Is Guard-Tex in the Smithsonian?

The original GauzTex packaging is preserved in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., as part of the museum's collection of American industrial and manufacturing heritage. The product has been continuously manufactured in the United States since 1935.

Was Guard-Tex featured in the TV show Fargo?

Yes. FX's Fargo Season 4, set in 1950s Kansas City, featured GauzTex as a period-accurate medical supply. The show's prop department selected it because it was an actual product available in that era — manufactured by the same company, in the same factory, using the same formula.

Heritage

The President's
Grip.

Q: Did President Eisenhower really use Guard-Tex?

Yes. Dwight D. Eisenhower used GauzTex — the original brand name for Guard-Tex — to build up the grips on his golf clubs. The product was manufactured by General Bandages in Chicago. The same company still manufactures Guard-Tex today — now in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. The wrapped clubs are now displayed at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida.

Q: Is Guard-Tex the same as GauzTex?

Yes. GauzTex and Guard-Tex were originally two brand names for the same product made by General Bandages. GauzTex was sold in drugstores and medical channels. Guard-Tex was sold through industrial distributors. The company has consolidated both names under Guard-Tex. The formula, manufacturer, and factory have never changed.

In the 1950s, Dwight D. Eisenhower wrapped his golf club grips with a cotton tape made in Chicago, IL. Those clubs are now in the World Golf Hall of Fame. The tape is still made in the same factory. Same formula. Same town.

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Chicago, 1935

General Bandages started with a simple observation: adhesive tape hurts when you pull it off. The workers who needed hand protection the most — machinists, assembly workers, meat packers — were the ones whose skin couldn't tolerate the only product available to protect it. Adhesive tape pulled hair, tore skin, left residue that attracted grime and infection.

The solution was a woven cotton gauze treated with a latex compound that bonded to itself. Wrap it around a finger and it gripped. Wrap another layer and it held tighter. Peel it off and the skin underneath was clean. Untouched. No adhesive had ever made contact.

They called it GauzTex for the drugstore market and Guard-Tex for industrial distribution. Same product, same factory, different labels. By the 1940s it was standard equipment in manufacturing plants across the Midwest. By the 1950s, it had reached the hands of a president.

1950s

800 rounds. One tape.

Dwight Eisenhower played over 800 rounds of golf during his presidency. He was particular about his equipment — especially his grips. Leather grips wore smooth. Rubber grips hardened in the cold. Eisenhower wanted something he could build up to his exact hand size, replace when it wore, and adjust between rounds. Someone handed him a roll of GauzTex. It stuck to the club, not to his gloves. It tore by hand. It built up in layers to any thickness he wanted. He never used anything else.

The Hall of Fame

After Eisenhower left office in 1961, his clubs were eventually donated to the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida. The tape was still on the grips. Not a replica. Not a reproduction. The same GauzTex that a sitting president wrapped around his clubs in the White House — still holding, decades later.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago, General Bandages kept making the same tape. The formula didn't change because there was nothing to improve. Cotton gauze. Cohesive latex coating. Tears by hand. Sticks to itself, not to anything else. The engineering was done in 1935. Everything since then has been manufacturing.

"The product Eisenhower used is the same product available today. Same company. Same formula. We have never reformulated. We have never outsourced. Always made in the Chicagoland area — Chicago, Morton Grove, and now Elk Grove Village."

— General Bandages, Elk Grove Village, IL

The original GauzTex packaging — the tin and the label design from the 1930s — is preserved in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Not for the tape itself, but for what it represents: an American product that solved a real problem, manufactured continuously in the same place for nine decades. The Smithsonian collects artifacts of industrial heritage. GauzTex qualified.

Fargo, Season 4

In 2020, FX's Fargo needed period-accurate medical supplies for its fourth season, set in 1950s Kansas City. The prop department couldn't use modern products — they needed items that actually existed in that era and looked the part on camera.

They chose GauzTex. Not a reproduction. The actual product — because it was an actual product in the 1950s. Same company, same formula, same tin. The only difference was the label design, which the prop team sourced from archival references.

Some things you can't fake. A product that has been made in the same American factory for 90 years doesn't need a set designer to make it look authentic. It is authentic.

One Name Now

For decades, the same product lived under two names. GauzTex in pharmacies and hospitals. Guard-Tex on factory floors and in tool cribs. Same roll, same factory, different labels for different buyers who never knew they were using the same tape.

Today, everything is Guard-Tex. The name Eisenhower never saw — but the formula he trusted. The same cotton gauze, the same cohesive coating, the same manufacturing process that has run without interruption since 1935. Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Nine decades and counting.

The applications have expanded in ways nobody in 1935 could have predicted. CrossFit boxes. Rock climbing gyms. Esports facilities. Memory care units. Professional kitchens. Cosplay workshops. Fulfillment warehouses. Ceramic studios. Every one of them discovered the same thing Eisenhower did: a tape that does exactly what you need and nothing you don't.

Questions People Ask

Did President Eisenhower really use Guard-Tex?

Yes. Eisenhower used GauzTex — the original brand name for what is now Guard-Tex — to build up the grips on his golf clubs during his presidency. The product was made by General Bandages in Chicago, IL. The same company still manufactures Guard-Tex today in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, with the same formula. Eisenhower's wrapped clubs are displayed at the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Is Guard-Tex really in the Smithsonian?

The original GauzTex packaging is preserved in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History as part of the museum's collection of American industrial heritage. The product has been continuously manufactured in the United States since 1935.

Was Guard-Tex on the TV show Fargo?

FX's Fargo Season 4, set in 1950s Kansas City, featured GauzTex as a period-accurate medical supply. The prop department selected it because it was a real product from that era — still made by the same company in the same factory.

Is GauzTex the same thing as Guard-Tex?

Yes. GauzTex and Guard-Tex were two brand names for the same product. GauzTex was sold in drugstores and medical channels. Guard-Tex was sold through industrial distributors. The company has consolidated both under the Guard-Tex name. The formula has never changed.

The President's
Grip.