Indiana is a hub of American industry, from motorcycles to food to mattresses

Indiana, the Crossroads state, is usually best-known for corn, soybeans, corn, the Indy 500, and… not much else. But if you look closer, Indiana is actually a center for creative manufacturing and excellent, home-grown products. 

Here are just a few excellent examples of world-class Indiana-made products: 

Gummy Bears

Yep! For some of the best gummy bears you can find in the grocery store or gas station, look no further than Albanese Gummy Bears, made in the small town of Merrillville, IN. 

Founded in 1983, Albanese specializes in producing gummies and chocolate-covered candies and has received awards for its innovative processes. They even developed a process that allowed more intense flavor release from gelatins, making its gummy candies the most flavorful in the industry! Today, their factory employs over 500 people and is one of the largest employers in the area. 

To learn more about “the gummy with the A on the tummy,” click here. 

Motorcycles 

If you’re looking for a lightweight motorcycle with a classic or retro silhouette that’s perfect for everyday cruising on city and country roads, then Janus Motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana is the perfect motorcycle for you. 

Founded in 2011, the Janus team manufactures their lightweight motorcycles and parts with an emphasis on both form and function, drawing inspiration from classic motorcycle styles. Instead of building for cross-country trips, they focused on building a bike for the joys of everyday riding. A small, intimate team hand-builds each bike and sells them directly to riders – and if you have any questions, one of those team members has the answers. 

Read more on their website here.

Chocolates

Indiana’s made a mark on the cosmopolitan world, reaching so far as West Hollywood with DeBrand Fine Chocolates. 

Made in Fort Wayne, IN, these fine truffles and chocolatey confections feature a variety of centers, inclusions, and specially-selected chocolate types, all wrapped in beautiful packaging and shipped all over the world. These candies were thrust into the limelight when they were featured in O Magazine’s Oprah’s Favorite Things list in 2010 and 2011. From there, DeBrand has served such celebrity clientele from Molly Ringwald and Marie Osmond to Demi Lovato and David Archuleta. 

Despite the fame, founder Cathy Brand-Beere hasn’t let it all go to her head. The company is still family-owned, and she herself travels across the globe to pick the source ingredients for the chocolates and inclusions. Learn more about her and the business here.

Mattresses

While mattresses used to be stuffed with material like corn husks and hay (which you can find plenty of here in Indiana), that’s not the way we at Wolf Mattress do it in our Fort Wayne-based factory. We’ve stayed on the cutting edge of mattress technology and it shows in the work we’ve produced: a wide array of mattresses that suit a variety of needs and alleviate a variety of pain points for our clients.

Wolf Mattresses produces and ships high-quality mattresses for families and businesses at reasonable prices. We’ve been doing it since 1873, when mattresses were delivered by horse-drawn carts. Thankfully, our shipping process has improved since then. 

Our unique location in Fort Wayne allows us a one-day shipping turnaround time to well over half the population of the USA, and the 150 years we’ve been in business mean that when you buy Wolf, you’ll be sleeping on all our years of expertise, creativity, research, and innovation. 

When you buy factory-direct, you’ll save up to 40% on retail prices from big-box mattress stores AND your mattress will be hand-made, to order, then sent directly to your home in an easy to ship, easy to unpack, and easy to move box. No international shipping delays, no storing your mattress for months in dusty warehouses, no middlemen. 

To shop our mattresses, head on over to our website here or come and visit us in-person at our Factory Direct Store at 3434 S. Maplecrest Rd., 46803. We’d love to show you around and help you find the best sleep of your life!