Get to know Jake the Recycled Firefighter

Recycled Firefighter started in a two-car garage in Louisville, Kentucky — with a $99 Singer sewing machine and a stack of decommissioned fire hose. Jake Starr, a career firefighter and self-taught seamster, wanted to make something useful out of gear that had already served on a line.

Over a decade later, RF is owned and operated by Kyle Doyon out of Cape Coral, FL. The shop is bigger. The team is bigger. The mission is the same.

From a Louisville garage to a Cape Coral shop floor. Built by firefighters. Built to serve.

How it started

Jake taught himself to sew from YouTube videos. He'd started with backpacking hammocks — a hobby project — and figured out that decommissioned fire hose was a better material than most of what was on the EDC market. Tough. Already proven on the job. Cheap to acquire from departments that were retiring it anyway.

The first product was a slim wallet sewn from real fire hose. That's still the bestseller today — the Sergeant Wallet — Firehose Edition. Same pattern, refined over a decade of customer feedback, sewn now in small batches in Cape Coral instead of the Louisville garage.

How it changed hands

In 2025, Kyle Doyon — another firefighter, longtime RF customer, and an entrepreneur who'd been running other Coast Life Companies brands — bought the business from Jake. Same materials. Same craft. Same firefighter-rooted point of view. The relocation to Cape Coral, FL gave the shop more space for new product development, better shipping logistics, and a sewing team that's grown well past one guy and a Singer.

Jake still consults on product development. He's still part of the brand — the same way the original Sergeant Wallet pattern is still part of the catalog.

What hasn't changed

Every piece is made in the USA. Most of them right here in Cape Coral. Every wallet, bag, pouch, and mat carries a piece of equipment that once protected someone on a job — real decommissioned fire hose, retired bunker gear, real military Combat Boot Leather.

Every product is sewn in small batches with size 90 nylon thread and bar-tacked at the stress points. The Captain Wallet went through 13 months and 50+ failed prototypes before it shipped — that's the standard we hold.

What we don't do

RF is a tactical, firefighter-rooted Everyday Carry (EDC) brand. We don't make fashion-driven colorways, purses, or clutches. We don't make products for people who want labels. The audience is firefighters, military, veterans, tradespeople, and EDC users who want gear that lasts.

If that's you, you're in the right place.

Built For

• First responders
• Veterans and active military
• Tradespeople
• EDC users who want a wallet that lasts a decade

Consider this the founders' story. The garage is bigger now. The mission's the same.

— The Recycled Firefighter team

Made in the USA. Built to serve. Carried with pride.