Donald Trump’s red “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) cap has become an iconic symbol of his campaigns. The official MAGA hats sold by the Trump campaign are assembled and distributed by U.S.-based firms. Multiple news investigations and campaign disclosures confirm they are produced by Cali-Fame, a California headwear company, and then fulfilled by Ace Specialties in Louisiana. Trump’s campaign website and officials repeatedly emphasize that all campaign hats are “Made in America.” The caps’ labels and official descriptions explicitly say “Made in America”, and the campaign’s filings with the Federal Election Commission show millions of dollars paid to American manufacturers. In a video tour of the factory, host Brian Kennedy of Cali-Fame explained that “the whole hat is made here in America” – fabric, cord, sweatband and all. (See image below of President Trump with official MAGA hats.)

According to multiple sources, Cali-Fame of Carson, California is the sole licensed maker of Trump campaign caps. PolitiFact in 2015 confirmed, “The hats are made by Cali Fame of Los Angeles” and emphatically noted “oh, and they are made in the USA”. Likewise, a 2024 Fox Business report described MAGA hats as “officially manufactured in the U.S. by Cali-Fame, a company based in California”. The Trump campaign has repeatedly claimed 100% U.S.-made merchandise, and its online store’s product pages (e.g. the “45-47 MAGA Hat”) carry a “Made in America” label.

Campaign disclosures and filings reinforce this. Federal Election Commission reports show the Trump campaign paid U.S. suppliers for hats and distribution. For example, between 2019–2020 Trump’s joint fundraising committee reported over $800,000 paid to Cali-Fame for hat production and nearly $18 million to Ace Specialties (the U.S. distributor) for hats and other swag. A 2018 Business Insider video noted that after assembly at Cali-Fame, the hats are shipped to Ace Specialties in Louisiana, which fulfills all orders from the campaign store. In interviews, Ace Specialties’ owner (and Eric Trump’s wife) Christl Mahfouz affirmed “definitely everything on our side is made in the USA”. In short, the official record and insider reports agree that official MAGA hats are designed, assembled, and labeled in the U.S..

Evidence from independent investigations backs this up. Reuters reported from the 2017 inauguration that hats sold on Trump’s campaign website carried labels saying “Made in USA,” while the cheaper $20 street-vendor hats were often “made in Vietnam” or China. The article noted: “The Trump hats available for purchase on Trump’s official campaign website are made in the United States… but they are also more expensive”. Similarly, an Associated Press review in 2016 found that Trump campaign caps are stitched together at a small factory in Los Angeles, though that investigation raised questions about fabric sourcing. (The AP analysis found one sample where the cloth appeared to be a different type than the U.S.-made fabric the manufacturer claimed to use.) Trump himself said at the time he’d sue if any hat “labeled ‘Made in USA’ actually weren’t made entirely in the USA”.

PolitiFact and other fact-checkers have echoed the same conclusion: images of red “Made in China” labels on MAGA hats do not prove they were official campaign merchandise. In 2015 PolitiFact called claims that Trump hats sold by the campaign were made in China “Pants on Fire,” noting those were counterfeit copies. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks told PolitiFact “all product for sale on DonaldJTrump.com is made in the USA.” PolitiFact’s report explained that authentic Trump campaign hats are made by Cali-Fame in L.A. and “oh, and they are made in the USA”. The report also noted that the hats are distributed by Ace Specialties in Louisiana, and Ace’s president confirmed campaign hats on official channels are all U.S.-made.

Unofficial (Knockoff) MAGA Hats: Overseas Manufacturing

In contrast, unofficial or counterfeit MAGA caps sold online and on the street often come from abroad. Cheap knockoffs abound on e-commerce and in retail, typically imported from Asia or other low-cost countries. For example, a Vice News investigation (November 2020) found “popular knock-off versions” of the red MAGA hat being made in factories in Honduras, Haiti and China. Similarly, Reuters noted many inauguration-day street-vendor hats worn by Trump supporters were tagged “Made in Vietnam,” China, or Bangladesh, even as official hats were labeled “Made in USA”. A VOA Mandarin report in 2024 found Chinese marketplaces (e.g. Temu, Taobao) selling MAGA hats for less than $4, whereas the official Trump campaign store – which “boasts ‘All Products Made in the USA’” – charges about $40. In short, the market is flooded with low-cost MAGA merchandise from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Honduras, etc., undercutting American-made prices.

• Popular counterfeit MAGA hats on Chinese sites often bear “Made in China” labels.

• Cheap Vietnamese or Bangladeshi-made versions are frequently sold by independent vendors at rallies or online.

• E-commerce reports show tens of thousands of “MAGA” caps shipped from Asia to U.S. buyers, exploiting loopholes in import tariffs.

Because these foreign-made hats are not official campaign merchandise, the Trump team disavows them. Fact-checkers emphasize that red caps with “Made in China” tags circulating on social media are simply bootleg items, not sold by the campaign. The campaign’s chief operating officer has warned that any vendor falsely claiming official endorsement is “lying” or violating trademarks. Nevertheless, the existence of these knockoffs has fueled debate and confusion about where MAGA hats come from.

Controversies and “America First” Messaging

The question of hat origins became a lightning-rod controversy in Trump’s “America First” era. Critics and social media users pointed out the irony of a protectionist president’s signature slogan being worn on foreign-made caps. Early in Trump’s first term, a Vietnamese hat factory posted a video showing workers sewing red Trump caps, prompting outrage that MAGA hats were made overseas during the trade war. (This was amplified by Chinese state media and meme pages as a sign of hypocrisy.) In another incident, photos circulated at a 2015 rally in Texas showing a Trump cap with a “Made in China” label; the campaign responded that the pictured cap was not an official Trump hat.

More recently, a series of debunked social-media posts and memes have claimed “Trump campaign hats are made in China while Biden’s are made in USA.” FactCheck.org and PolitiFact found these claims false: they were comparing off-brand Chinese-produced MAGA caps to authentic Biden campaign hats. The Trump campaign’s own materials insist all official hats are U.S.-made, and fact-checkers note that any MAGA cap bought on the campaign’s site is indeed made in America.

However, controversies have continued. In late 2024 Turkish media reported that a factory in Adıyaman, Turkey (the Zirve Hat Factory) had produced 100,000 Trump-branded hats labeled “Made in Türkiye” for the 2024 campaign. These reports say the hats were exported to the U.S. in support of Trump’s re-election effort. If true, it raises questions, since the campaign asserts “All Products Made in USA” on its store. U.S. outlets have not verified the Turkish claim independently, but it drew attention because of the stark contrast with Trump’s message of domestic manufacturing.

Notable investigations and incidents include:

• Inauguration 2017 – Reuters found that several hats sold at Trump’s inauguration were foreign-made: one “pink” MAGA hat on a supporter was labeled “made in Vietnam,” and others “Bangladesh” or China. This was widely reported as ironic given Trump’s exhortation to “buy American and hire American.”

• 2016 – An Associated Press analysis of official Trump campaign hats suggested an unknown mix of materials. AP’s lab testing found one campaign cap’s fabric did not match the U.S.-made supplier’s material, casting doubt on the “Made in USA” claim. (Factory owner Brian Kennedy denied any imports, saying “We’re playing by the rules”.) Trump vowed to sue if hats labeled Made in USA were not entirely American.

• Viral Misinformation – Posts on Facebook and Twitter showed red MAGA hats with “Made in China” tags, but fact-checkers confirmed these were unconnected to the campaign (often sold by unknown third parties).

Through all this, the Trump campaign has maintained that official MAGA caps are manufactured domestically and that any outsourcer is counterfeit. Official statements stress “American workers” making the hats, and campaign materials still carry “Proudly Made in USA” tags. Yet the constant supply of foreign-made knockoffs has kept the issue in the spotlight, highlighting tensions between Trump’s protectionist rhetoric and the realities of global supply chains.