About Us

Hi, I'm Adam.

I'm just a regular guy from Yadkinville, North Carolina. I'm 32, I've spent most of my life working, and I've always been into fitness. That last part is actually how this whole thing started.

After years of training, my legs and glutes outgrew pretty much every brand of jeans on the rack. Nothing fit. So I went looking for custom tailored jeans — and when I found them, I realized I couldn't be the only guy with that problem. There was a market for it. Black River Apparel was born, and we started with just jeans.

Then I had a realization that changed everything. I was sick of wearing clothes made by companies whose values I don't support. It felt like 99% of brands out there claim to be "pro-America" — then outsource their manufacturing to China, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and everywhere else but here. That's BS, plain and simple. So I set out to find an American manufacturer to build a clothing line of our own. I found one. We built an amazing relationship. And we've never looked back.

The jeans? We stopped making them this spring, and I don't miss them. They depended on customers taking their own measurements, which was trial and error more often than not. They took forever to make. And the only place we could get them made was India — which kind of defeated the whole point.

So here's where Black River stands now: every piece of clothing we make — now and in the future — is made exclusively in the USA. Not as a marketing angle. Because it creates real American jobs. Because it keeps money flowing into real American communities. Because the people making your clothes earn at least $20 an hour. And honestly, because rebuilding American manufacturing is a matter of national security. The less we have to rely on other countries, the better off we are.

Day to day, Black River is just me — I run it directly. But I'm not doing this alone: we've got amazing ambassadors repping the brand, a modeling agency that helps us show the gear right, and a manufacturer we couldn't do any of this without.

What's next is more of the same, done bigger — plus an expanding line of athletic clothing, built for the people who train like I do.

If you live your life on your own terms — on the water, in the gym, on the trail, or on the job — you're in the right place.

— Adam
Founder, Black River Apparel