How It Started 

Recon Etching started around 2018 while I was enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

I've always liked graphic shirts, but I had a hard time finding designs I actually wanted to wear. So I started making my own.

At first it was vinyl. Then I got into sublimation, and as I learned more, I kept adding new equipment and new ways to make things.

My original plan was to build the business full-time after separating from the Air Force. COVID changed those plans, but the goal of owning my own shop never went away.

 Then Came the Hats 

Leather patch hats weren’t part of the original plan.

A friend of mine, Scottie, whose family band Souled Out was paying a lot for custom hats, kept asking me if I could make them. Eventually, I figured out how.

Then they took off.

A few of our designs went viral on TikTok, and over the last couple of years we’ve made roughly 6,000–7,000 hats. More importantly, that success gave me the confidence to keep building Recon into something bigger.

Today, Recon Etching is based in Wetumpka, Alabama, where we make custom hats, apparel, engraved products, and promotional items using our own lasers, DTF, sublimation, and other equipment.

 What “Recon” Means to Us 

The name Recon Etching comes from my time in the military and my experience supporting the Army’s 160th.

To me, Recon means doing your homework.

It means listening before assuming you know what somebody needs. It means understanding the job and taking the time to get it right instead of rushing through an order just to get paid.

That mindset is especially important when another business trusts us with their logo.

When you trust us with your logo, we understand that we’re representing your brand.

In the military, you learn quickly that when you put on the uniform, you’re representing more than yourself. The patch above your heart says U.S. Air Force. Your actions represent your country, your unit, your leadership, and the people beside you.

I look at your company’s logo the same way.

When you hand it to Recon Etching, you’re trusting us with something you’ve worked hard to build. Whether we’re putting that logo on a hat, shirt, pen, or promotional product, we take that responsibility seriously.