Est. 1947
Heritage & History
Igloo began in 1947 as the Igloo Manufacturing Company, founded by a group of Houston investors who saw a practical problem in the Texas oil fields: workers hauling drinking water to hot, humid job sites in wooden buckets. Their answer was a handcrafted insulated metal container with a proprietary double-locked seam that kept water cold and prevented leakage — a simple, rugged design built for hard industrial use. The company acquired the Horton and Polar King metal cooler brands in the early 1950s, cementing its position as a supplier to commercial and industrial customers across the Gulf Coast.
The pivotal product innovation came in 1962, when Igloo introduced the first all-plastic ice chest, replacing heavy metal construction with a lighter, more durable shell. Nine years later, in 1971, the company patented the Playmate cooler — a tent-top design that became so pervasive it entered the American vernacular as a standalone noun and earned a place in the Smithsonian Institution's collection. Igloo passed through several ownership groups over subsequent decades, including Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York, Anderson Clayton & Co., and Brunswick Corporation, before Acon Investments acquired the company in 2014. In 2021, Sweden's Dometic Group purchased Igloo for $677 million. Through each transition, the Texas manufacturing campus remained the operational core of the business.
Made in Katy, Texas
Igloo's manufacturing campus occupies approximately 105 acres in unincorporated Waller County, just west of Katy, Texas, at 777 Igloo Road. The facility spans 1.8 million square feet across three buildings and ranks among the largest single-site cooler manufacturing operations in the world. The campus took its current scale in 2013 with the opening of a 420,000-square-foot distribution center, an expansion that created more than 280 jobs and brought total employment to over 1,200 workers. The plant produces roughly 55,000 coolers per day — approximately 18 to 20 million products annually.
The bulk of Igloo's hard-sided plastic coolers are manufactured in Katy, including the Playmate, Polar, Legend, Marine Ultra, Trailmate, and Recool lines. Igloo maintains a dedicated Made in USA collection identifying the specific product lines produced domestically. Soft-sided fabric coolers continue to be sourced internationally, but the hard cooler segment that built the brand — injection-molded plastic shells with foam insulation injected between inner and outer walls — remains a Texas-made product, produced using the same fundamental construction process Igloo has refined since the 1960s.
Igloo Playmate Elite 16-Quart Ice Chest Cooler Blue/White
Igloo
Sports & Outdoors
Igloo 14-16 Qt Hardsided Lunch Playmate Cooler Blue/White
Igloo
Sports & Outdoors
Igloo Playmate Elite MaxCold 16-Quart Cooler Jet Carbon
Igloo
Sports & Outdoors
Igloo Playmate Elite MaxCold 16-Quart Cooler Icy Blue
Igloo
Sports & Outdoors
Igloo Playmate 14-16 Qt Hardsided Lunch Cooler Grey/Navy
Igloo
Sports & Outdoors
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Igloo made in the USA?
Yes. Igloo manufactures 47 verified products in Katy, TX. Igloo has been manufacturing coolers in Texas since 1947, when Houston-area investors built insulated metal water containers for oil field workers, and today operates a 1.8-million-square-foot production campus in Katy, Texas — one of the largest cooler factories in the world.
Where is Igloo manufactured?
Igloo is headquartered in Katy, TX. Manufacturing takes place in Katy, TX.
What Igloo products can I buy?
We carry 47 verified Igloo products across Sports & Outdoors and Home & Kitchen. Every listing links directly to Amazon with verified American manufacturing.
When was Igloo founded?
Igloo was founded in 1947. Igloo has been manufacturing coolers in Texas since 1947, when Houston-area investors built insulated metal water containers for oil field workers, and today operates a 1.8-million-square-foot production campus in Katy, Texas — one of the largest cooler factories in the world.