In this episode of The Best Dam Podcast, Jill is joined by Justin Lomprey, the creative force behind Valiant Supply. Justin shares his journey from serving in law enforcement to launching a grassroots branding and design powerhouse that caters specifically to the unique needs of first responders and public safety agencies.

From the technical artistry required to design patches that actually work on fabric to stories of brainstorming iconic designs like the "Vegas Vicki" house arrest patch in under 15 minutes, Justin provides a masterclass in niche branding. He also discusses the family legacy that led him to public service, his "no excuses" work ethic, and how Valiant Supply has grown into a national entity solely through the power of word-of-mouth.

DISCUSSION

1. From Law Enforcement to Design: Justin discusses how his background in law enforcement and a childhood passion for art merged to create Valiant Supply, a company built on trust and a deep understanding of first responder culture.
   
   
2. The Art of the Patch: Justin explains the importance of "designing for a physical element," ensuring that graphic designs translate perfectly into embroidery or patches rather than just looking good on a screen.
   
   
3. The"Vegas Vicki" Success: Hear the story behind one of Valiant’s most popular designs—a custom patch for Metro’s house arrest unit featuring the iconic Vegas Vicki with a neon-style ankle brace.
   
   
4. A Family Business: Justin shares what it’s like working with his mother, who serves as the office manager, and how his father and grandfather’s careers in law enforcement inspired the "cop shop" atmosphere of his studio.
   
   
5. On-Site Production & Privacy: Because Valiant Supply handles screen printing, embroidery, and laser work all on-site, first responder clients trust that their sensitive gear stays "under lock and key".
   
   
6. No Excuses, Just Solutions: Justin highlights a core philosophy passed down from his parents: never come to the table with a problem without having a solution in mind.
   
   
7. Community & Philanthropy: Learn about Valiant’s long-term involvement with the UNLV hockey team, including designing their uniforms and supporting local holiday toy drives.
   
   
8. From Logging to Landscaping: Justin reflects on his early "hard work" roots, from digging ditches for his uncle’s landscaping business to a high-stakes stint in the logging industry.

LEARN MORE

To see Justin’s work or inquire about custom branding, visit www.valiantsupply.com or follow them on Instagram and Facebook at @ValiantSupply.

KEYWORDS

Justin Lomprey, Valiant Supply, First Responders, Graphic Design, Custom Patches, Branding, Law Enforcement, UNLV Hockey, The Best Dam Podcast, Boulder City Chamber, Boulder City

#JustinLomprey #ValiantSupply #FirstResponders #GraphicDesign #PublicSafety #TheBestDamPodcast #SupportLocal #BoulderCityChamber

Podcast Transcript

Jill: Podcast listeners, we have a very special guest today. I'm very excited to introduce you all to Justin Lomprey. Justin Lore is with Valiant Supply, and I have truly enjoyed getting to know you and. Very excited to share with our listeners a little bit more about Valiant Supply. So welcome Justin.

Justin: Thank you for having me.

Jill: So I had to do a little bit of research to understand exactly what the reach of Valiant is. Do you wanna, first of all, just give us a little bit of history? How did you start Valiant Supply?

Justin: It's a really long story, but we'll give you a Reader's Digest. So I was in law enforcement in my twenties and then when I got out, I just started doing freelance graphic design and all these types of things, and I would have.

My design clients say, Hey, I wish you could make shirts, or I wish you can make hats. And I'm like, I don't do that. I'll just draw you whatever you want, And, did that for a couple years. And then I started talking to North Las Vegas Fire Department. They were actually technically my very first client right out of the gate.

Jill: Oh, cool.

Justin: And that was conversations for about a year and a half. And then I finally just pulled the trigger and I was like, okay, I guess I'm gonna try to do this now. So then, Valiant was established in 2022, August 1st, literally that midnight, that's when the website launched and everything else.

Jill: Wow.

Justin: And, I remember that first 24 hours I was expecting all these orders from the department and all this stuff, and nothing came in. And I'm like, man, I made a terrible mistake. And then, it took about a week and then orders started coming in. And then after that, the company's grown to be a national entity all by word of mouth.

Grassroots. I don't,

Jill: Wow.

Justin: We don't advertise. We don't really push our brand. We hide in plain sight off a foothill. everyone who comes to us is just. It's all word of mouth. That's how it's grown to what it's turned into.

Jill: I love it and I love the fact that you did serve, so thank you for your service.

And so it has led you into a specialty market,

Justin: Very niche.

Jill: So if people were to, go to your website Which, fabulous. Very, it's got an. Edgy feel to it.

Justin: Yes.

Jill: That makes you wanna keep looking at more, right? And so I do appreciate the way that you designed that. obviously your creativity has rolled over even in your marketing side.

So as people are checking things out and they realize that Valiant, it obviously got its title, it got its name because of your history, your life experience, and so loving that you connected the two and that you are, spending so much time working with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, north Las Vegas.

It sounds like you also work out here in Boulder City with the friends of Boulder City Police. And so really appreciate the fact that you lean into that, first responder and public safety. So thank you for all your work that you do for them.

Justin: Oh, no problem.

Jill: And I am truly impressed with your creativity.

So

Justin: A lot of people are, I don't get it either.

Jill: I, it's So where did that come from? Did, were you an artist as a kid?

Justin: Yeah, I was always into art. I actually wanted to be a cartoonist.

Jill: Cool.

Justin: When I was a kid.

Jill: Oh, cool.

Justin: And then when I was in high school, I played football and, my D-line coach was actually a retired Disney animator.

Jill: Wow.

Justin: So he started teaching me a little bit, 'cause I wanted to be a cell animator, like line by line, sheet by sheet. I wanted to learn how to do that. So he taught me and, I just had this really weird moment where I'm like, I don't think there'll ever be money in art or anything.

That's why I got into, law enforcement. But I still did design on the side. I still drew on the side. I went through a professional art gallery circuit for a bit, just doing my own paintings and all of that, and got out of it. But I've always been very creative. I just, it's always been me.

And then, having this whole entity, now clients are starting to realize more and more when they come in, it's let's just let him do something and we'll get exactly, probably more than we expected. So that's a nice part of it. there's a lot of, I have a lot of free creativity that my clients allow me to explore.

Jill: That is awesome. I love that aspect because a lot of times. When we come at you as,the creative, the designer, we have a preconceived notion. And sometimes that doesn't always translate. It doesn't work. And so I love the fact that you're open to that. Because there's also times that I don't know what I want.

I don't know what's gonna translate well in a patch, in a hat, in a t-shirt or whatever. Love the fact that you have that ability. that's a special skill.

Justin: I'm very, honest with clients when they come in and can you hand me one of those patches? Yeah. And we'll talk about it. So like in terms of patch design, it's like you can't really just dump a bunch of stuff into it.

You have to, I always design for a physical element to it. A lot of graphic designers nowadays, they'll just create this very color punched, very detail oriented imagery. And then give it to someone like me and they're like, can you make this into a shirt or can you make it into a patch? And I'm like, it's not really designed for that.

So that's why when the clients come, they already know they're gonna get a better product coming out the door. 'cause I will design specifically for what the application could be used for. So if it's like for patches drawing wise, it'll look very like. Simple. But that it's done that way for a reason. Cause you can see how that looks. You know what I mean?

Jill: Yeah. I love it. So I, I would love, we're gonna make sure that we have images of this On, in the show notes.

Justin: Yeah.

Jill:  I want other people to be able to see your work. And there's so much talent in this. And in our own home, the patches that I have that we're, working with today, they actually belong to my husband.

He, while he was in, Metro House arrest, he, purchased these from you before we ever had met. You did not know you.

Justin: Does he like 'em?

Jill: He loves them. Yes. Absolutely loves them. And, I am fond of the pink one.

Justin: If the pink, honestly the pink one, the Vegas Vicki, that's the most popular one like I've ever done. It was funny when they came. 'cause I did a Vegas Vic for Metro's. FTTU.

Jill: Yes.

Justin: So it's Vegas Vic holding an M four. He is got a C cigarette in his mouth and all that.

Jill: I saw it on the website. Yeah.

Justin: So then house arrest. Saw that and then they came in, they're like, we want something Vegas iconic as well.

And then I immediately fired off Vegas, Vicki. Cause her leg is already kicked up.

Jill: Right.

Justin: And my contact there, he's what are you talking about? her leg already up. We could put a ankle brace law on. It's done.

Jill: Yeah.

Justin: Make it look like neon. I said it just like that. And he was like, all right, roll with that.

It literally took 15 minutes of brainstorming and I came up with it.

Jill: So I'm telling you that's the creative side.

Justin: Yeah.

Jill: Us normal people, we don't have that ability. So thank you Justin, for being able to do that. So we'll make sure that we showcase that and highlight these two. absolutely loving them and loving your talent.

you had said that as you were, Getting into your twenties.

Justin:  Yeah.

Jill:  You were leaning away from the art because you didn't see the value or the dollar in it. So what made you choose law enforcement? How did you make that choice in the first place?

Justin: It's the family. My grandfather who was in law enforcement his entire life, my father has been, he just recently retired earlier this year.

it's a family business, pretty much the whole long prairie side. One particular side is either all cops or firemen. That's just 'cause I know what it's been. So I've been around it and exposed to it my entire life. So even when I was developing the shop, like I remember my grandfather or my dad taking me spots, like the old shooters or these types of old cop shops and I'm like, man, this place is really cool.

So like when I started developing Valiant, that's the same experience that I wanted. you walk in, there's patches all over the walls, there's just stuff to look at, all these cool things. I wanted to emulate that, but I've always been around it. It's just me,

Jill:  I love it.

Justin: I've just been able to merge the two together,

Jill: So Very good. And have the courage to be able to step into that role because as a kid you saw what your family was going through and it's That's, it's a tough, career, but so rewarding.

Justin: Yeah.

Jill: And so thank you for your interest in doing so.

I. I would imagine though, that's not your first job, so what's your first job? I wanna get to know Justin A. Little bit better.

Justin: My very first job was for my uncle. He had a landscaping company called Down to Earth Landscaping, and I was a laborer, so that's what I did. trimming palm trees and digging ditches for land, water lines, all that stuff. Yeah.

Jill: And so that probably educated you to know that's not what you wanted to do the rest of your life.

Justin: If I was gonna do it, I would own my own.

Jill: Oh, very good. Yeah. so quite the

Justin: There's money in landscaping, but it was, I've never been afraid to har, work hard like I did landscaping.

And then I had a brief stitt in Oregon for a bit. I worked in logging for a minute. Oh man. So then I got into law enforcement. But yeah, I'm not afraid to work hard,

Jill: I would imagine logging too. So landscape is. definitely hard work and logging. Sounds scary.

Justin: Oh, logging. Logging was fun.

Jill: Was it really? So describe it. I don't know much about it.

Justin: 15 hour days and people losing fingers by not paying attention.

Jill: Oh, holy guacamole.

Justin: I have all mine though. Yeah.

Jill: Thank you for paying attention because we needed you to do that for all this design work.

Justin: Yep.

Jill: That is awesome. I love it.

Okay, so describe your shop. Your, I would imagine you might wanna call it a studio. There's a lot of art that takes place there and creativity. So what does it look like? What do you have?

Justin: It's just we do screen printing on site. We do our embroidery on site. we do pretty much everything on site, which is why like our first responder clients appreciate it so much.

'cause when they come in, they know it's gonna be under lock and key. It's not gonna leave the building. That's why I have what I have. 'cause the clients trust that it's not gonna be seen by anybody else. again, it was also designed and built that way for a reason to where it's a one-stop shop.

I understand how first responders work. They're creatures of habit. They like to go to one place and one place only, and that's. how it is now. they walk in, there's a cool little lobby with some stuff in there, and then beyond the double door, is where all the magic happens, So it is a working shop, so sometimes it looks a little disheveled. But, Clients don't care. They're like, we know you're doing work in here. get it done.  

Jill: I like to see how the sausage is made. I think that's really cool. Behind the scenes.

Justin: You guys can come by whenever you want.

You can see it.

Jill: Yeah. Yeah. I wanna come check it out. And I would also imagine that, do you have other people that work with you? Oh, you do?

Justin: Yeah. I'm fortunate enough to where. My mother does work with me too.

Jill: Oh, cool.

Justin: She's like my office manager, so she helps me quite a bit. I have a couple other employees, that do help me with screen printing and we just got into laser stuff like that hat I gave you, she does stuff like that.

So yeah, I do have people that help out as well.

Jill: And so that kind of takes us to another thought process. So laser printing. Obviously technology's evolving. Is it making your job easier? The production side?

Justin: It's just the same. la laser stuff is just, it's just a different file setup, and it's just, it's more along the lines of we just, I just brought laser in a couple months ago.

Like laser patches and that type of thing. It's just another product. That we developed that my clients can take advantage of,

Jill: So is it more expensive? Less expensive? 'cause I would imagine embroidery takes a lot of time. So is laser faster?

Justin: Laser's a little bit faster. It costs a little bit more.

So that hat that I gave you, that's like a $35 hat,

Jill: So Okay, gotcha. Yeah.

Justin: Rather than our typical 25 for embroidered something.

Jill: And so if, I know on the website I saw retail pricing on there. So we can purchase from the website.

Justin: Yes and no. There's some things you can't purchase. So the thing about Vance supply.com is that it is built for my clientele.

So when you go on there, you'll, she's like shop by state. You can click states and you'll see all these different departments and all of that. Okay, so there's department. Uniform stuff on there. But occasionally, every once in a while departments will do a specialty shirt for like breast cancer or for, St.Patrick's Day. And those are authorized for civilian purchase. And we make sure, we always advertise that appropriately. So if people wanna support first responders or if they really like the design, then they could buy that,

Jill: Okay.  All right. Very good. So I noted that you were involved, with obviously a lot of UNLV.

Justin:  Yeah.

Jill: A lot of rev stuff.

Justin: I do a lot of UNLV stuff. Yeah.

Jill: And  I noticed that you did a toy drive For UNLV, for their hockey.

Justin: I'm not hosting it. They're hosting it. Okay. I've worked with the UNLV hockey team for the last eight seasons. they brought me on. As a uniform designer just to help build the program up a little bit.

So over the last eight seasons, pretty much how they look now is my vision for them. But yeah, this weekend they are hosting a toy drive. There's, I think it's at Tivoli Village today.

Jill: Oh, very good.

Justin: And then tomorrow it's gonna be at the district, so

Jill: Oh, that's awesome. Closer to us. So that's great.

Justin: Yeah. And if anyone brings in a toy to, donate, you get $5 off your ticket for the holiday games this weekend.

Jill: Oh, very good. So I don't know that we'll get this produced that fast.

Justin: Yeah.

Jill: But I just love the fact that you're involved in You, have a philanthropic side to this business as well.

That's great. And and I loved, Santare that was

Justin: Oh, you love Santare? Yeah, Santare is fun. that was a little hairy 'cause obviously, the Rev is dead now. Yeah. but it is the 20th anniversary for the hockey team. So I think that's kinda why they're letting me. Do what I've been doing,

Jill: Run that way.

Justin:  Yeah.

Jill: I love it. And for those of us that are. diehard old school, UNL vns. we appreciate it. So

Justin: I try.

Jill: Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Okay. I would imagine that with your mom working with you,

Justin: Yeah

Jill: I love that. And, having your family in law enforcement And, some of the life lessons that you have learned, what's something that your mom and dad have taught you that you've kept throughout your life and keep, utilizing every day?

Justin: It's some the same thing I taught my kids. No excuses, just solutions. Like you just get it done, love it. don't come to me with a problem without having a solution already in mind, or having the problem fixed. That's what my parents taught me. That's what I taught my kids, and that's what I instill into my staff as well, where it's I don't micromanage, I don't harp, I don't do all these things.

Everyone's grown adults. Everyone knows what you need to do, just get it done. That's probably one of the most things. Valuable things my parents taught me where it's just just keep your nose down, get your work done, move on. And if there's an issue, get it fixed before you present it, Yeah.

Jill: I love that. No excuses only solutions.

Justin: Yep.

Jill: And I would imagine that you instilling that in your own kids. It really is. It's we're losing that critical thinking Component, in the youth. And so being able to hear things like that, that helps build those skills. So that they're thinking about what that, that solution is before they even come to you with that. Love it.

Justin: Yep.

Jill: Oh, I'm grateful for your parents. I'm grateful for what they led in you and that you're continuing that. And, I'm really excited to learn more about Valiant. Thank you so much. This has been awesome.

Justin: Very. What else would you like to know?

Jill: I would love to know how people can find you or how you want them to connect with you.

Are you guys on social media?

Justin: We are on social media. on Facebook and Instagram, it's just value supply. Very simple, no underscores, no numbers, just type in Val Supply, it'll pop right up. website wise val supply.com. Very easy to find us very cross platform friendly in terms of the URL name, so you could find it anywhere.

Jill: I really appreciate it. It has been fun getting to know you. I am grateful for what it is you do and I look forward to the Chamber making some purchases. Maybe we need a best damn podcast patch.

Justin: I, that would be fantastic. I would love to do something fun for you guys, if that's something you'd like to do.

Jill: I would like to explore that. So thanks so much Justin for being here. We appreciate you.

Justin: Thank you for having me.