The Weekender

Forged Clothing is a company that sells rock-style merchandise with a mission. They are big contributors to many charitable organizations, giving back to those men and women who have served our country. I asked Forged’s president, Mike Sauers how this idea came to him and what the company’s mission is. Here’s Mike’s response to how Forged Clothing came to be the successful business it is today:

The concept for Forged was conceived while I was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 2006, Ramadi’s in the al-am bar providence; It was home to the most bloodshed in the Iraq war. On November 19, 2006 we got into a heavy engagement with enemy fighters, at the end of the day, one man had lost his life, two others had been shot, and two of my teammates had suffered catastrophic injuries, and were battling for their life.

After the smoke had settled, and we got back to camp, I dropped my gear and sat in my room, I started thinking about all my teammates who will never be able to accomplish their life’s goals, and dreams because of injury or death, and then I began to think about my own life goals and ambitions.

To this point in my life, I had been successful in achieving almost everything I seriously put my mind into, I thought to myself, “what else in life do you want to accomplish?”, I’ve always had the entrepreneur mindset, just no real motivation to pursue it, even back in high school, I was always hustling something to make a few bucks. I loved being a SEAL, and everything we stand for, you could never have told me when I was in my early 20’s that I wasn’t going to stay in for the long haul, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense, if I was going to try and build a successful empire, I should do it while I’m still relatively young, with limited attachments. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to pursue, but one thing was for certain, I wanted to be able to give back to my brothers, and the community that made me who I am today.

I started writing business plans, I must have written a dozen, and then I compared them to see which one was most attainable, I had some money saved up, but not enough to get any of my plans off the ground. My enlistment in the Navy was up in a few months, so I had a choice to make, they were offering me a $75,000 bonus to sign for another four years, I was 31, and had twelve years under my belt, over half way to military retirement, so this was a major decision.

I contacted my long time friend and teammate Ryan Williams to seek some advice, he was at the same pinnacle point in his career also, we had tried to start a few small time ventures in the years prior, but with the heavy work schedule of the Teams, they always fizzled out. Ryan was interested in pursuing a new adventure also, we talked about it for a few weeks then decided to go for it, even know we still weren’t sure what “it” was.

When I got back from Iraq we started brain storming Ideas, In the mean time I was helping a friend produce a T-shirt to raise money for a wounded teammate, I had been in charge of making shirts and hats for my platoons for a couple years, I never actually designed anything, but managed the production process. The shirts sold out in a few days, and we raised some good money for the cause, I remember watching guys wear the shirts around the team with pride, that’s when it came to me. There’s no better way to express yourself or relate yourself to a community than with what you wear, it’s like hanging a sign on your chest. You can tell a lot about a person from what they’re wearing, like what kind of music they listen to, their favorite sports team, interest, hobbies, etc.

I talked with Ryan and we decided to make some shirts and test our idea out. With no graphic design experience, Ryan bought a design program, and taught himself how to use it. I started researching apparel manufactures, and print shops in southern California. We knew we wanted to make this a big scale operation so we searched out the biggest and best in the field, but getting our foot in the door with these companies was difficult. Finally, after pitching our story a few dozen times we found some good patriots who were willing to work with us. We sold the shirts around the teams and to our friends. During the holiday season our sales shot through the roof; we sold 500 shirts that month, not bad considering that was out of the back of my car. We got outstanding support from the Special Forces community; they’re a big reason why Forged is so successful today.

We had originally named the brand Knox, like in Hard Knox, but soon enough we were in a trademark dispute with another company. This was a tough blow for us and seemed devastating at first. Little did we know it would end up being a blessing in disguise, we had cool shirts with gnarly designs, and knew what the brand stood for. We just needed the right name.

After about a month of searching the internet for names that weren’t trademarked, my brain was fried; I took a break from the computer and for some reason I can’t recall. I was digging through my closet, and I came across my old Bud’s hell week t-shirt which I hadn’t seen in years. I picked it up and looked at it, there was a saying on it that read “the hardest steel is Forged in the hottest fire,” I paused for a second and read it again, aloud this time, and with some emotion. I was like, that’s it, “FORGED” is the single most word that sums up who we are, and what we stand for. Forged is used commonly in the Special Forces community to explain someone who has been strengthened (or hardened) from facing adversity.

The First paragraph of the United States Navy SEAL Creed reads, in times of war or uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our Nation’s call; common men with uncommon desire to succeed. Forged by adversity, they stands alongside America’s finest special operations forces to serve their country, the American people, and protect their way of life. We are those men.