Expanding defense options for vulnerable groups

2020 was a year none of us will forget, and 2021 is already going strong with its own sets of worries.   America's clash of ideologies is not over, and many individuals and their communities face continued threats of violence and hate.  Activists, medics, and journalists continue to stand up for a more equitable society and put themselves on the line night after night.  LGBTQIA+ communities have been subjected to death threats and armed intimidation tactics.  The ability of individuals and communities to protect themselves has been compromised and out of balance for some time.

We at Earthside have been moved by rising costs, inventory shortages, and the toxic misogyny and racism that permeates American firearms and defense culture, to look for our own solutions. We create high quality armor plates for medics, journalists, and everyday people who need or want added protection but cringe at sending their money to companies that do not share their core values.

Our armor plates are made from 3/4" HDPE with 1/8" AR500 hardened steel backing.   This combination offers protection from both pistol and rifle calibers, at a lower cost and lighter weight than other plates currently marketed.  The HDPE face provides excellent spalling control and in testing the plates were able to stop 30+ rounds in a 2" grouping before the steel began to show signs of deformity.    With testing complete, we offered our first batch of plates to interested parties, and offered free or discounted plates to medics, journalists, and at-risk comrades, along with plate carriers from our allies at Conquest of Thread.


With the immediate success of our first batch of plates, we realized that we need to scale up production and help even more comrades and allies, but that scale-up comes with a number of up-front costs.   Our immediate priorities are:

1. Acquire additional materials to continue making plates at reduced cost for critical-need groups (medics, activist journalists), and extend discounts beyond those groups wherever we can afford to do so.

2. Purchase drill presses and additional tools to expand our production capacity and allow multiple workers to create plates in parallel.

3. Add kilns and presses to our shop to allow the manufacture of curved/contoured plates

4. Expand our offerings to include larger and smaller sizes, additional cuts, and options that can be tailored to multiple body types.

Here's how your donations can help:

$10 is a hammer for an additional assembly station
$50 is an angle grinder for an additional cutting station
$80 buys a plate for a comrade in need.

$100 is a set of carbide drill bits for drilling through hardened steel
$250 is a low-speed drill press for an additional drilling station
$500 is an entire end-to-end workstation

If we end up getting a lot of money, it means that we can do this full time.  We can help groups make their own armor, partner with FAFODEF and Conquest Of Threads to fully kit folk out in plates, plate carriers, and medical supplies.  We would love to expand by bringing other people on so we can increase production, because the world is getting much more dangerous, and we are having trouble keeping up with demand.  We will do our best to be as transparent as possible with how money is spent as we go forward.  The support we have already received has been amazing, and we hope to be able to help more people as time goes on.

Every little bit helps, but if you are not in a position to donate we completely understand please just take care of yourself and your community. If you want to spread the word about our cause that really does help.  We are a super small business that is reliant on word of mouth to let the folks who need our products know that we exist.