Today’s guest on UnCommie Goods Victor is Pelligrino, founder and CEO of VictoryGrips, and his production partner Kent Foster.
I loved talking with them and learning about their path to success.
Victory Grips produces 100% American made Grips. Now what are grips? Straight from the Victory Grips website: “Grips are the gear you wear on your hands for protection and to help you hold on to a pull-up bar or rings for skills such as kipping or butterfly pull-ups, toes to bar, and muscle ups.
As a former Crossfitter myself, I wish I had known about or used these grips. To not only prevent the awful blisters and tears I’d get on my hands, but also for the performance boost in my crossfit movements that you get when your grip is more secure.
Victory Grips offers a variety of styles, and the website has a ton of videos and tutorials on picking the right grip.
Also, Victory Grips is a small independent American business, and I love what the website says “Your support of Victory Grips helps the livelihoods of families in Iowa and Georgia who truly care about the products we create and the athletes we serve.
You can’t get better than that!
Show Highlights:
A history of fitness, gymnastics, and Crossfit, combined with Victor’s design education was the genesis of Victory Grips, along with a bourbon-fueled “creative session”
Victor is the 3rd former or current CrossFit affiliate interviewed on this show. Seems like a pattern here!
Victor’s history of military service, combined with patriotism and passion for the country, made it vital that Victory Grips be made in America
“You always take care of your own”
China has made it “darn easy” to manufacture over there. Victor had to get creative and persistent to find a great business partner, Kent Foster.
Kent Foster and Victor Pellegrino get along, despite having served in rival military branches 🙂 (Army and Marines, respectively)
There’s a genuine appreciation and admiration between Victor and Kent, as friends and business partners.
Manufacturing and raw materials capability is difficult to find in the US.
Outsourcing manufacturing not only hollowed out the middle class, it made us less creative.
There are people hungry to make USA made goods, bursting with creativity.
Even if some parts are not made in the US, that’s no reason not to start building and selling the product. Eventually you can develop and IMPROVE the imported parts to make it 100% domestic.
Outsourcing to China can lead to Intellectual Property Theft.
Kent’s long history and experience of overseas manufacturing made him an expert on finding great source of materials in the USA.
Link to Victory Grips story from their website. https://youtu.be/Ym713H5DqRg
There are a lot of parallels between fitness and business.
“Victor’s Why” is he in business. To help people be better, and prosper.
VictoryGrips is targeted and focused on the CrossFit market, and can be used in other gym exercises.
The Pandemic lead to a huge run in home fitness equipment, and in turn benefited Victory Grips. Victor and Kent are very grateful for the opportunity to deliver to their customers and be able to support their families.
Kent recommends the Echo Bike.
Victor’s and Kent’s recommendations for starting a 100% made in USA business. Keywords: Perseverance, Creativity, Commitment.
“There is never any reward without commitment”.
Victor and Kent’s outside interests.
“I live like I’m retired.”
Both Kent and Victor have a wide range of outside interests.
Find out more about Victory Grips at
www.victorygrips.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/victorygrips/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoryGrips