In the late summer of 1989, by KÜHL's own account, the company was eight or nine plastic bags of ski hats, and it had just lost its two biggest accounts. In 2015 the same Salt Lake City company sold more than a million pairs of pants. KÜHL and Cotopaxi6 both started in Utah, and both are run from Salt Lake City. Of the 15 brands in our apparel category as of October 12, 2026, only two make their clothes in Utah. Those are Wūru Wool, which sews merino in Salt Lake City, and GRIP613, which builds belts and knits socks in Midvale.
Quick answers
Is KÜHL a Utah company?
Yes. KÜHL began in Utah in 1986 as the fleece hat company Alfwear and is run from Salt Lake City. It is privately owned and says it has no shareholders.
What clothing is made in Utah?
Wūru Wool says all of its apparel is cut and sewn in Salt Lake City, and GRIP6 makes its belts at its factory in Midvale. The made in Utah list has every brand that builds here.
Where is Cotopaxi based?
In Salt Lake City, where it was founded in 2014. Its Del Día line is made in the Philippines.
Are Lime Ricki swimsuits made in Utah?
No. Lime Ricki26 designs and ships its suits from Salt Lake City, and they are sewn outside Utah.
Outdoor clothing
KÜHL began in 1986, when Kevin Boyle and his brother Jay bought into a fleece hat company called Alfwear with the climber Conrad Anker. Kevin designed a fleece jacket with thumb-loop cuffs in 1990 and renamed the company KÜHL, German for cool. When a would-be buyer told him to name his price, he said not at any price, and the company says it has no shareholders. Its site also answers a question shoppers ask a lot, which is why nothing goes on sale. KÜHL says it won't overproduce.
Cotopaxi was founded in Salt Lake City in 2014, and its first marketing department was two llamas from the online classifieds. Most of its bright fabric, Utah Business5,17 reported, came from other outdoor brands that share Cotopaxi's factories. Its Del Día pieces are made in the Philippines from remnant fabric by a worker who picks the colorway, so no two match. Cotopaxi is a certified B Corp, and the fuller answer on where it is run and made is in is Cotopaxi a Utah company.
Wūru Wool built its own sewing room after its first run of ski base layers reached Salt Lake City in late May. "It was 87 degrees outside in Salt Lake, and we finally had all our product for the previous season," founder Matt Disney said. The factory started with four sewing machines and no garment experience. Since 2022, Wūru says, all of its apparel has been cut and sewn in Salt Lake City, and a new idea can go from pattern to tested sample within 12 hours.
Coalatree, run from Salt Lake City, started as an organic farm in Colorado. Each of its Evolution hoodies begins as 10 plastic bottles and three cups of used coffee. The grounds lose their oil and get mixed with the melted bottles into yarn. The hoodie does not smell like coffee. Backcountry bought Coalatree11 in April 2026 as the first brand in its Backcountry Garage incubator.
Everyday clothing and accessories
GRIP6 got its first big order before it had a factory. BJ Minson designed a belt with no holes and no flap while finishing an engineering degree at the University of Utah, and a 2014 Kickstarter video brought in an order for nearly 10,000 belts. Most manufacturers he called offered to steer him to factories in China. He bought an industrial sewing machine instead. GRIP6 now runs a factory in Midvale, where machines Minson designed cut the buckles and knit the wool socks that became its top seller, and the building has public pickleball courts inside.
&Collar, run from Salt Lake City, makes dress shirts from jersey fabric spun from recycled plastic, 15 bottles per shirt by the company's count. The shirts are made by a manufacturer in China. Its founder, Ben Perkins, told the Deseret News2,16 the whole reason the company exists is that he hates dress shirts.
Black Clover, run from Draper, was started in 2008 by two former Utah State University golf teammates, and its hats carry a four-leaf clover and the motto Live Lucky. Its first store of its own opened inside the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which is a confident place to sell a lucky hat. Gigi Pip designs women's western hats in Salt Lake City and has them made in factories around the world, including China.
Del Sol, run from Sandy, made what it calls the first T-shirt that changes color in sunlight in 1994. The first sales came from a cart at Fashion Place Mall in Murray, and in 1997 it opened its first full store in St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where there is more sun to sell against. If an item stops changing color, the company replaces it for life.
Swimwear and dresses
Kortni Jeane was founded in Provo in 2013 and sells matching swimsuits for a whole family, from men's board shorts to baby rompers. In October 2016, its slowest month, it gave away more than 1,000 swimsuits around Utah Valley, and the only way to get one was to show up already wearing one.
Lime Ricki has been run from Salt Lake City since 2007, when Colette Callister and her sisters started it, naming it for a drink they ordered after summers as lifeguards. The suits are sewn outside Utah, and every order is picked by hand in the Salt Lake City warehouse. Ivy City Co, run from Riverton, makes matching mother and daughter dresses and says it was the first dress brand to offer more than 20 sizes in a single design.
Brands in this answer
