes when you buy a pair of Darn Tough socks. Today I want to show you the law that guarantees the U.S. military buys them too. The Berry Amendment was enacted in 1941 — the year America entered World War II. It requires the Department of Defense to buy certain products that are 100% domestic in origin. Not assembled here. Not mostly made here. *Entirely* grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States. From raw material to finished product. Every step. It is the strictest domestic content requirement in federal law. The Buy American Act of 1933 only requires final assembly and 50% domestic components. Under Berry, 100% means 100%. The law covers textiles, clothing, footwear, food, hand and measuring tools, tents and tarps, U.S. flags, stainless steel flatware, dinnerware, and ballistic fibers. That last one matters — it means the Kevlar in your body armor must be American-made, not just the vest sewn around it. The Defense Logistics Agency purchases roughly **$2.4 billion** in Berry-applicable products each year. That spending equals about 2% of total domestic textile and apparel shipments and about 1% of domestic footwear and food production. Small percentages, but for the specific companies that hold these contracts, it’s the difference between staying open and closing. In 2017, Congress went further. The NDAA required DOD to provide 100% American-made running shoes to every recruit entering basic training. Before that, recruits got vouchers to buy whatever shoes they wanted. Now they get New Balance. Look at the companies we’ve covered. Darn Tough makes military socks — Berry-compliant, knit in Vermont. New Balance makes military running shoes — Berry-compliant, assembled in New England. Red Wing makes military boots — Berry-compliant, built in Red Wing, Minnesota. Annin makes military flags — Berry-compliant, sewn in New Jersey and Virginia. Without this law, every one of those contracts could go to a cheaper overseas manufacturer. **The Berry Amendment has a prison labor problem.** One of the largest military apparel contractors is Federal Prison Industries, also known as UNICOR. Under a mandatory source provision, prison factories get priority if they can deliver the product at a competitive price. Inmates make military uniforms for wages measured in cents per hour. Critics also argue the law creates monopolies and raises costs. DOD pays more for Berry-compliant products than the global market price. Supporters counter that the premium buys supply chain security. When a war starts, you don’t want your body armor supply chain running through a country you might be fighting. The Berry Amendment is the floor under American textile manufacturing. Without it, 99% of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported — and military boots would follow. Without it, military socks and uniforms would be sewn in Vietnam and Bangladesh. The $2.4 billion in annual purchases isn’t enough to sustain an industry on its own. But it keeps production lines running that might otherwise close. For the companies that hold Berry contracts, the law provides a guaranteed revenue stream tied to defense spending. As long as the military needs uniforms, boots, socks, and flags, American manufacturers will make them. That’s not a growth story. It’s a survival story. And for Darn Tough, New Balance, and the others, survival is the foundation that everything else gets built on. We’ve covered the tariff wall that protects steel. The Jones Act that protects shipping. And now the Berry Amendment that protects textiles. The pattern is clear: American manufacturing doesn’t survive on its own in a global market. It survives because the government decided it matters. Whether that’s the right policy is a debate. That it works is a fact.