Manly Bands is an accessories brand headquartered in Lindon, Utah. It was founded in Rosemary Beach, Florida, in 2016.
Manly Bands sells a wedding ring with a strip of metal from a World War II Sherman tank set into it. Another uses wood from Jack Daniel's whiskey barrels. Its licensed Lord of the Rings line includes the One Ring itself, a bold thing to put on a groom. Utah Business reported that more than 80 percent of the company's rings are made in its own building in Lindon.
It started with a size 17 finger. When John Ruggiero went shopping for his wedding band, he said, he heard something like "There's a little table in the back of the store, go look at those." One store told him it could not size him at all. Another handed him a catalog and said the ring would arrive from overseas in four weeks, so he ended up ordering one from Amazon.
He and Michelle Luchese had both studied filmmaking. In 2016 they started Manly Bands in their garage in Rosemary Beach, Florida, hoping it would cover the rent, Ruggiero told Practical Ecommerce. Michelle named the rings and wrote them personalities, since "eight-millimeter black" didn't cut it, as Ruggiero put it. Her parents shipped orders and wrote thank you cards, and John's mother built wooden ring boxes.
In late 2018 the couple bought an RV and left Florida to see the country, Fox13 reported. They got to Utah and stayed. The company now fills a 35,000-square-foot building in Lindon's industrial area, where Utah Business found a chandelier made of deer antlers and black walls, and called it a man cave with rings.
The turning point was buying its manufacturer. Manly Bands had been a customer for years, and it acquired some of that company's assets and brought its employees over, Ruggiero said. At the time about half of its 55 people were ring artisans, cutting whiskey barrels and metal rods on lathes. Some rings get a Cerakote finish, the ceramic coating used on guns and airplane parts.
Not every ring comes out of Lindon. The company's own FAQ says production combines domestic and international partners depending on the style and material, which squares with the Utah Business figure of more than 80 percent made in house.
The licensing list has grown to Fender and Jeep, and to NASA. Most of the bestsellers run between $300 and $1,000, and the company makes a wide range of sizes. For a man once sent to the little table in the back, that is a fair answer.
Manly Bands customers have asked for engravings such as "Two wishes left," according to the company's YouTube series on what buyers put inside their rings.
