The Made Standard
Made by people, not conglomerates.
I'm building a place where "Made in the USA" actually means something — where you can find the real makers, see the proof, and shop for your kids without second-guessing every label. This is that place, and it's still early.
Product claims are hard to trust online
If you've ever tried to work out what a baby product is actually made of, you know the feeling. "Non-toxic", "natural", "tested for safety" — none of these mean anything specific, and none of them have to be backed by anything. Meanwhile the claims that are substantive, like a GOTS certificate number or an EN 71-3 test report, are buried where nobody thinks to look.
That gap, between the claims and the proof, is the whole reason this exists.
Proof of what's truly made here.
So we started citing things
The Made Standard records how things are made — materials, construction, and the safety standards they've been tested against — with a primary source behind each claim. Every brand sits in one of two tiers, so you always know what you're looking at: a brand claim, which is the company's own statement repeated honestly and marked as unchecked, or verified, which means every published claim cites a source a person actually opened. Where a check was AI-assisted, the page says so.
We don't take marketing copy at face value, and we never blur the line between the two. Here's exactly how we check things →
Why baby & kids first
Because that's where it matters most to me. My first child is due in July 2026, and I started paying very close attention to what we'd actually be putting in our home — what it's made of, where it's made, and who made it. Safety matters most where it matters most, and the stakes feel highest with the smallest people.
So this is where I'm starting, and I'm building it in the open as I go.
Who's behind it
This is an independent, bootstrapped project — no outside investors, no big-corporation capital, just a small operation building carefully in public. That independence is the point: The Made Standard answers to families looking for honest answers, not to shareholders looking for a return.
It also means I'd rather move slowly and get the verification right than grow fast and get it wrong.
What we believe
- Honesty over hype. We clearly separate what a brand says about itself from what we've actually verified — and we show our work.
- Made to last. The best-made goods are built to be handed down, not thrown away — wherever they're made. Durability is part of what we look for.
- People over conglomerates. We're here to surface the real makers — the families and small shops doing the work — not the biggest marketing budget.
Come see what's already here.
Browse the brands we've verified so far, or join the waitlist and I'll let you know as the directory grows.