Greenville Avenue Pizza Company (GAPCo) PizzaSlayer - Buffalo Hide Double Shoulder Holsters

Behold! The acclaimed "Pizza Slayers" of Greenville Avenue Pizza Company (aka, "GAPCo").   Not only do they make some of the best pizza in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, but they look AWESOME doing it!

The Pizza Slayers have all of the best swag!  The ball caps, the Chef's Coat, the black gloves - all sporting that GAPCo Phoenix logo! 

The best swag, however (NOTE: We are SEVERELY biased), is the coveted (and patented) Pizza Slayer Holster!   

... did you hear the angels sing when you read that?    I did.   

The Making Of a GAPCo Double-Should Pizza Slayer Holster: 

Sammy, from GAPCo, came to us one day as a referral from a corporate Marketing group that wanted us to do some laser-engraving for them.  We never got their business (not sure if that project ever happened for them), but they were SUPER KIND to refer GAPCo to us for this project. 

See, Sammy was looking to build his business' brand.  They have this "steampunk" kind of vibe in that fits in well in the neighborhood of their flagship store on Greenville Avenue, in the Deep Ellum part of Dallas.  Sammy wanted to kick it up a notch by creating a double-shoulder holster harness, which contained a Pizza Cutter on one side and a Pizza Scraper on the other. 

The idea was really born out of necessity.   The Pizza Slayers - those who make the pizza - needed a way to help keep their tools handy in order to speed up the pizza-making process and make them more productive.  Sammy wasn't sure how he would pull it off (Neither were we), but we put our heads together and went through about 7 prototypes before we, finally, got it right!  

Successful - Sammy quickly patented the design and locked it down, creating his place in Pizza History!

These double-shoulder holsters are made from a full-grain, Vintage Chocolate Brown buffalo hide.  It's rugged, rustic, durable, and very cool!  

On the first batch  - we hand-cut and hand-punched each piece - one at a time.   They came out great, but it was exhausting.  

The next batch was much easier, as we upgraded our shop equipment to crank our the straps, punch them, and trim the edges.  

WHEW!  Much better and the results were great!  

The Pizza Slayer Holster harness actually holds two holsters.

• One side contains a Pizza Cutter - we found out the hard way how sharp they were - SORRY MOLLY!
• The other side contains a Pizza Scraper.  Both tools are used by the Pizza Slayers all throughout their work day.  

Hidden inside each holster are the custom-made Acrylic inserts that we designed specifically for these holsters.  They tuck away - hidden on the inside of each holster - and provide rigidity, a safe place to sheath these sharp tools, and a way to keep the holsters "food safe" - they are removable and washable!  

This is our first Production Level Pizza Slayer Encounter.  Celia is being our Test Pilot - Modeling the final version of the Pizza Slayer Holster for us in-store.  

The Pizza Slayer holsters feature 1" Straps - front and back - supported by an "X-Shaped" back piece for comfort.

The back piece has the GAPCo Phoenix logo laser-engraved and is lined with #1 Grade vegetable-tanned Hermann Oak leather on the inside.  Of course, we used out #277 bonded nylon thread, in Natural, to give that back piece some "Pop". 

All of the straps are hand-riveted with chrome double-capped rivets. 

We also provided a 1" wide back strap, which connects around the back of the waist, to prevent the tools from "flip-floppin', be-boppin', and scattin' around" during the pizza making process. 

Here, you can see some of our new equipment acquitted specifically for making these holsters.  If you look closely, you can see our: 

• Weaver Leather Master Tools Strap Cutting Machine
• Weaver Leather Master Tools Little Wonder Rivet Setter
• Weaver Leather Master Tools Rotating Punch (this tool is SUPER COOL)
• Weaver Leather Heritage Strap Edger
• Tandy Leather Bench Skiver
• and, a sneaky peek at our Epilog Helix 75 Watt Laser system with the BOFA fume extractor. 

We may be a small business, but we do it BIG!! 

Time to make the Holsters!  

Pictured here are:

• The straps (not yet punched)
• Back Pieces after being stitched
• Acrylic Inserts
• Pizza Cutter Leather
• Pizza Scraper Leather
• Pizza Cutter Safety Flap (you're welcome, Molly!) 
• and my kick-ass workbench!  (You'll see a post about how Johnnie and I built that later).  

Now that we have all of this stuff cleaned up and organized, we can begin assembly. 

Here, you can see Johnnie in his natural habitat.   As we peer in on this wild creature, we notice a sea of completed GAPCo Pizza Slayer Holsters before him.   He looks... bewildered... possibly overwhelmed....   and he has the pizza cutter in wrong - watch your toes, Johnnie!! 

Johnnie is one of our Managing Members.  He made the mistake of coming by to help me finish production on these.  I roped him into modeling, so we could post some pictures.  He ain't real purty - but he works hard and he's a real good dude!   Hahaha!

Our pictures weren't nearly as glamorous as Phil's (GAPCo Marketing) pictures, so we gave up and asked Phil for some of his shots.  LOL.  You can guess which ones those are. 

Moving on... 

Here is Sammy, sporting his own Pizza Slayer Holster (#1), while receiving the "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" award for 2018. 

 Congratulations, Sammy!  I assure you this was well-deserved.  This guy works like a BEAST!! ....or... some might say...  a SLAYER!

 I tell you - these holsters breed CHAMPIONS!  Here's the proof.   Together, we have been Young Entrepreneur of the Year a combined total of 1-time!