Grip6

Grip6 was founded in 2014 by inventor BJ Minson, who launched a kickstarter campaign to manufacture a new type of belt he invented. Within 30 days, he had over 10 000 orders for his design. But when the time came to manufacture the belts, issues started to arise. BJ wanted to manufacture the belts in the USA, but quickly found out this wasn’t going to be an easy feat. Again and again, he heard the same advice, even from US-based manufacturers he reached out to, that he shouldn’t bother and just outsource the production overseas. The prices for any offers he did get were so high he would end up losing money on every belt.

So he made the daring decision to start manufacturing the belts himself. That meant that he, together with his friend and co-founder Winslow Burton, would spend the next six months working night shifts in his garage to manufacture all 10 000 belts, one by one.

They have continued on that trend ever since, making everything inhouse. But what were just two guys working night shifts in a garage has grown to be a full-fledged factory. And what started as a single belt design has grown into not only a whole range of available belts, but into several other products as well, including socks and wallets.

All these products are held to the same standard as the original belts: they are made in the Grip6 factory in the USA from domestically sourced materials. Proving that, with dedication and perseverance, you can still build a manufacturing business from the ground up.