THE ROGUE WAY
The Industrial Revolution 2.0 is something we take a tremendous amount of pride in at Rogue. Our mission early on was as much philosophical as it was anything else. Since day one, we have worked to source locally whenever possible. Over the past few decades, many of our local communities have lost their factories and places where men and women took pride in what they made every day. Many of these communities have been left with empty Main streets and crises of various sorts. With every product, we have worked to source parts and materials in the following order of priority:
When reading about any product on the Rogue site, we encourage you to look for the “Made in the USA” logo and “Made in the USA” references in the Gear Specs to determine if it’s an American-made item.
We strongly believe that manufacturing creates an ecosystem that is unlike simply a service economy. Workers that earn a fair wage in turn have the ability to purchase more goods within that same ecosystem, bringing orders back into factories and sustaining the cycle. When we started Rogue in a garage, we really had no idea just how far we could go. The investment has always been in great people and new equipment.
These basic principles are what we’re talking about when we use the words, “Industrial Revolution 2.0.” It’s not some grand, abstract concept. It’s an understanding of the power of a self-sustaining community and the risks of breaking anyone link in the chain. Without a factory, workers wind up unemployed or in service industry jobs for minimum wage. With less money to spend, they are more likely to purchase cheap, imported goods from large retail box stores. This leads to more orders going overseas, local businesses suffering, and fewer jobs. It’s a common reverse cycle with dire consequences.
This is why the Industrial Revolution 2.0 is something we believe in and maybe, more importantly, something we feel a responsibility to help advance in our own community. To prove it, we built a campus right in the middle of downtown Columbus, Ohio—showing our loyalty to the city in which we started.
The Rogue mission really is pretty simple when it comes to principles, but it’s also not the “easy” way—otherwise, everyone would be doing it. What good thing ever came easy, though? One step in front of the other, we will take the mountain. See you on the other side.
