Firm helps customers pack

Entrepreneur finds niche in concealed-carry market

Van Buren-based Clinger Holsters makes three models designed for the concealed carry market including its flagship product, the No Print Wonder, seen here.
Van Buren-based Clinger Holsters makes three models designed for the concealed carry market including its flagship product, the No Print Wonder, seen here.

VAN BUREN -- Working his way through college, Chris Tedder thought it wise to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun while pulling late nights as the assistant manager at a pizza restaurant, but he couldn't find a holster that met his needs.

He tried several and they were uncomfortable, failed to properly conceal his pistol or a mix of both.

"When you don't have the right holster you end up moving your pistol around. It becomes like a brick on your belt or a knife in your ribs," Tedder, 38, said.

He didn't just buy and discard holsters in a quest to find the right one. Instead, he built his own holsters, mostly out of Kydex, a light, tough thermoplastic that can be shaped to fit the contours of a pistol.

"None of them were any good at first," he recalled of his first efforts. But as he worked on his design, it got better. At first he made holsters for himself and a few friends. Then sold them on ebay and through other channels.

Tedder quit his day job in computers in 2014 once he began selling several hundred holsters a month.

"My wife came to me and said you're getting three hours of sleep a night, pick one or the other, so I gave my two-weeks notice," he said.

His company, Clinger Holsters, offers three varieties of holsters -- the Atom, $29.99, the Stingray, $39.99 and the No Print Wonder, $59.99. Tedder recently added magazine holsters at $19.99 to the company's offerings, all aimed at the growing concealed carry market.

Tedder declined to say how big his staff is due to competitive reasons but said Clinger produces several thousand holsters a month and demand is strong and continues to grow. The company has an office and a manufacturing operation in Van Buren. He said Clinger Holsters is debt-free and he's built the business without any outside investment.

Tedder sells his products primarily online though the company's website and keeps an active social media presence to inform the gun community about his offerings. While there are big players in the Kydex holster market, including Washington-based Blade Tech Industries and Texas-based Comp Tac, Tedder says Clinger has room to grow.

Michael Bane, television host and producer with The Outdoor Channel for programs including Shooting Gallery and The Best Defense, said there is a lot of room in the market for niche holster makers as interest in concealed carry continues to increase.

"Concealed carry is the overwhelming market driver," he said.

All 50 states allow concealed carry in some form either through permitting or by not requiring permits at all. In Arkansas, as of last week, there were nearly 208,000 permit holders, according to the Arkansas State Police -- just shy of 8 percent of the state's population using 2015 census estimates.

Publicly-traded U.S. gun makers Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. have said in recent earnings reports concealable pistols are in high demand and are driving strong sales for both companies.

Bane said the concealed carry movement is a relatively recent phenomenon and prior to that, most holsters were made for law enforcement officers who had a different set of needs. He said body type, the sex of the wearer and the type of clothing a person wears on a particular day become key factors in how a holster fits, its comfort, and its ability to keep the pistol concealed.

"The preconceived idea of what makes a good holster is being challenged," Bane said. "As more people carry, we learn more about carrying guns and the better stuff gets."

He said it's often necessary to try several types of holsters to find the right mix of characteristics and that that process differs by individual. That dynamic means there's a lot of opportunity for small holster companies to meet demand, he said.

The use of internet marketing and social media also helps the smaller players get the word out about their products, Bane explained.

"It's easier for a small guy to take off," Bane said. "In the past the only holster companies I saw were the ones that took out ads in the gun magazines."

Information from Southwick Associates, a market research, statistics and economics firm specializing in the hunting, shooting and outdoor recreation markets, puts the average sale price for a holster at $48.78 with the majority of sales, more than 40 percent, happening online. The firm estimates total holster sales and accessories are about $90 million annually.

According to a report from market research group IBIS World released in January, consumer anxiety concerning further gun-control legislation will likely continue and result in a 5.1 percent jump in firearms sales this year. Over the next five years, the report predicts an eventual normalization of consumer demand and 2.8 percent annual sales growth to $18.2 billion by 2021.

The adjusted number of National Instant Criminal Background Checks for July stood at 1.2 million, an increase of nearly 28 percent when compared with July 2015 and the most checks in July on record. The checks are commonly considered precursors to firearms sales, but there is not a one-to-one correlation between checks and sales. The data was collected by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group.

Those sales numbers are reassuring to Tedder as demand for more handguns means potential customers in search of just the right holster.

"Everybody is just so different," he said. "But our system just plain works. And if you don't like it, we have a money back guarantee, send it back, no hard feelings."

SundayMonday Business on 08/28/2016

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