Morning Pride was established in 1921 by Lawrence J. Grilliot, grandfather of our current president Bill (William Lawrence) Grilliot.

We began as a dry goods store, which sold among other things fabric by the yard. When the clerks were not waiting on customers, Grandma Estelle Grilliot kept them busy making 'morning dresses' and now you know where the name "Morning Pride" came from.

As a point of background, morning dresses were worn by ladies of the day to do their morning housework. Morning dresses were more than a bathrobe but did not require the whalebone corsets (which restricted motion) that were worn with more formal wear later in the day. Grandma Grilliot was an exceptional seamstress and soon the supply of morning dresses exceeded the demand at their store. Grandpa Grilliot offered the dresses to other local dry goods stores (whose clerks were not quite as industrious) and they were a huge success. It was soon necessary to convert the basement of our dry goods store, into our first stitching factory.

In 1924 a local fire equipment distributor contracted with Grandpa Grilliot to construct canvas duck fire fighter coats. Demand for Morning Dresses and Fire Fighters coats grew even further and it was decided this was the "perfect" time to invest in a "state of the art" brand new factory building - it was 1929!

During the ensuing Depression, demand for the luxury of ready-made dresses essentially evaporated. Morning Pride did any kind of stitching work they could find to survive. We made tarps, shop aprons, worked on military contracts and hospital gowns as well as Fire Fighters canvas coats. The latter product line eventually became a real hit since there was a shortage of high quality producers in the field. Lawrence and Estelle's son, Larry, returned from WWII where he was a flying instructor to fall in love with and eventually marry our stitching floor lady; the original Mary Grilliot.

Together Larry and Mary ran Morning Pride for over 30 years. "Mom Mary", as she was affectionately known to all employees, passed away in February 1996 but she was active at Morning Pride until the very end of her life. It was she who made sure payroll was properly processed and that vendors were paid. To this day, her parking spot marked "Mom Mary" highlights the entrance to our manufacturing facilities. Mom Mary's dedication to excellence and concern for customers/employees continues to inspire and guide all of us at Morning Pride.

Larry and Mary's son, our current president "Bill", began sweeping floors at Morning Pride as a child. After college and his stint in the Army, he returned to Morning Pride. In 1978, he and his wife Mary, assumed operating control. In 1982, Bill and Mary bought out the shares of his parents. To this day, Bill handles manufacturing while Mary handles marketing/office functions.

Bill holds a Captains rank with the West Milton Fire Company and is a principal voting member of the NFPA Technical Correlating Committee on Firefighters Protective Clothing and Equipment. Mary has served as president of Fire Equipment Manufacturers and Services Association (FEMSA), and is a principal voting member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Protective Clothing and Equipment. On their watch, Morning Pride sales have increased forty fold, we have received over 100 U.S. and international patents for advancements in firefighters protective clothing and we have become ISO 9001:2000 registered. Their investment in research and development has allowed Morning Pride to develop products that offer real and significant safety and comfort advantages and have allowed us to win essentially all major department field tests since the early 1990s. They have defined the Morning Pride mission:

To develop and manufacture products far superior in quality and technology to any competitive product and to provide customer service and commitment unmatched in our industry; So that we are the educated customers' ONLY reasonable choice.

The future offers even more exciting new products.