Santa Clarita-based Mechanix Wear teamed up with Lowe’s to create special gloves to protect the hands of those honoring the fallen heroes this Memorial Day.
The companies have worked together previously, as Mechanix Wear has been a supplier to Lowe’s for more than a dozen years, so working hand in hand to support the military was the perfect combination, according to Mechanix Wear CEO Michael Hale.
Just before the Memorial Day holiday each year, soldiers place American flags at veterans’ graves. A tradition started by the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, or the Old Guard, at Arlington National Cemetery in 1948, soldiers and volunteers now perform “Flags In” ceremonies at the gravesites of fallen service members across the country.
“When we saw Lowe’s talking about the ‘Flags In’ ceremonies for Memorial Day, then we started thinking, ‘How can we protect the hands of those that are honoring the fallen soldiers,’” Hale said. “So, we came up with the idea for the added protection on the palm to effectively eliminate the stress that goes on the soldiers’ hands when they put the flags in.”
The specially designed, durable gloves, include added padding in the palm area, where some soldiers would typically place plastic bottle caps to ease the difficulty of pushing sharpened flag stakes into hard ground.
Lowe’s then donated 5,000 of these specialized gloves to protect the hands of those planting flags at gravesites across the country.
“I think it was a really nice collaboration between the two brands,” Hale added. “It started out as just a fun project, like they all are, but I think Lowe’s truly took it to a national level here.”
The project turned out to be one that Hale says he’s proud that Mechanix Wear was able to support, helping those who were honoring America’s fallen heroes.
