12 American Clothing, Electronics and Car Brands to Stay Away from Buying

Proud Americans like to support home-grown industries and promote manufacturing jobs. Believing in the quality of our products, most polls show that even in times of high inflation, a majority of consumers will seek out U.S. products and often pay more for domestic brands.

However, with the line between “American-made” and imported goods becoming thinner all the time, many people will only remain loyal for so long before price, value and quality enter the purchase discussion.

Inflation has a negative impact on shoppers who want to buy U.S.-made goods, but the fact is, there are simply some American brands that make overpriced, shoddy products which are manufactured with little regard to the environment, principled production or the consumer.  

Here are 12 American brands each from the clothing, electronics and automobile industries that fail to deliver the goods.

Fast fashion — rapid production of cheap, low-quality clothing that often mimics the styles of big-name brands, popular labels and independent designer wear — is trending among its consumers and critics alike. Environmentally unsound, fast fashion companies are being targeted for carbon emissions and textile waste. Many American fashion brands are making progress with more sustainable and ethical manufacturing practices, but in an industry that prides profit before everything, many U.S. clothing companies have a lot to answer for.

Forever 21 has survived bankruptcy and numerous controversies throughout the years, however, it’s still popular with fashion-forward teens and college students who love its variety. Forever 21 has faced numerous lawsuits for labor violations and design copyright lawsuits, and in an industry that lacks transparency, there’s no reason to think things have changed for the better.​

From controversial marketing strategies to sexual misconduct allegations, discriminatory hiring practices to an intentionally exclusive advertisement campaigns, Abercrombie & Fitch has faced numerous contentious issues over the years, significantly impacting its reputation. Why would you give money to a company that continually engages in worst business practices?

This brand has been implicated in using sweatshop labor and providing poor working conditions. Additionally, it has been accused of producing culturally insensitive products, fabricating environmentally unfriendly clothing and, like many retail clothing giants, shown a lack of transparency concerning its supply chain.

Aside from charges against unrealistic portrayals of women and its alarming company connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the brand also lacks sufficient measures to ensure fair wages and safe working conditions in its supply chain. It’s 2018 rebrand “to advocate for women” was looked upon as shallow and reactionary by outlets like The Guardian, before the brand took sexy back amid dwindling revenue in 2023.

RCA is one of the oldest electronics brands in American history, and that may be its problem. The electronics market has exploded over the past couple of decades and RCA just feels like yesterday’s news, as foreign brands outpace them in both quality and affordability. Televisions that are cheap don’t help the budget-conscious if quality is low, and RCA TVs “are known for their technical issues and low-quality performance that has not met the expectations of its consumers,” per SlashGear.

Based in Park City, Utah, “the original lifestyle audio brand” has mastered the marketing its products, if nothing else. Skullcandy is popular with those unconcerned with high-quality headphones, earphones,  MP3 players, audio backpacks and devices. Inexpensive and omnipresent, if you want something quick and cheap, you might luck out and use your Skullcandy purchase for a long time. But more frequently, the company’s products perform well in the short run, before breakages and poor sound quality take over.

Best Buy’s house brand produces all kinds of tech, but it’s most known for budget-friendly large screen TVs of varying quality. Although they are very popular, due to purchase price, most reviewers point to picture quality and lower resolution than competitors on same size sets.  Of over 325 customer reviews on the Consumer Affairs website, the brand average 2.4 out of 5.

Once a household name, Polaroid was synonymous with instant photography and it practically owned the instant camera market at the height of its popularity during the mid-to-late-1970s. Yet, how the mighty have fallen. Polaroid is a business cautionary tale: failure to adapt will ruin a once-trusted brand quickly. On the consumer watchdog Trustpilot’s site, the company has a “poor” rating and 82% of customer reviews are one star out of five.

American automakers cater to buyers who want domestic models that have abundant interior space, bigger bodies and more powerful engines. Some people will buy American for their whole lives, even though Japanese models are typically better constructed, more reliable and are cheaper than their American counterparts.

Chrysler’s reputation has taken a beating over the years. While its parent company, Stellantis, is still considered one of the “Big Three” automakers in the United States, Chrysler as a brand is widely considered among the most unreliable car manufacturers, and based on 24/7 Wall St.’s analysis of J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, it’s the car brand that Americans dislike the most. 

Overall, the Jeep brand ranks #24 out of the 25 car brands that Consumer Reports tests for reliability. Although by no means the final say on the matter, in its 10 Least Reliable Cars for 2024 list, CR included three Jeep models: the Wrangler (reliability score of 27 out of 100), the Grand Cherokee (26) and the Grand Cherokee L (23).

Ford is synonymous with “American-made,” but long gone are the days where Ford is known as a top brand for being reliable and overall driving experience. But Americans love their F-150s (“America’s best-selling truck for 47 years and counting”), and that’s something that may never change, despite Ford’s reputation for unreliability across its lineup (with a few exceptions: Mustang, Ranger, etc.).  

Ranking it 22nd out of 32 brands, RepairPal give GMC a reliability rating of 3 out of 5., based across 345 automobile models. While average annual repair costs for all GMC models is $744 per year (slightly above the overall average of $652), it’s severe repair probability of 17% is above the average of 12% across all car models too.