We also wanted to manufacture locally. Chicago was once mostly a manufacturing city, and living here makes you acutely aware of the city's great industrial past. Drive down Cicero Avenue, for example, and you'll see the old Brach's plant, once the world's largest candy factory, now empty. There are many others like it spread across the city.
Of course, there is another side to the story -- the continued vitality and innovation in Chicago manufacturing. In Humboldt Park, not far from the old Brach's plant, is the facility where Chicago Combs are laser-cut from a solid sheet of steel, using a high-tech, million dollar machine. (That machine, incidentally, is made in California).
The steel for the combs is forged in Kentucky and Indiana, and before it reaches the machine, it's cut into large sheets by a local company in Chicago. Once the combs are individually laser-cut, we bring them to metal polishing works located in Chicago and in Elgin to be finished. They're each polished by hand.
The elegant silver and black packaging used with our combs is also made in Chicago, in a facility on the west side. The round little stickers we use to seal the packages come from Florida, and the shipping boxes we use are made in Bedford Park, a suburb of Chicago.
There are significant advantages to manufacturing locally. First, from a product standpoint, we can see exactly how everything is created, and make tweaks as necessary to ensure that the products are absolutely amazing. Another benefit is seeing how Chicago Comb helps support an ecosystem of other local businesses (steel manufacturing, laser cutting, polishing, packaging, engraving, etc.) and their employees and families - many of whom we know by name.
When you use a Chicago Comb, you can feel confident that you're getting an amazing quality, locally made product. We don't cut corners. It's our singular goal to make the best comb in the world, every time.
-John