NAUTICA’s “Made in USA” T-Shirt Collection Is a Full-Circle Return to Its New York Roots

by

Summary

  • NAUTICA has launched a five-piece Made in USA T-shirt collection dropping May 29, with each style fully produced on American soil from fabric and sewing through to printing
  • The tees feature a tubular body construction with no side seams, delivering a structured, three-dimensional silhouette alongside New York-rooted motifs including the NAUTICA logo, the American flag, and the Big Apple
  • Campaign visuals were shot in New York by photographer Jiro Konami, whose work spans The New York Times and Interview Magazine, with the imagery documenting real New Yorkers across the city’s everyday landscape

Nautica is launching a new line of American-made T-shirts on May 29th. The five-shirt collection is entirely produced in the USA – from the materials to the final printing – reflecting the brand’s original commitment to domestic manufacturing when it was founded in New York.

The design process begins with the basic construction of the shirt. All five styles are made with a single piece of fabric shaped into a tube, avoiding side seams. This creates a cleaner look, a more defined shape, and a longer-lasting garment compared to traditionally sewn shirts. These details aren’t immediately noticeable – and that’s intentional. The designs, like the Nautica logo, the American flag, and images of New York City, are instantly recognizable and clearly connect the collection to the brand’s New York roots, a story that began in 1983 when David Chu launched Nautica with just six outerwear pieces.

The collection reflects how Nautica became popular in street culture. Originally known for a preppy, nautical style, the brand resonated with hip-hop, skateboarding, and creative scenes throughout the 80s and 90s – not because of sailing, but because its simple, bold designs looked great in urban settings. Recent partnerships with artists like Lil Yachty and brands like Diamond Supply Co. continue this connection. This new ‘Made in USA’ line returns Nautica to its roots, focusing on basic American-made T-shirts with New York City as its only design inspiration.

Jiro Konami’s photos for the new campaign build on the idea of keeping things real and relatable. Konami, a photographer originally from Tokyo and now based in New York, won the Fuji Photo Salon New Face Award in 2010 for his documentary work and has since been featured in publications like The New York Times and Interview Magazine. For this Nautica campaign, he photographed people from all over New York City, showing the clothes as part of everyday life rather than something separate from it. The photos feel like a look at the city itself, as much as an advertisement for the collection.

Nautica’s new “Made in USA” T-shirt collection will be available starting May 29th at FREAK’S STORE stores and online at Daytona Park.

Read More

2026-05-28 10:26