Going Gear was started as a side business by Marshall Hoots in the summer of 2008 with a single product category: blank firesteel rods. The business was online only at first, operating out a constantly expanding portion of Marshall's house. He quickly expanded into other survival items such as paracord, waterproof capsules, and all kinds of other goodies. In the spring of 2009, Marshall added flashlights to his online selection and slinging gear became a full-time business.

We opened our first store in a shopping center in Smyrna, Georgia in the summer of 2010. Having a store allowed us to pick up premium brands including Arc'Teryx, Benchmade, Surefire, and many of the other brands you see on our site and in our store. Five, maybe six days after we opened, we were out of space, so we did our best to make use of available space. We were able to shuffle things around and add footwear, apparel, and a lot of other fun stuff in our tiny 1000 square foot store, while also shipping and warehousing everything out of the same space.

Since the beginning, we've worked very hard at providing excellent customer service and staying in touch with customers through our extensive Youtube product reviews, Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, blog, forums, and every other method we could find.

In 2013, we bought our own, much larger store in Smyrna that allowed us to pick up even more gear and spread out the existing items to properly display them. What's next? More stores and more gear!