Waterproof garden shoes, rain boots and slip-ons built on a clear plastic overshoe first made in 1948
🇺🇸 American Manufacturing
Where Sloggers products are made
A qualified US-made claim, stated up front
Sloggers carries the line “Made in USA with US and imported parts” in its site header and repeats it as a product footnote: “Proudly made in USA with US and Imported components.” The company also notes that its customer team is USA-based. It does not publish a plant address, so this profile records what Sloggers itself claims and no more: US assembly with a mix of domestic and imported inputs. Its footwear is designed to be 100% waterproof, easy to clean, and — since 2014 — returnable through a recycling program that grinds worn pairs back into new ones.
The wording here is the whole story. “Made in USA with US and imported parts” is a qualified claim under FTC guidance, and it is a different statement from an unqualified “Made in USA.” Sloggers uses the qualified form consistently, in the header and in the product footnote, which is the honest way to describe a shoe assembled domestically from a mixed supply chain. The company does not publish a factory location, and buyers who need component-level origin for a specific style should ask Sloggers directly rather than infer it. Sloggers is operated by Heartland Garden Inc., which lists a South Bend, Indiana address.
The story
The product came before the brand. In 1948, Coffey-Hoyt Products was founded in Gardena, California, and made the first clear plastic overshoe — the Drizzle Boot, a slip-on that went over a regular shoe and kept the weather off it. It was a practical, unglamorous answer to a practical problem, which is roughly the description of everything the company has made since.
It got a moment of glamour anyway. In 1951 Doris Day wore the Drizzle Boot in the film “Storm Warning,” and the style stayed popular through the 1960s, spinning off variations including fur-trimmed versions. The underlying insight held: one-piece waterproof footwear that you can hose off has a permanent market.
The Sloggers brand arrived in 1997, and with it a distribution idea that turned out to matter more than the styling — Sloggers shoes were the first footwear sold in lawn and garden stores rather than shoe stores. That put the product where the mud actually is, and the brand grew from the garden outward into farm, barn, pet, nursing, food service and healthcare use.
From the 2000s onward the company leaned on direct customer feedback, adding the Half-Size Insoler in 2007 in response to fit complaints, launching a recycling program in 2014 that grinds worn pairs into new ones, and in 2015 co-creating its Chicken Collection with Facebook customers — a line the company describes as its first fully vetted and approved by the people buying it. Sloggers today is operated by Heartland Garden Inc. from South Bend, Indiana.
Why they matter
Footwear is the most completely offshored consumer category in the United States. The overwhelming majority of shoes sold in America are made abroad, and most brands do not qualify their origin claims because they have no domestic content to qualify. Sloggers stating “Made in USA with US and imported parts” puts it in a small group that still does assembly work here and says so precisely.
The precision is itself the point. A qualified claim is less flattering than an unqualified one, and companies that use it are generally telling the truth about a mixed supply chain rather than reaching for the strongest phrase the law will tolerate. Sloggers uses the qualified wording in its site header, where it is impossible to miss — the opposite of hiding it in a footnote.
There is also a durability and waste argument that is unusual in footwear. Sloggers shoes are one-piece, waterproof and washable rather than glued-up assemblies of foam and textile, and since 2014 the company has taken worn pairs back and ground them into new ones. Shoes are notoriously difficult to recycle; a product designed from the start to be reground is a meaningfully different proposition.
Featured products
Browse Sloggers garden shoes, rain boots, clogs and insoles available now in the Buy American store.
Frequently asked questions
Are Sloggers made in the USA?
Sloggers publishes a qualified claim: “Made in USA with US and imported parts,” repeated as “Proudly made in USA with US and Imported components.” That is US assembly with a mix of domestic and imported inputs, which is why this profile lists Sloggers as American Manufacturing rather than fully Made in USA.
When was Sloggers founded?
The company dates itself to 1948, when Coffey-Hoyt Products was founded in Gardena, California and produced the first clear plastic overshoe. The first shoes carrying the Sloggers name were made in 1997.
Where is Sloggers located?
Sloggers is operated by Heartland Garden Inc. and lists a physical address at 701 W Chippewa Ave, South Bend, Indiana. The company does not publish a factory location.
Can Sloggers shoes be recycled?
Yes. Sloggers introduced a recycling program in 2014 under which worn pairs are returned, ground up and put back into a new pair.