Eco Lips – SPF lip balms, sunscreen and bug spray
Based in Cedar Rapids
Protect your lips and skin against the heat and annoying mosquitos, gnats, no-see-ums and other Iowa plagues. Eco Lips lip balm is made with organic products, with the choice of 15 or 30 SPF and three flavors: mint, berry and sport. Eco Lips purchased Columbus Junction company Simply Soothing, Inc. in 2021, and now sells the massively successful Bug Soother product, a DEET-free bug spray utilizing the natural insect repellants lemongrass and vanilla, with some vitamin E added to moisturize the skin.
Fox River Mills – Socks
Based in Osage
This small, privately owned hosiery mill has fashioned some of the United States’ leading socks for sports and outdoor recreation since 1900. Fox River also produces a women’s-specific fit performance sock, with a smaller toe box and heel pockets.
Kenai Coolers – Coolers
Based in Decorah
Kenai Coolers are guaranteed to last for a lifetime, and the company encourages its customers to test that promise in “the mountains, desert, meadows and prairies, or a spring creek in Iowa.” Kenais are more affordable than many outdoor cooler brands, and though the company’s named after an Alaskan borough, it’s rooted in northeast Iowa.
Holstein MFG – Grills
Based in Holstein
Since the first grill in 1976 was sold, Holstein MFG has become a leading supplier of grills for food production, food consumption, agriculture, catering, restaurant and personal use. This ain’t your grandpa’s Weber; even Holstein’s home grills could fit enough meat to feed a horde. Impress your neighbors with their four-basket roll top rotisserie grill.
Original Udder Balm – Lotion, pain relief cream
Based in West Des Moines
Summer heat can be udderly draining. Original Udder Balm is a run-to product after exposure to sunlight and dirt, which can make your skin dry, itchy and wrinkly. All of that hard work in the sun can cause sore muscles, too—for those, you can try their Doc Hoag’s Menthol Pain relief cream.
Ironweed – Bike Bags
Based in Iowa City
Ironweed’s heavy-duty bicycle bags, or panniers, are water resistant and maintain their shape regardless of what’s in them, or what isn’t. Founder Brian Loring wanted to design a “graceful” pannier that would suit bikes new and vintage. “So I made a pannier that, in addition to being functional, would be suitable for a 1972 Jack Taylor mixte,” he said. Ironweed also sells the racks, mounts and straps needed to fit the bag to your ride.
Winnebago – RVs, trailers, vans, haulers
Based in Forest City
Winnebago Industries was founded in Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa in 1958. Since then, its brand name has become synonymous with recreational vehicles. (Winnebago County, and thus the Winnebago brand, were named for the Native Ho-Chunk, or Winnebago, tribes of the Midwest). While its headquarters shifted to Eden Prairie, Minnesota in 2021, the company has maintained its thousands-strong Iowa workforce in Forest City and beyond.
Grizzly – Coolers
Based in Decorah
Made to not only protect your food and drinks, but also to protect wildlife from getting into coolers and potentially harming themselves, Grizzly coolers provide “optimum safety, durability, and performance, even under the most extreme conditions,” and are tested with actual grizzly bears to ensure their bear-proof status. And you bet they sell Hawkeyes and Cyclones branded coolers.
