About Us

BUILT DIFFERENT. BUILT TO LAST.

The Rustic Warrior started in 2018, when we started our adventure on the trail, we couldn't find a Drill Sergeant shirt without a massive minimum order. The Company was all wearing standard APFU with DS vests, I wanted something better. So, we figured out how to make our own. A few months later, we watched a drill receive a basic shadow box with almost nothing in it worthy of a ETS gift, a simple plaque that cost over $200 that I would have been disappointed to get. So, we figured out how to make better ones, and charged $60, totally not worth the time spent making them, but they were meaningful and personalized. That's how this brand works. We saw a gap, we filled it, and we kept the price honest.

What started as custom shirts and handmade plaques grew into something bigger when we arrived at Fort Campbell. Unit pride was everything in 1-327 Infantry and when the Battalion CMD team asked if we could build something for the unit, we said yes and figured out how to expand from a simple DS shirt a Cricut machine to a proper apparel operation. That one opportunity forced us to evolve into a business. 

This business runs out of our home, built by just the two of us. Me, Active Duty Infantry, struggling to get home, handling customer service emails and networking. While the hero of this operation handles apparel production, digital work, and the day-to-day operations — all while working on her degree, homeschooling two kids, and raising a newborn. She is the backbone of everything you hold in your hands when your order arrives.

The Rustic Warrior is not a big military brand churning out generic graphic tees. Our focus is unit pages — personalized storefronts built for specific units, companies, and battalions. No bulk orders. No order sheets passed around the formation. If your unit submits their logos and designs, we build the page, we stock the gear, and we send a QR code your leadership can push out to the whole unit. Every soldier shops when they want, orders what they want, and gets it shipped directly — including to APO addresses.

That model exists because we lived the problem. Soldiers at small installations, away from the big PXs and the big brands, couldn't get their unit's gear without a massive group order that are always a hassle. TSAAS Instructors who were paying $50 for a Instructor crewneck because they only needed one and it had their name on it. We beat that price by $20.

We keep our profit margins low on purpose. Big brands mass-produce and mark up. We make everything to order, from home, with equipment we operate ourselves. It takes longer. It's worth it. We still wear shirts from 2018 to the gym. They haven't worn out. That's not an accident.

Our goal was never to grow, zero advertising, just word of mouth, helping who we can. The goal now, is simple — grow this into something that forces us out of the house and into a full operation and eventually, use it as the foundation for work in the veteran foundation space. This is just the beginning.

Built Different. Built to Last.

Veteran Owned · Veteran Operated · Made to Order · Ships to APO Addresses