Who Owns Eastwood Tools, And Where Are They Made?

If you work with tools in your personal or professional life, odds are you know full well that there are loads of brands out there. The likes of Milwaukee, Hart, maker of strange tools one can't help but want, DeWalt, and a host of others are committed to helping out in any way they can with a variety of jobs. Meanwhile, there are some tool providers that are more dialed-in with their approach, featuring a catalogue of offerings specific to one key area. Eastwood Tools is one such name, having built a reputation for itself specifically in the automotive world since its founding in 1978.

The brainchild of Curt Strohacker, Eastwood Tools has become a notable name in the DIY mechanic scene. Through an e-commerce format, the company provides all manner of top-quality tools and equipment to those seeking to work on automotive jobs — those easy DIY projects for beginners to tackle, as well as those a bit more advanced. Since 2019, the company has been overseen by Kian Capital Partners, which purchased the majority of the company in May of that year. The exact terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Brian Huck currently acts as the CEO, COO, and President of Eastwood Tools.

With it established that Kian Capital is the company behind Eastwood Tools, the next question is, where exactly are the brand's tools manufactured?

At the time of publication, Kian Capital's Eastwood Tools is still very much located within the United States. Having gotten its start in the late 1970s in Curt Strohacker's Philadelphia garage, the tool distributor's main retail store and corporate office are located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, with other retail locations in Chicago, Illinois, Parma, Ohio, and Pasadena, Maryland. That's all well and good, but that's only part of the story. Just because the Pottstown location sells Eastwood products and is the central hub of its corporate operations doesn't mean it's where the company's offerings are manufactured. This information is much harder to track down, not being readily available on the Eastwood website.

Unlike the Eastwood Tools corporate and distribution operations, the company's manufacturing doesn't appear to be based within the United States. Its tools are said to overwhelmingly come from overseas, with Taiwan being one country of origin for its products. If you have an Eastwood Tool and you want to know where it was made, checking the box or general packaging is your best bet as the country it was made in is typically listed. If you don't have it, where it was made may be printed somewhere on the tool itself.

On the whole, Eastwood Tools has been around for decades and has won over countless mechanics, even if its products come from outside the United States. If you're a big stickler for made-in-the-U.S.A. products, though, then perhaps you'll want to look into the brands that actually still make tools in the U.S. instead of going with Eastwood for your next automotive endeavor.