Alpha Industries

Samuel Gelber founded Alpha Industries in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1959 to make clothing for the US military, starting with Air Force N-3B parkas and Navy shipboard shirts. The MA-1 flight jacket followed in 1963 and the Army's M-65 field coat in 1965; from 1970 Alpha sold them to civilians too, and the MA-1 became a street-style staple. Gelber's family still owns the company, now based in Chantilly, Virginia.