Coleman is a quintessential American brand in the outdoors industry based in Chicago, Illinois. They got started all the way back in 1900 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma when William Coffin Coleman introduced his gasoline pressure lamps, a product that the company still sells today (updated of course). They have expanded their product line quite a bit since then, branching out to tents, sleeping bags, other camping essentials, and of course, coolers. They’ve also been through a number of acquisitions over the years. Coleman was acquired by Sunbeam Products in the late 1990s, then Jarden in the mid 2000s, and finally by Newell Brands, a large consumer product goods conglomerate. Through all of that changing of hands and company evolution over the course of 120+ years, are their coolers still made in the USA? We dug in, our verdict is below.
Verdict: Are Coleman Coolers Made in the USA?
Only some Coleman coolers are still made in the USA, particularly their hard-side coolers. Of the coolers made in the USA, most are made in facilities either in Wichita, KS or New Braunfels, TX. Coleman also manufactures many of their coolers in China and other countries (more on that below).
We’ve seen in previous research that these types of acquisitions by larger companies don’t bode well for keeping manufacturing domestic. It seems to be the same case with Coleman, but we are encouraged that they’ve kept some manufacturing for their hard-side coolers in the USA. Frankly though, there are better hard-sided cooler options out there, but if you’re on a tight budget it might be a good fit for you.
We did an analysis of Coleman’s entire cooler catalog and found that at least 43.9% of their coolers are made in the USA. We say “at least” because some products are not clearly marked and we are calling Coleman about those. A breakdown of our analysis is below.
- 43.9% of all coolers are marked as made in the USA
- 68.9% of all hard-sided coolers are marked as made in the USA
- 2.1% of all coolers are marked as made in China (not representative of all coolers actually made in China, just ones marked as such on the site)
- 0% of soft coolers are marked as made in the USA
Fortunately, Coleman is pretty clear on their website which coolers are made domestically. If you scroll down to the product details, it will say “Made in the USA”. Some products will say “Assembled in the USA” (red flag) and potentially some other details about the country of origin. Not all coolers are marked so clearly, so it’s safe to assume those are not made domestically.
Here are some of their more popular coolers and where they are made.
Popular American Made Coleman Coolers
- 1/2 Gallon Beverage Cooler
- 100 Quart Inland Performance Series Marine Cooler
- 20 Can Party Stacker Cooler
- 28 Quart Coastal Xtreme Series Marine Cooler
Popular Coleman Coolers Not Made in the USA
- 16 Can Soft Cooler
- 30 Can Soft Cooler
- 28 Can Portable Soft Cooler Backpack
- 24-Hour 30 Can Soft Cooler
- 40 Quart PowerChill Thermoelectric Cooler
More American Made Alternatives
Make sure to give our YouTube video a watch as well for how to find coolers made in the USA.
