DEBRIEF

Caleb and Sean met in 2016 while working intelligence in Afghanistan. While frustrated about the bureaucracy of the military and toxicity of leaders they dreamed of working together on a business once out of the Army. Like most dreams, Caleb and Sean almost immediately forgot them. Fast forward to early 2023 when Sean had an intrusive thought about a funny T-shirt design pop into his head, and the dream was back alive. 

Caleb and Sean make a great team and work incredibly together, but something they both forgot is that neither of them are deeply technical by nature. Once Caleb and Sean remembered this flaw in their dynamic, they knew they needed to bring someone on who would be that person. That’s where Nick comes into play. Additionally, the “C-suite” realized that they probably shouldn’t be left unchecked (especially Sean), so they decided to offer the wives positions on the board of directors with equal say in the company. 

When trying to decide names for the company (this process took SO long and they went through SO many different names), Caleb and Sean recalled their time in Afghanistan where the idea was initially conceived. In this retrospection, they remembered a Christmas card they gave to a certain 3 letter agency. Each week Caleb and Sean would have a brief with the agency (don’t worry, we’re not that important, I think they really just needed cornhole partners, but let us have this one). They were invited to the agencies Christmas party and got some janky card from the PX and “redacted” most of the card. The card hung in their bar until we left at least. So then it was settled, we would be Redacted. 

One of my mantras for the shop was “Trust no one”. I don’t care if you’re reading a report about the Pope, trust no one. So that became our shop motto, and as such our company motto. 

While interacting with the agency, Sean earned the callsign “Blue Eyes” from them (again, not important, just cheeky). So keeping with the Redacted “shtick” we’ll have some fun with it while fully understanding we’re not super secret special squirrels.

 

Mission Statement

 

Most Veteran companies target straight, white, male Vets that want to let the world know how dangerous they are. As such, the rest of the vets that are quiet professionals or not in that demographic are unrepresented. Redacted wants to give every Vet a voice and representation. 

None of us are looking at this as an opportunity to get rich. We want to give back to the community and provide some fun cool designs with the hopes some people will dig them. 

We will always provide some percent of profits to Veteran charities and we’ll be perfectly transparent with these donations. 

We will constantly try to improve our customer service/support, as well as our products. Furthermore, we will work to provide ethically sourced materials at every turn. 

We will do our best to respect all groups at all times, but we’re human and will make mistakes. In fact we HAVE all made mistakes in the past. We apologize for any past present and future offenses to groups we may have upset. To individuals we have upset in the past for being general assholes, if you haven’t received an apology from the member that slighted you, fuck you.