MANTECA, Calif. — Friday marked a historic day for 5.11 Tactical, a company founded with just a single pair of pants out of Modesto.
They opened their 40th store in the country and launched their global distribution center in the heart of Manteca. Instead of a ribbon cutting, they held a symbolic door breaching to officially introduce 5.11 Tactical to the city.
“It’s an America success story," said Matthew Sinclair, the company's Senior Vice President. "It’s a 15-year company that’s gone from a pair of pants, cotton, that was it, to 950 styles and 22,000 screws."
Sinclair was on the team that helped create this company in Modesto 15 years ago.
“It’s Northern California’s largest custom shop between Bakersfield and Oregon," he said.
Now known as the number one supplier for law enforcement and first responder uniforms. They outgrew their headquarters in Modesto, so a few months ago, they moved into a 400,000 square foot warehouse in Manteca off of Airport and Lovelace Road.
“It was our decision as a business to keep our focus here in the San Joaquin Valley. We had other options, obviously, to move out of state. We had options to move to Southern California, and we wanted to keep our team here, located close to our original home base," Jeff Roberts, also a Senior Vice President for 5.11 Tactical said.
Now serving as their global distribution center and 40th retail store in the country, bringing in about 250 jobs into the city.
"We hope from 5.11’s perspective, that we bring in commerce, we bring in business, most importantly, we bring in employees and we want people to shop, worship, live and enjoy San Joaquin County," Sinclair said.
"It’s a great boost to the bottom line, because you know we’re looking at sales tax generation, property tax generation, ultimately everything that we’re looking at in our community that’s going to support the bottom line for the citizens of our city," said Manteca Mayor Steve DeBrum.
DeBrum says this is a win-win for his city.
“What it’s really going to mean, jobs into our community, individuals from around our community coming into work so it’s really a win-win for us as we continue to look forward," he said.
And Sinclair hopes this will inspire other companies to expand in the Central Valley.
Continue the conversation with Lena on Facebook.