When someone buys an American flag, they’re making a choice about what matters to them. Maybe it’s tradition. Maybe it’s pride in where they live or who they’ve served. Maybe it’s a promise they’re keeping.
Whatever the reason, they deserve to know what they’re buying.
For years, that hasn’t always been the case. Flags sold online have been mislabeled, misrepresented, or missing labels entirely. Customers who thought they were buying American-made were getting something else. And for a symbol that means so much to so many people, that felt like a problem worth solving.
What We Saw
During COVID, online marketplaces filled up with new flag sellers. At first, we noticed some of them using photos of American factories they’d never set foot in. Then we saw sellers displaying certification badges from industry associations they weren’t members of.
That’s when we started ordering their flags to see for ourselves. What we found was worse than we expected: many of the flags had no labels at all. Not “Made in China.” Not anything. Just unlabeled products, which violates FTC textile labeling requirements.
The American flag industry is small. We all know each other. We know which factories are real and which certifications are legitimate. And we knew this wasn’t right.
My dad built this company on doing the right thing, even when it was the hard thing. So when our trade associations started talking about what to do, I wanted to be part of it.
What We Did
NIFDA and FMAA, the two main flag industry associations, came together and pooled resources. We developed a process: order flags from suspected bad actors, document what we received, and build a case.
We submitted evidence to the FTC. If you’ve ever done that, you know what happens next: nothing. You get a confirmation that your submission was received, and that’s it. No follow-up, no indication of what they’ll do with it. That’s just how the FTC works.
So we tried Amazon directly. We connected with someone in Amazon's legal department who was willing to take a closer look at the evidence we’d compiled. But we kept looking and eventually found someone higher up in Amazon’s legal department who was willing to take a closer look.
Within days of reviewing our evidence, he got twelve products taken down. We quickly ordered flags from twenty-five more sellers, documented the same problems, and sent that over too. Those came down as well. When some of the products reappeared, they now had proper labels: Made in China, fiber content, country of origin. They were following the rules.
I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect it to work. We’re a small industry going up against one of the largest companies in the world. But we found someone who cared about getting it right, and we kept showing up with documentation.
What Changed This Month
Earlier this month, Amazon sent a message to all American flag sellers with Made in U.S.A claims: verify your products meet FTC requirements by January 22, 2026, or your listings will be deactivated. Sellers now have to submit a signed affidavit proving their flags are actually made here. If they can’t prove it, they have to remove the claim.
That’s a real policy change. It means every seller in our category now has to back up what they’re claiming, with documentation.
There’s another development that’s helping too. For years, low-value imports could enter the U.S. under what’s called the “de minimis” exemption, which let packages under a certain dollar amount go through customs virtually uninspected. That exemption was originally designed for travelers bringing items back from trips overseas, but it became a loophole that online sellers used to move huge volumes of goods without the usual inspections.
Recent changes to de minimis rules mean those imports now go through standard customs processing, where labeling has a chance of getting reviewed. So instead of only catching problems after a product reaches a customer and someone complains, there’s now a checkpoint earlier in the process. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s another layer of accountability.
Why This Matters
I want to be clear: this isn’t about keeping anyone out of the market. If someone wants to sell imported flags, they can. We just want the labels to be honest. Let customers decide for themselves what matters to them.
What I’ve seen through this work is that honest labeling isn’t a partisan issue. It’s one of the few things everyone seems to agree on: a flag, of all things, should be represented truthfully. The symbol deserves that. The people who buy it deserve that.
We practice what we preach. Every flag we sell is made in America. Not all our products are. We’re honest about that. It’s how we’ve always operated, and it’s what our customers expect from us.
Looking Ahead
The work isn’t finished. Our trade associations now have someone monitoring the category regularly, ordering flags, documenting issues, and maintaining the relationships we’ve built. The discipline of following through matters as much as the initial push.
When we started this, I didn’t know if anything would come of it. But I knew it was worth trying. That’s what my dad would have done. And now, when someone clicks buy on an American flag, they’re more likely to get what they paid for.
That’s progress.
Liz Morris
CEO, Freedom & Glory
