KONG
The red rubber snowman and the rest of the rubber line, made at the company’s own building in Golden, Colorado.
🏭 American Manufacturing
Our assessment
Company details
Where KONG products are made
“All KONG Rubber products are made proudly here in the U.S.A along with a few other products such as the KONG Naturals Pop-Up Incline Scratcher. Other items are made with our trusted international manufacturers…” — the company’s FAQ. Both halves of that sentence are published in the same place.
“This building is still our World Headquarters, where all our rubber products are made” — the about page, referring to the Golden, Colorado site listed as the corporate address. Headquarters and factory being one building is unusual and easy to verify.
“Our durable rubber toys are, and have always been, proudly made in America using only the highest quality natural rubber.” The claim attaches to a specific material and a specific line rather than to the brand as a whole, which is what makes it checkable.
The Federal Trade Commission reserves an unqualified Made in USA claim for goods that are all or virtually all of domestic origin. KONG’s rubber line meets that description and the company’s plush, rope and accessory lines explicitly do not — by its own statement. This page therefore carries the American Manufacturing label, and the scope fact above names which products the US claim covers. The correct answer to “is KONG made in the USA” is not a bare yes.
The story
The original product came out of a problem with a German Shepherd named Fritz who chewed rocks and wrecked his teeth. Joe Markham, working on a Volkswagen bus, threw the dog a rubber suspension part; the dog kept it. The KONG Company was founded in Colorado in 1976 around that shape — the hollow, bouncing, unpredictable snowman that is still the company’s signature.
The rubber is the part that never left. The headquarters building in Golden, Colorado is also the plant where all the rubber toys are made, and the company says so in both directions — that the rubber is American, and that the plush, rope and accessory lines are not.
That candour is the reason this profile can be specific. A pet-products catalogue of this size is almost always mixed, and most brands of this scale leave the buyer to guess which half is which.
Why they matter
Natural rubber moulding is a genuinely hard thing to keep in the United States. It is labour-intensive, the raw material is imported by necessity, and the finished product competes against very cheap alternatives. Keeping that line in Colorado for nearly fifty years is a real commitment rather than a marketing position.
The company also demonstrates why per-product verification matters more than brand reputation. KONG is widely assumed to be an American-made brand, and roughly a quarter of its catalogue actually carries that designation. Both halves of that sentence are true, and only the company’s own disclosure makes it possible to say so precisely.
For a buyer, the practical rule is simple and comes from the manufacturer: if it is rubber, it was made in Golden. If it is fabric or rope, assume it was not unless the listing says otherwise.
Shop KONG products
The Classic red rubber toys in every size, Extreme black rubber for hard chewers, Puppy and Senior formulations, Easy Treat fillings and the rubber-based treat toys.
KONG questions
Are KONG products made in the USA?
Not all of them, and the company is clear about which. All KONG rubber products are made at its Golden, Colorado headquarters, along with a number of treats. Plush toys, rope toys, leashes and accessories are made by international manufacturers — the company states this in its own FAQ.
Where is the rubber made?
Golden, Colorado, at 16191 Table Mountain Parkway. The company describes that building as its world headquarters and the place where all its rubber products are made.
When was the company founded?
1976, in Colorado, after founder Joe Markham’s German Shepherd took to a rubber suspension part from a Volkswagen bus.
How can I tell which items are US-made?
The company maintains its own made-in-the-USA collection and marks individual products with a US-made icon. The two lists do not match perfectly, so the reliable rule is the one the company gives in its FAQ: the rubber line is American.