Zippo
- Headquarters
- Bradford, PA
- Manufacturing
- Bradford, PA · China (rechargeable arc inserts, eyewear)
- Categories
- sports-and-outdoors
Zippo has made its windproof lighter in Bradford, Pennsylvania since 1933. George Blaisdell redesigned an Austrian lighter in late 1932, and the company says it has made more than 600 million since then. It is still family-owned, and it also owns W.R. Case & Sons, the knife maker in the same town.
The lighters are what this record covers. Every windproof lighter in the zippo.com catalogue carries the same unqualified “Made in USA” line, and a 2025 report from WPVI in Philadelphia found the Bradford factory turning out 12 to 15 million a year.
It is a split line, and that is why the brand’s mark here is the floor. The rechargeable arc inserts say “Made in China” on their own page, and so does every one of the sixteen pairs of Zippo-branded reading glasses. The HeatBank hand warmers, the FlameScapes fire features and the candles name no country at all, and the FlameScapes gel fuel is made here from “US and/or foreign components”. The lighters carry their own marks below.
If you want the American one, buy the lighter — and note that the insert is a separate purchase with a separate origin. A Zippo case made in Bradford with a rechargeable arc insert dropped into it is half a Chinese product, and nothing on either box says so once they are together.
The record
The company's windproof lighters are labelled Made in USA
“Made in USA”
zippo.comRetrieved
Rechargeable lighter inserts sold under the Zippo name are made in China
“Made in China.”
zippo.comRetrieved
The first Zippo lighter was made in Bradford in 1933
“That first Zippo pocket lighter, produced in 1933, is on display at the Zippo/Case Museum in Bradford.”
kb.zippo.comRetrieved
A 2025 television report found Zippo still making its lighters at the Bradford factory
“Zippo continues to make the same quality lighters out of Bradford, about 90 miles east of Erie.”
6abc.comRetrieved
Domain record
zippo.com was registered on .It dates the domain, not the business: a maker that moved to a new address reads young here, and an old domain says nothing about who holds it now.
RDAP registry record · checked 19 Sep 2026
Products
Where to buyClassic Black Crackle® Zippo Logo Windproof Lighter (236ZL)
Made in USAThis item carries a different mark from Zippo as a whole, so it has its own record.
The product page says the lighter is made in the USA
“Made in USA”
zippo.comRetrieved
Where to buyClassic Brushed Chrome Windproof Lighter (200)
Made in USAThis item carries a different mark from Zippo as a whole, so it has its own record.
The product page says the lighter is made in the USA
“Made in USA”
zippo.comRetrieved
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