About

Since 2009, we’ve made quality apparel and tools – products integral to work  and adventure. We source the highest quality materials and partner with some of the finest makers to create fewer products, better.

We have always been obsessed with quality. But quality is elusive, so much depends on the beholder. Through our eye, and for a product to be branded “Best Made”, it has to check a few boxes:

1. Utility: a product should function and serve a valuable purpose (big or small).

2. Durability: a product should stand the test of time; it should be both physically durable, and emotionally durable (i.e., desirable). 

3. Relevance: a product should meet real world needs in a meaningful way.

4. Responsibility: a product should benefit the people who make it and their communities, and have as little impact on the environment as possible.

5. Wonder: a product should have intangible qualities that defy expectations.

There is no formula here. So often it just boils down to holding one of our axes, or wearing one of our jackets– at which point you’ll know what we mean by “Best”.

I grew up on a small farm in Canada. I spent my early career as a designer living in New York City. In 2009, I founded Best Made. Our first product was an axe: an evocative artifact of my past, the oldest tool known to humankind, the paragon of utility.

With the axe as our perch, we went on to develop many products, including first-aid kits, hand-spliced ditty bags, a bomb-proof waxed jacket, cloth extension cords, and a base layer made in the USA from American wool.

Like clockwork, every Wednesday at noon we’d send an email announcing our latest new product. Who knew what would be released next week? Sometimes I didn’t even know. This was the early days of e-commerce. Back then our business model was in service to this wonderfully eclectic assortment, united by our obsession with quality. 

Soon enough we opened stores in New York City and Los Angeles, and we were sending our catalog the world over. Our product assortment and our business model got bigger and more refined, and I got more ambitious. I brought in investors, and together we set our sights to be the next great American outfitter. And so, we grew – and eventually our business grew apart from what once made us so special. 

I couldn’t reconcile what we’d become, and I made the tough decision to leave. Soon after the company was disbanded and sold. I went on to write a book, which felt like my farewell ode to the axe, and to Best Made. I moved to the country and built a new workshop. I taught myself to sew and slowly but surely, I reconnected with craft and working with my hands.

And then, in July 2023, I received a phone call.

The call was an offer to buy Best Made back. I was intrigued, but as reality set in, I panicked: how could I start all over? How could I do this without my team? It would never be the same again. It would never be the same again indeed. And that’s exactly why it was worth doing. Times have changed, but the values my team and I worked so hard to instill — this quality-driven mission — is more relevant than ever. 

In October 2023, I got my company back. Soon after, I put out a call to my old team, and we met at Tom & Jerry’s, my favorite bar in New York City. Together we raised a few glasses to Best Made. And then it was time to get back to work.

– Peter Buchanan-Smith, Founder

As we rebuild, we’re doing so from the ground up. The joy, the reward, and the meaning of our work are more wrapped up in the process of making, and less in the outcomes. Rebuilding Best Made is itself a process of making, and that will take some time. 

In many ways, we’re a brand-new company, and in many ways, we’re not. We get to be both at once. We have fifteen years under our belts, but we plan to take Best Made to places we’ve never been before. As we forge ahead, we do so with certain goals:

1. Our Product. We’re relaunching with an axe, but there is a steady stream of new products on their way, including classic Best Made favorites, iterations and improvements on past products, and brand-new developments. There will be more emphasis on apparel, particularly outerwear and workwear, as well as on the materials that go into making our apparel. We hope to expand into new product categories. 

The Best Made constellation of products will be united not just by quality, but also by environmental and ethical standards. We’re more committed than ever to sourcing locally grown materials and/or materials manufactured in the USA. This gives us close access to our product’s development and the labor conditions under which they’re made. We also work locally because we believe that the act of making quality products uplifts communities close to home.

We take pride in our materials and manufacturing partnerships – the most critical components of our success. As we grow, we’re committed to the implementation of accountability protocols and certifications. We will find every opportunity we can to optimize our supply chain, lower our waste, and minimize our carbon footprint. We also plan to offer our customers an internal resource for the repair, restoration and maintenance of their purchases.

2. Our community. Best Made has always been grounded in human experiences. Our first product – the axe – was designed to inspire our customers to spend more time around the campfire. Our products are designed to be used, maintained, and repaired by human hands. Likewise, our products are made by human hands. Going forward we will build community around craft, and through the use, knowledge, and making of our products. Our future hinges on dialogue with our customers, and we’re excited to pick back up with them: the makers, adventurers, tinkerers, and curiosity seekers. We’ll forge this new chapter together. 

3. Our channels. We are committed to a holistic and deliberate approach to retail, and this includes the introduction of our short– and long-supply assortment strategy. A notebook or a pair of socks can be manufactured on a larger scale. A hand-forged axe – not so easy. By offering our products in short-supply, in limited editions, or on a prerelease basis, we minimize waste, we virtually eliminate the burden of unwanted inventory, and we uphold quality. 

Our products are designed to last. They are meant to be used – not upgraded or replaced every other year. By organizing and publishing our past products in our online product Archive, we hope to empower our customers with information about what they own – where the product came from, the materials used to make it, and how to care for that belonging – and in doing so we extend our product’s life even further. 

We have plans for a robust repair program, and we hope to bring our famous workshop and restoration series back. We want Best Made to be experienced in a more tactile form, and that will also include print publications, and eventually a return to brick-and-mortar stores.

4. Our company: The quality of our products and our customers' experience will always be our main priorities: both come before the scale of our company or the pace at which we grow. We are independently owned and operated. We are committed to slow and deliberate growth that does not jeopardize our philosophy or our goals. 

Best Made has been given an unparalleled opportunity to grow from our mistakes and forge ahead in new, unchartered directions. We’re just getting started. We’re in this fertile process of starting over, and that process could last months, even years – hopefully a lifetime.