It started the same way most good fires do. Unexpectedly.

All Day Fire Outfitters was born on a cold, misty summer day at the lake. A day that was supposed to be spent out on the water. Boats. Sun. The usual plan.

Instead, the rain never really stopped. It was not pouring, just that steady gray mist that hangs in the air all day long. The kind of weather that makes you pause and change plans. So around seven in the morning, someone lit a fire.

And that fire never went out.

We stayed there all day. Hoodies on. Coffee that slowly turned into beer. Food on and off the fire. Stories we had already told a hundred times. Laughing until our bellies hurt. The Doughty’s. The Peavey’s. Friends coming and going.

Nobody left the fire except to grab more beer or more wood.

The fire burned well past midnight.

At some point during the day, someone said it out loud.
“We just had an all day fire.”

And it stuck.

That day was not planned. Honestly, it was the opposite of what we had planned. But it turned into one of those days you wish you could rewind and live again. No schedule. No rushing. Just people, a fire, and time slowing down.

Before All Day Fire Outfitters, I already had a small side business. I was creating t shirts and hoodies out of my basement for customers and schools. Nothing fancy. Just working with my hands and figuring things out as I went.

But that phrase, all day fire, would not leave my head.

It felt like more than something we said. It felt like a reminder of how we want to live. Slower. Outside more. Around people who matter. Building something for myself that was rooted in moments like that lake day. Not perfection. Not hustle. Just real life.

So I made a logo. No big plan. No launch strategy. Just an idea that felt right.

That is how ADF started. Not in a boardroom. Not with a business plan. But around a fire that never went out on a day that did not go the way it was supposed to.

That is why the best fires are almost never the ones you plan for.

They are the ones you light when the weather turns. When plans fall apart. When you decide to stay put instead of chasing what the day was supposed to be.

Those fires turn into meals. Into stories. Into memories you did not realize you were making while they were happening.

All Day Fire Outfitters was built around campfires, lake days, and outdoor moments like that. The unplanned ones. Apparel made for real life outside. For stacking wood, chasing kids, sitting a little too close to the fire, and staying out longer than you meant to.

Because real life is not polished. And the moments that matter most usually are not planned.

So if the day does not go how you thought it would, light the fire anyway. Stay. Pull up a chair. Let it burn longer than expected.

The best fires always do.