It's made by Texas Power Bars, and they have been doing it right for a long time. This is a great bar for beginners to intermediate lifters who aren't lifting super heavy weights that require the additional stick of the more aggressive TPB. It came well packaged, and the bar out of the tube, and the bare steel has that beautiful bluish tint. I am looking forward to seeing it patina with use, and as Mark Rippetoe says, with an occasional wipe down, and the oil from your hands, it will take on the greyish/bluish patina as the steel oxidizes. After a few uses, it feels and works very well.