Just days before the US men’s national team opens its FIFA World Cup campaign against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Nike is facing criticism over where the team’s jerseys are made.
The controversy began after the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership between domestic manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union, accused Nike of producing Team USA’s World Cup kits in Thailand despite having access to American manufacturing facilities.
“You’ve got American athletes, wearing the American flag, in uniforms made somewhere else. That disconnect matters more than people think,” Jennifer Snyder of the AAM wrote in a June 2 post.
According to the group, Nike had the ability to manufacture the jerseys in the United States but chose not to.
“Nike didn’t have to offshore these kits,” Snyder wrote. “It chose to.”
The organization also argued that producing the uniforms domestically could have insulated Nike from tariffs imposed on imports from Asia since President Donald Trump launched his trade agenda in 2025.
Nike’s Response
Nike pushed back on the criticism, emphasizing that while the jerseys were manufactured in Thailand, they were created by American teams.
A company spokesperson said Nike is “proud of our US roots and our decades-long role supporting American athletes and teams, including the USMNT.”
The company added that the 2026 World Cup kits were designed and developed in Beaverton, Oregon, before being produced in Thailand through what it described as a “specialized supplier network.”
“Like many global sports products, production decisions reflect a range of factors, including product specifications, technical capabilities, responsible production considerations and capacity required to serve a global tournament,” the spokesperson said.
Why Are The Jerseys Made Overseas?
The debate comes amid broader scrutiny of global supply chains and Trump’s “America First” trade policies.
Nike’s manufacturing system relies on a network of suppliers spread across multiple countries. According to the company, fabrics are processed, dyed, cut, sewn and finished at different stages throughout Asia before being shipped to consumers.
As of April 2025, Nike worked with 664 supplier factories across 35 countries, employing roughly 1.26 million people. Only about 4 percent of those factories were located in the United States.
The company argues that modern performance apparel depends on specialized manufacturing capabilities concentrated in Asian production hubs, where technical fabrics, printing processes and finishing operations are located.
The dispute has renewed questions about whether iconic American sports uniforms should be made domestically, particularly as trade policy and manufacturing jobs remain central issues in the national political debate.