“We field test products and build those products so that you can push them to the extreme.” Mark Bollman stretches out on a well-worn brown leather couch that looks like it belongs in a hunting lodge. Only he isn’t in a hunting lodge. He’s in his studio in Industry City, a developing industrial area in Brooklyn. “Knowing that what you’re wearing has been pushed to the limit inspires a kind of confidence in the brand that’s lived everyday in the city.” Bollman takes a moment to reflect on what he’s just said. “For example,” he explains “people buy a Range Rover for world-class off-roading, right? And 99 percent of them don’t go off- roading. But that doesn’t discount the fact that if it can survive off-roading, it can certainly survive in a normal day-to-day environment in the city.”

Bollman, originally from Atlanta, now splits his time between Boston, New York City and his home in the Berkshire Mountains. He is the CEO and founder of Ball and Buck, a Made-In-the-USA lifestyle brand built for the sporting gentleman. When asked what exactly he does, he replies “Everything.” His goal for Ball and Buck? “To make the highest quality products on the planet.” And he’s serious. If there’s anything Bollman believes in, it’s quality. And there’s a reason for that. “I’ve been in extreme environments where quality is absolutely key,” he says. “I’ve personally lived through experiences where cutting corners or buying the cheaper item has let me down.” Bollman also believes that his products must get better with age. “Getting better with age is absolutely key. If you have a product that falls apart the first day you wear it, the likelihood that you’re going to be able to catch the biggest fish of your life with it are slim.”

For as long as he can remember, Bollman has been hunting, fly fishing and riding horses. For the past 25 years, his family has traveled to the Nine Quarter Circle Ranch in Montana every year, doing, as he puts it, “the outdoors thing.” And he credits his ability to focus—whether it be on his business or his rugged excursions—to the yearly hunting trips he took with his grandfather. For Bollman, the seeds of Ball and Buck grew out of these formative experiences. “You learn quickly that if your boots are letting water in, you’re going to be extremely uncomfortable.”

In addition to Ball and Buck, Bollman is the founder of American Field, an American-made marketplace and platform for brands that make goods in the USA. American Field celebrates these companies and provides opportunities for them to meet the world via two-day markets. The company was founded in 2012 but has grown tremendously, with outposts in Boston, Nashville, Atlanta, DC, San Francisco and Brooklyn.

“As a country, America is a place that makes things,” says Bollman. “It’s integral to what makes America America. It’s what originally put us on the map. The craft. Building things. Understanding constructions. Being able to take leather, rubber, a needle and a rivet and turn it into a pair of boots is something that’s so woven into the fabric of the history of America. It’s so important to me.” It’s this connection between American-made and quality that drives Bollman. “With brands like Ball and Buck and Danner, we’re not dreaming up a collection, there aren’t any rules about how many pieces we need in a collection. It’s about need, it’s about innovation. It’s about solving issues. We’re not the first company to make a pair of jeans but we take the status quo—what’s out there—and we engineer upgrades until we make the best pair of jeans.”

Bollman places an emphasis on conscious consumerism. Now, more than ever, people are aware of the origins of what they buy. “People are purchasing fewer quality goods,” says Bollman. “Instead of just consuming to consume, they say, ‘I’m going to invest in my wardrobe. I’m going to invest in a great pair of boots that’s going to last me five, 10 years.’”

When asked about the ethos of his work, Bollman stops to think. “In six words or less,” he says, “I’d say quality, authenticity and trust. You can’t just bring four pairs of shoes when you’re going hunting. You need to know that you can rely on the one pair you’re wearing. Even in New York. Once you leave, you’re out there, in the elements.”