Feely shutters campaign store when asked about foreign-made merch

Buying something from outside the United States really isn’t that big of a deal. OK, your pants were made in Bangladesh. So what? That’s how a global economy works: We buy items made more cheaply overseas, and those countries benefit from an infusion of American dollars. Theoretically, everybody wins.

But if you’re on the MAGA train these days, open markets aren’t exactly your bag. MAGA is more about economic protectionism, with the Donald Trump wing of the Republican Party lining up to endorse his unilateral imposition of tariffs, which they seem to mistakenly believe will spur a second age of American manufacturing dominance.

That describes Jay Feely, the former Arizona Cardinals kicker who is now running for Congress in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. Though his campaign website is largely devoid of concrete policy proposals, the 49-year-old Feely touts his desire to “unleash domestic manufacturing.” On social media, he has cheerleaded Trump’s tariffs.

Someone so intent on Making America Great Again should probably be making his campaign merch in America. Yet campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission show that Feely was not.

In his report filed in July 2025, Feely reported $1,273 paid to Greyson Clothiers for “printing,” with the purpose listed as “advertising.” Per its website, Greyson Clothiers manufactures its products in Peru. In Feely’s next campaign finance report, filed in September, the campaign reported purchasing nearly $600 in merchandise from Rush Order Tees. That company is based in Pennsylvania, but the shirts listed from them on Feely’s campaign site — the “Next Level 6210 Premium Fitted Tee” — are manufactured by Next Level Apparel, which produces its apparel and t-shirts in more than 20 factories, none of which are in the U.S. Most are located in Honduras, Nicaragua, Egypt and Bangladesh, while a few others are located in Haiti, El Salvador, Pakistan and Cambodia.

Feely was selling those shirts for $30 a pop, so unless he purchased only 20 of them, he was selling them at quite the mark-up.

Phoenix New Times contacted Feely’s campaign manager, Brian Seitchik of RDP Strategies, to ask about how selling foreign-made merch aligned with Feely’s America First politics. Seitchik didn’t comment, directing New Times to send questions via email. Those went unanswered. Not long after, the link to purchase Feely’s t-shirts on his campaign website was no longer public. The URL “jayfeelyforcongress.com/store” now displays a blank screen that requires a password.

Spending roughly $1,900 on clothes stitched and sewn outside the country is hardly a huge scandal; that’s less than the $4,500 that Feely spent wrapping his Cybertruck with campaign advertisements, FEC records show. But being caught doing so is apparently embarrassing enough for Feely’s campaign that it won’t let anyone buy merch until it’s ironed out.

Feely boasts Trump’s endorsement, though he’s had trouble gaining buy-in from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. The former NFL player initially signed up to run in the 5th Congressional District, which Rep. Andy Biggs is abandoning as he runs for governor. But when former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb secured Trump’s endorsement in that race, and zoomed out to a huge polling lead, Trump urged Feely to seek a “different office” in a “different district.” Feely jumped into the CD1 race, where Trump endorsed him alongside former Arizona GOP chair Gina Swoboda, who then dropped out to run for Arizona Secretary of State.

That’s led to some accusations that Feely is carpet-bagging by running to represent a district in which he doesn’t live. (Feely hails from the East Valley, while CD1 covers Fountain Hills, Paradise Valley, and slices of Phoenix and Scottsdale.) In particular, former GOP state Rep. Joseph Chaplik — who was in the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus when he was in the state legislature — has blasted Feely for being faux MAGA. Chaplik is running against Feely in the GOP primary.