For nearly three decades, Red Oxx Manufacturing has been making high-quality luggage bags in downtown Billings.
The business, which is veteran-owned, makes items such as backpacks, dufflebags, gun cases and fishing rod cases.
CEO Jim Markel inherited the business from his father, Jim Markel Sr. who originally opened Red Oxx in 1986. At that time, their main product wasn't bags; instead it was exercise gear.
"Red Oxx was founded by my father to make fitness equipment," Markel said. "So, we made things like lifting straps and weightlifting belts."
That was how the business ran for close to 10 years, up until Markel was getting done with his military service. When he joined his father at the business, Jim Markel Sr. was ready to retire and so Markel took the business in a different direction.
"About that time, I was really getting into the outdoors and so making my own gear was natural," Markel said. "We started building more travel gear, bags, gun cases and fishing rod cases."
Markel said originally the business began with he and his business partner, Perry Jones, making items for their friends and families. Oftentimes, they were making things that they needed in their own lives.
"We started with our friends, our families, and ourselves," Markel said. "They would need stuff and we would make them."
Jones said it slowly evolved and as he experimented with creating new items, Markel would add them to the list that Red Oxx offered.
"Usually, I'd build something for myself and Jim would see it and the next thing you know, it's on our line," Jones said. "At the beginning of Red Oxx, it was somebody needed something, so you made it."
Jones said he still recalls the first item Markel made when the idea of a business began.
"He had a brand-new gun case and we had gone hunting and the handle broke off on it," Jones said. "That really torched him, so he was like, 'You know what, I can make that myself."
And since then the business has continued to grow. All three of the original business partners all served in the U.S. military, which they said helped them create their different products.
"All three of us were parachute riggers," Markel said. "My father, myself and Perry. So, between the three of us, we could make almost anything."
Jones said working for Red Oxx gave him the perfect transition out of the military lifestyle.
"Getting out of the service and doing this kind of stuff, it was what I did in the service," Jones said. "It was a helpful transition from that life because it is what I had done for years."
The business has continued expanding, offering a store near its warehouse in downtown Billings, but also modernizing and adding an online store. Markel said that the online store has turned Red Oxx into a worldwide brand.
"We're now a global brand," Markel said. "We go direct to the consumer all over the planet thanks to the internet."
A vision he had always had and one he's happy he got to share with his father.
"Dad started the first step of the process building fitness equipment," Markel said. "We came along and just pivoted to something else. Who knows, another generation may pivot this business to something else. It's always a windy road when it comes to business."
But Markel said he's grateful for that windy road, and even more so, that it led him to Montana, where Red Oxx was born.
"It was a good decision to come to Montana when I got out of the service and got with Red Oxx," Markel said. "It gave me direction."
