Vetrepreneurs: zZz Custom Works

It’s one thing for a college kid with a hair dryer and some sheets of plastic to craft a pistol holster for himself. It’s a whole other beast to make high-quality custom Kydex gear that’ll hold up to the rigors of intense combat or duty use every day. That difference comes in experience, and the founders of zZz Custom Works have plenty of it.

Patrick “Bags” Baglietto and Martin Zatrapa — the two former U.S.Marines at the head of this small business located in Oceanside, California — were deployed all over the world as U.S. Marines and have been applying the nearly 40 years of combined military service to their design and fabrication of Kydex holsters, magazine pouches, knife sheaths, and other accessories.

“Our highly trained staff of dedicated professionals has decades of experience in military, law enforcement, contracting, and nuclear security fields, and understands the importance of every piece we produce,” Bags said. “We combine expert knowledge with practical designs for the most efficient quality accessories available.”

Bags had seven sea-service deployments, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Zatrapa, who served in the California Army National Guard after his time in the corps, said this of his service: “I think it would be easier to say where we did not deploy. The polar regions and the Land Down Under were places I did not get to see in person.” The depth and breadth of their experiences have no doubt informed the quality of their products.

RECOIL can attest to the quality of their plastic thermoforming skills. We had the chance to test out one of their Glock 17 holsters and some mag pouches during an advanced tactical class taught by another veteran-owned company, Khyber Interactive Associates, and found they performed flawless. A couple of years later, the zZz gear is still a part of this author’s primary range kit.

As a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business, zZz Custom Works’ goal is to not only provide high-performance equipment to cops, troops, and civilians, but also to become a dominant name in the Kydex game. Considering the quality of the company's kit and the breadth and depth of its partners' military service, we don’t doubt it'll happen.

Company: zZz Custom Works LLC

Primary Focus: Custom design and fabrication of Kydex holsters, pouches, and accessories

Contact Information:

• Website: www.zzzcustomholsters.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ZZZCustomWorksCA
• Instagram: @zzzcustomworks