Aloha and Welcome to the BIG WIND KITE FACTORY Handmade Kites and Windsocks from Hawaii.

All of our kites and windsocks are made here on molokai from nylon. We use fiberglass spars for the kites and the hoops of the windsocks are made with poly tubing. All edges not fully hemmed are cut with a hot knife to seal the edges.

While you are on Molokai please be sure to drop by for our free factory tours. We will give away all of our secrets, tell a few corny jokes and direct you to the best kite flying places on the island. We give free kite flying lessons at our Aeronaughtical Testing Facility, the park next door.

The distinction between manufacturing clubs and assembling them was not lost on PING inventor Karsten Solheim more than 40 years ago. Nor is it today. The family-owned company prides itself on closely controlling the entire clubmaking process.
We begin in design and engineering where new ideas are tested every day with the goal to design the perfect custom-fit golf club.

Those ideas become a reality when molds for clubheads are machined, then transferred to the foundry for investment casting. Next they are heat treated, then on to assembly for component matching and personalization.

From engineering to investment casting to calibration of every club bearing the PING name, quality is assured at every phase. PING is ISO-9001-2000 & 14001 certified, a worldwide standard for quality assurance and environmental systems. Best known in the aerospace industry, this certification means we've raised another standard. Our own.

The Louisville Slugger Museum gives the phrase "Play Ball!" a new meaning with a 21-ton, stone sculpture of a glove standing in one hall of the museum. This factory tour (conducted on Main Street) comes close to epitomizing the American dream, as Louisville creates bats not only for the little leaguers itching to take the tour but for the pros as well. The tour shows the process in which bats are made (95% by a machine that takes all of 40 seconds!). It's also a museum filled with baseball memorabilia, including the Sluggers of baseball greats like Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. All visitors leave with a mini-version of the original Slugger bat made on location.

The American Home of Mepps / Sheldons', Inc., the world headquarters for Mepps, the world's #1 lure, is located at 626 Center St. on the north side of Antigo, Wisconsin. We're just off Highway 45 North. Visit us the next time you're in the area. Take a guided tour, and watch us hand-make the world's #1 lure. See all of the 4000-plus lures Mepps manufacturers. We also have an impressive trophy room you won't want to miss!

From the plowed fields of rural America to the busy sandlots of towns and cities, generations of young fellows and gals used to carefully save their money to buy a Nokona baseball glove. It was a glove these players knew would give them every penny of their money back and last, it seemed, as long as they were needed. And these gloves have met that promise.

For nearly three-quarters of a century, young players have dreamed about owning their first Nokona glove. Shown in his Alvin, Texas Little League uniform in the late 1950s (above), Nolan Ryan had just gotten his new Nokona glove at Alvin Hardware Store where his dad had taken him to shop. "You knew you had arrived, when you were able to get a Nokona glove," Ryan admitted. "They asked me if I wanted the more modern kind of glove and I had seen some older pictures of ballplayers, so I chose the older style."

Nokona resisted importing its gloves when nearly every glove maker did so, or simply went out of business, like many did, in the 1960s. It preferred to keep its workers on the job, though it was penalized trying to keep its costs in line with far cheaper foreign-made gloves.

The company also had to drop the skyrocketing endorsements from major league players by the early 1970s. "I think, along with the cheaper imports and the continued escalation of player endorsements, if we'd chosen to stay with it, would have shut our doors," says today's Nocona president, Robby Storey. "We concentrated instead on putting our money and effort toward producing the best ball gloves we could make and trusted that our loyal dealers and customers would stick with us. Many of them did.

"There's something to be said for a two-way loyalty between the seller and the buyer, an implicit trust," Mr. Storey says. "One that guarantees our continuation as a reputable firm and the belief from our customer that he's got a product that has served him well and he can rely upon in the future."

During the tour you will be able to see all the aspects of a glove being made from the cutting to the finished product.

Trek is a privately held corporation that still resides in Waterloo, the small town in Southeastern Wisconsin where in 1976 five employees started making hand-built bicycle frames in an old wooden barn.

Nearly a quarter century later, Trek is the world leader in bicycle products and accessories, with 1,500 employees worldwide.

Our designers and engineers incorporate the most advanced technology available into Trek products, resulting in many industry innovations. The award-winning Y bike. Alpha aluminum, OCLV and OCLV HC carbon fiber frame materials. The Pro Race geometry. Y Foil, Variable Rate Suspension (VRX), Women's Specific Design (WSD), Soft Tail Pro (STP), and Hilo triathlon bikes.

Our dedicated dealer network promotes the Trek brand from Argentina to Singapore. Wherever you go around the globe, chances are you'll meet someone who owns a Trek.

And our loyal Trek customers share our passion for cycling, and provide us with ideas on how to make a better bike.

Together, Trek employees, dealers and customers will continue to move the sport forward through the next 25 years and beyond.

During the tour you will visit the frame factory, sales offices, business offices and corporate headquarters.