Alpha Industries
Alpha Industries has enjoyed a huge surge in popularity over the past few years thanks to its MA-1 jacket
becoming standard issue attire for everyone from rappers and fashion designers to YouTubers and IG
celebrities. The military aesthetic is more than just a look, however. They first started out in Knoxville,
Tennessee as a manufacturer of military apparel in 1959—an appropriate time to make military uniforms,
considering the Vietnam War had started 4 years earlier. High and consistent demand sustained the
business, while the Vietnam War’s centrality to 20th century American history meant that the clothes of the
war would be forever ingrained into people’s psyches.
