The first week of August is when the clearance racks are widest and thinnest at the same time. Plenty is marked down, and most of it has been picked down to a handful of sizes. The first pick below is the exception and the reason it leads: forty four size, width and color combinations and every one of them still available. The second is the rule: three sizes left out of fourteen, and they are not oddball sizes either, which is the part that will sting.
Everything here was priced and counted this morning. One caution on how to read the counts: a store's inventory feed tells you which sizes can still be bought, not how many of each are sitting on the shelf. So when this issue says three sizes are left, that is three sizes, not three pairs.
🇺🇸 Ironside Chelsea Boot by Origin USA, Wilton, Maine ($288, from $339)
A Goodyear welted Chelsea in American cowhide, cork midsole, resoleable, and the only thing in this issue with a full size run behind it: 8 through 14, D and EE, in whiskey and black, forty four combinations and every one of them in stock. Their product page says "Handcrafted in Franklin County, Maine" and "Made 100% in the USA, from field to factory."
One thing to weigh before you order. That page pools 131 reviews across the whole Ironside Chelsea range and averages 4.7, and among them is a three star account, on the steel toe version rather than this one, of a pair that arrived with a welt about an eighth of an inch short. The same buyer had to upload photos to get a return approved and was refused before being offered an exchange. A stock size Chelsea bought sight unseen puts the fit risk on you. Measure first and read their return policy.
🇺🇸 Horsebit Loafer with Lug Sole by Rancourt & Co., Maine ($198, from $378)
A hundred and eighty dollars off, the biggest dollar discount of the five picks below. The Faribault throw beats it on percentage. Horween Orion fleshout suede on a Vibram gum lite lug sole, and the page says "Genuine handsewn moccasin construction. Made in Maine, USA."
Four sizes are left across both colors: khaki in 9, 10.5 and 11.5, all D width, and black in 8.5 D. Three of fourteen in khaki, one of fourteen in black. A real price on a shoe most people will not be able to get in their size.
🇺🇸 Sebago Lake Map Wool Throw by Faribault Mill, Faribault, Minnesota ($79, from $245)
A wool throw with the shoreline of Sebago Lake woven into it, 42 by 65 inches, sixty seven percent off, the steepest percentage of the five picks here. The page calls it one of "these fantastic made in USA throw blankets."
Worth knowing if you go browsing the rest of that warehouse: the origin claim is not uniform across it. Counting every listing with live stock, and matching any of "made in the USA," "made in USA," "made in America" or "U.S.A.," 21 of the 89 name the country. Eight more say only that the company has woven at its Faribault mill for 150 years, which is a sentence about the company and not about the blanket in your cart. The remaining 60 say nothing either way. The Nantucket map throw sits at the same $79 and is in that middle group, so despite being the one an island reader wants, it is not a pick. Lake Geneva and Lake of the Ozarks are in the silent 60. Read the page you are buying from, not the one next to it.
🇺🇸 Inner Excellence Crew by American Trench, Ardmore, Pennsylvania ($9, from $22)
The cheapest of the five, and it carries the most specific origin line of them: "Knit in North Carolina from American grown and spun combed cotton." Half terry construction, so it is a real sock rather than a dress sock. One colorway still available, dark green, one size. Their Philly Special is the same yarn at the same $9.
🇺🇸 Love Notes Medium Tote by Sea Bags, Portland, Maine ($131.25, from $175)
Cut and sewn from sails that already did a life's work on the water. The page states it three ways: "Handmade In Maine From Recycled Sails," "PROUDLY MADE IN USA," and "LOCALLY SOURCED COMPONENTS." It is a Valentine's print still sitting on the rack in August, which is most of why a Sea Bags tote is twenty five percent off at all. Their whole sale loft is down to two totes.
The one we are not running
Gitman Vintage has 87 shirts and jackets live, 69 of them at 40 percent off and the other 18 at 25, dress shirts down to $177 from $295. It is the widest shirting sale of the week and it is not on the list above. The reason is worth two minutes.
Open the White Pinpoint Oxford. The only field on that page labeled "Origin" sits under FABRIC DETAILS and reads Portugal. That is accurate and it refers to the cloth, which comes from what the page calls "our Portuguese partner mill." Nowhere on the page, including the part of the description folded behind Show More, does it say where the shirt is sewn.
The claim does exist. It is in the page's meta description tag, the text search engines read and often show under a result: "Made in the USA." A shopper on the page never sees that line. A shopper on the page sees Portugal.
Their own About page tells the rest: Max Gitman opened the Ashland Shirt & Pajama Company in Ashland, Pennsylvania in 1932, and the Gitman Bros. label followed in 1978. So there is no reason here to doubt these are American-sewn shirts. This newsletter's rule is that the claim has to be on the product page and not the About page, for the plain reason that an About page describes a company and a product page describes the thing you are buying. Gitman put the country in a search tag, the fabric's country in the only visible origin field, and the history on a separate page. Under our rule that is a sale we report and not a shirt we vouch for.
The Sale Wire
Checked this morning. None of these has a posted end date. Seconds and outlet stock is usually final sale, and Gitman marks it on the product page in capitals, so read the policy before you order.
American Trench went wide overnight. The sale was six sock styles when we looked on Thursday and is 49 listings this morning, all live: Gingham Two-Pocket Shirt $89 from $225, Neighborhood Cardigan $199 from $350, Low Gauge Crewneck $79 from $150. Their Vandelay button down at $129 from $225 says "made in New England" and is down to a single small.
Nicks factory seconds, Spokane, is the biggest boot rack of the week at 67 pairs, up from 63 on Thursday, from $425 before the automatic discount at checkout.
Truman, Eugene, has 45 pairs of seconds and samples from $300, and names each pair's specific flaw on its listing.
Frank's, Spokane, holds steady at 26 pairs from $300.
Rancourt's outlet has 39 listings beyond the loafer above, including the Westfield boot at $258 from $428 in five sizes.
Origin USA's warehouse sale is six listings, all live, including the Ironside steel toe at $305 from $359.
Faribault Mill's warehouse: 89 of 112 live, map throws at $79 and factory second wool throws at $99 from $175.
Stormy Kromer's outlet, Ironwood, Michigan: the Wool Shirt is $94 from $125 in four colors and the Flannel Shirt $65 from $90 in two, both at the same prices as July 31. The Camp Shirt Jack is $110 from $150 and the Frontier Shirt Jack $205 from $275.
Sea Bags' sale loft is down to two totes, the one above and the Signal Flags Ogunquit at $198.75 from $265.
Easymoc holds eight live listings from $65.
Frank's, Nicks and JK Boots do not print a country of origin on their seconds listings, so they run here as deals and never as verified picks. That has not changed since we started checking.
The five picks were each loaded and read on the maker's own product page this morning, August 7, 2026, rather than on an About page, and every size count above was read from live inventory the same hour. The whole board is public and searchable at registry.quarterboard.co, every maker labeled and dated. No brand paid to appear. Some links may become affiliate links; that never changes what gets picked.
P.S. Sizes on half of this week's list are already down to the odd ones. If you would rather the Friday list leaned toward things that will still be in your size on Monday, say so and I will weight it that way. Reply and tell me.