About The Team
We are firefighter family owned and operated business based in SW Missouri. Owned by Jared & Kori Smith, and our five amazing kids. We have recently downsized production and operate as a team of 2 daily employees consisting of Kori and our oldest son Isaac, Jared and several seasonal helpers jump in to help during the holidays or for large department orders.
Jared & Kori Smith– Jared joined the fire service in 2001, immediately after 9/11, forever touched by that day. He is a career fireman since 2004 and is currently the Assistant Fire Chief over the Training Division working that 9-5 admin scum life. Jared still volunteers with another little rural all volunteer department to this day. Admittedly though, only going to fires and pin jobs as a volly… He is a lead instructor for Engine House Training, LLC based out of St. Louis, MO and also O’Byrne Fire Ground Training based out of Kansas City, MO specializing in truck ops. He appreciates the opportunity to learn, grow, and network with others in ways that are extremely valuable to him, forging many bonds with brothers that would not have otherwise happened. He loves going to jobs, can’t get enough of it. He has a thirst for knowledge and a deep passion for learning the craft, sharing that knowledge, performing to high standards, being aggressive at everything, moving with purpose, urgency and efficiency, and believes that we can never stop honing our skills. He understands battles are won by the basics, which are often far more intellectually complicated than most are willing to see. He believes in training for the variance, through the basics, and that the true keepers of the craft are a dying breed. That we are currently fighting a battle in the fire service to keep it and wants to do his part in carrying on our traditions and keeping our trade focused on being the hard-working blue collar servants required to do the job well. Kori Smith is a dedicated mother and homemaker, and helps us all stay centered at work and at home. She handles all of the paintwork, and touches almost every other aspect of the business in one way or another on a daily basis. She can hang with the guys and hold her own, she enjoys a good cigar and glass of bourbon with Jared, and all of the baby animals she can get her hands on. She would live in the sand on a beach if she could…
Isaac Smith- Isaac is Jared & Kori’s oldest son! He builds all of our radio straps, suspenders, belts, and all of our smaller daily shipped items like chinstraps, glove straps, shackles etc. He can put an amazing burnish on a leather project. His first project was stitching 750 radio straps for a large dept. order! Isaac has grown tremendously in his skills and abilities, as well as his maturity and work ethic. He loves tacos, doing backflips, and freedom behind the wheel of his Dodge Ram. He is an amazing artist, and animator, hand drawing just about anything you can imagine, with an incredible eye for detail.
Seasonal team members- Jared, our four other children, and several other great individuals fill this position. All of our seasonal or large project assistance comes in the form of off duty firefighters and family. We have been blessed financially by the fire service and are grateful for the opportunity to give back to those who give so much of themselves already. Using the opportunity to teach our children work ethic, and to re-enforce daily life and educational skills.
PTB – DTRT – DPT
AM+DG
About the Process
We are a growing small business proud to offer handmade leather goods, made by firemen on the job. Our products are created one order at a time the old fashioned way, by our hands, no mass produced machine made products. Our hands touch every single piece that leaves the shop. Please understand that every order being made by hand, takes time.
We offer a wide variety of some of the best quality leather fire service products. I feel that we make some of the nicest, well thought out leather gear on the market. The staple of our business has been radio straps, bunker suspenders , and truck belts, all with more custom options than most others offer, for a very reasonable price. In addition, we make a variety of other accessories and everyday gear that will suit many needs and styles both on and off duty. We also take custom orders, and enjoy bringing your vision to life!
Every product that we make starts out as a raw whole hide of leather directly from our AMERICAN supplier. None of the finished products we make are pre-made or sub-contracted out. Any products you receive from us has had our hands on it from the beginning to the end… and is made from scratch every time.
We built and work out of a large shop building on our personal property, and have several small retail booths in other area businesses. We have no desire at the moment to have a retail brick & mortar, as we wish to keep the business small and close to home for the foreseeable future. We have invested heavily in machinery over the years allowing for more consistent and readily available products. We have a mile long list of project ideas that we hope to accomplish and release.
