OpsLens Deck of 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders
In 2018, as a spin-off and salute to the original 2003 deck of 52 Most Wanted playing cards, let’s honor post 9/11 frontline leaders here at home. Once a week, for 52 weeks this year, OpsLens will post a card highlighting one of the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders. You’ll learn the top facts about their business or organization, as well as why they made the list, which comes down to impact, scalability, health, and unique value proposition.
I encourage you to look for these weekly updates, share the card with your network, and support or buy the products and services they offer. See the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders launch story here.
9 of Hearts | Nine Line Apparel
Throughout our history, citizens have expressed their devoted love for our nation in many ways. The Merritt family demonstrated their commitment to America as a military family. Yet in 2012 they went further, and launched a lifestyle brand with the mission of reinvigorating a sense of patriotism and national pride they believed was disappearing from our society. Tyler, his wife, Angela, and brother Daniel cofounded Nine Line Apparel with the aspiration to inspire unity and brotherhood among all Americans as patriots under one common flag. Their business model is guided by three nonnegotiable tenets: respecting and honoring the flag as a sacred symbol; supporting those who protect us, emphasizing both foreign and domestic soil (members of the military, and police, fire department, or other public servants); and inciting patriotism as having relentless and unashamed pride. They have clearly struck a nerve, with a zealous following of over a million consumers proudly donning their products. Initially known for their T-shirts, the company continues to grow and expand into other markets and partnerships, to include one with SIG SAUER (the U.S. Army’s newly designated pistol provider) and veteran-owned Black Rifle Coffee Company, where they recently opened the first brick-and-mortar site on the east coast.
At the grand opening of their coffee shop earlier this month, Nine Line CEO Tyler Merritt said, “We wanted to bring our businesses and the veteran community together. We veteran entrepreneurs need to stick together and support one another. The more veteran-run businesses succeed, the more veterans we are able to employ.” This sentiment is rooted in the very origin of the company’s name. In the military, a Nine Line is a medevac request for a soldier that is injured on the battlefield. In naming their company that, it is meant to symbolize hope, support, and the trust we have in each other, especially during tough times. At its core, Nine Line is a give-back organization, and their foundation supports a multitude of initiatives, such as building a veteran’s village of homes (for the homeless) in Savannah, Georgia. Through for-profit and nonprofit work, Nine Line is living a call to action for our country to bridge the gap between civilians and service members, have a conversation, and no matter the circumstance, to have each other’s six. And that is relentlessly patriotic.
Nine Line Apparel is a frontline leader that should be on your list of most wanted businesses to support in 2018.
Frontline Leader (Founder(s)): Tyler Merritt, Angela Merritt, and Daniel Merritt.
Name of Company/Organization: Nine Line Apparel, founded 2012.
Location: HQ in Savannah, Georgia.
Post 9/11 Service Connection: U.S. Army. Daniel was both enlisted and an officer, military police, still serving in the Reserves. As a military spouse, Angela carried the weight of the family and business on numerous occasions. Tyler flew the Apache and Blackhawk helicopters (160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment).
Tours of Duty: Multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, elsewhere.
One sentence tagline & mission statement: Relentlessly Patriotic.
Website: https://www.ninelineapparel.com/
