For Eric Ridge, Red White and Blue wasn’t always the path. He’s gone through many different entrepreneurial endeavors, ranging from selling stickers to flags to shirts. Throughout his experiences, he’s learned valuable lessons, each helping him perfect his next product. One thing has been consistent: he’s always selling something.

Red White and Blue is Eric’s vision of the future. It’s about freedom, in his eyes, and taking back the flag from the political party that claims it represents them most, one shirt at a time. 

The inspiration for his latest business came from political will. “The MAGA conservatives have 500 million dollars in garbage merchandise, shirts covered in AR15s and bullets dripping with blood,” says Eric, who likes to go by his first name with everyone. 

“They’ve mislabeled the word freedom and wrapped it under our flag,” he adds. 

This is where the name and idea for Red White and Blue came from. One day, he put an American flag sticker on his work van and drove up to West County for a job. His friends saw the flag and their first questions were, “What the hell is that about?”

Eric was shook. The American flag? It was his pride for his country. He fought for the flag and what it stood for as a US Navy Search and Rescue Swimmer. As a political liberal, he says there’s been a change in the country in terms of who uses the flag. Post-9/11 is when he says he started to see the change. “Before, you wouldn’t think twice about who had a flag flying above their house. But today, you look and think if someone is one way or another.” 

A poll by MS Now shows that 42 percent of Americans assume if a person flies the American flag, they are a conservative, with just 10 percent assuming that they are a liberal. 

Eric says that the hardest part about getting any of his past businesses up and running was just starting. “I’ll tell you, if you just do it, you have the chance to make it.” He says that when someone’s determined, they keep going no matter the obstacle or bump that gets in the way. 

He recently launched this product last month on October 18th at the nationwide No Kings Protests. He ventured to San Francisco and set up shop at the end of the march, selling shirts, hats, bags and mugs all stickered with his designs. 

This project was a work in progress for over two years with his two step-daughters (one is an Off the Leash staffer) and wife. The whole family was with him during his first sale, at the march. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s the happiest moment, but I’d say it’s the most relieving,” says Eric. He says that all of the work builds up to that first sale and when it actually happens it’s like a switch.

Kari Kelly, a customer of Erics says that buying a shirt was like buying freedom. “I was happy to be making a political statement,” Kelly says. They are funny and cultural and a great way to be making a statement, she goes on to say. 

During his launch day, I saw each interaction between him and his customers. I got to see how much he really cared about his product and each sale, but more importantly what his sales were standing for. Each time he sold a shirt, he took the time to explain what his belief was for starting this business.

Gemma Grul, a sophomore at SR and his step-daughter, says that being in SF with him was “very inspirational,” and that it was “very cool to be able to help him push his dream to everyone.”

She has been a part of the design process, inspiration process, and everything in between. She helped on that first day by conducting sales and advertising with the same enthusiasm found in Eric. “Seeing Eric with that big smile for the whole day was something I’ll always remember,” she says.

He wants to reach people all over the country, getting shirts to people who care about democracy just as much as he does. “These shirts are freedom, and I want anyone who wants to, to wear them proudly,” Eric says. 

“This is the generation of entrepreneurship. Start now. All of my businesses started out as side hustles. They were just an idea, and I put a little time and money into them, and look at where I’m at now,” Eric says.