Crossbreed Holsters owner passes away

[Il Duce]

I just read that Mark Craighead, founder of CrossBreed Holsters, passed away Friday. According to reports, he recently suffered a heart attack after an outpatient surgical procedure. He had another massive heart attack on Friday and died. He was 43.

[MacGyver]

Oh, how awful!

[Patton]

At 43, you never know. I lost several friends in their 20's due to heart troubles. One was a Marine, one was a EMT/firefighter. So its not always lifestyle. Thoughts and prayers for the family.

[E4 No More]

When I was younger I never understood older folks' perspective on people passing like this. I guess it's the whole youth not comprehending their mortality thing.Now at the age of 52 these things make me pause for thought.

[tennessee01tacoma]

I have a holster on order from crossbreed, I hope this doesn't affect that. My thought and prayers are with the family.

[RobertNashville]

That's sad news; I have four Crossbreed Supertucks; they are practically the only holster I use anymore.

He founded a great company with a great product and the company sponsored many of the firearm related shows on TV...I hope he had plans in place for his company to go on (although at his age it would be easy to think that he had plenty of time to prepare for that).

[D3vo]

Crossbreed Holsters owns or manages xdtalk.com. The first thing you see is a sticky notifying of his death and their plans to continue on. It also said he would want you to remember the Cross in Crossbreed.

[MikePapa1]

RIP

[Guest G23FM]

I have a holster on order from crossbreed, I hope this doesn't affect that. My thought and prayers are with the family.

Wow...

[Major Kong]

I have a holster on order from crossbreed, I hope this doesn't affect that. My thought and prayers are with the family.

Yes, hope this doesn't inconvenience you too much.

[Raoul]

I have a holster on order from crossbreed, I hope this doesn't affect that. My thought and prayers are with the family.

That's cold.

[TripleDigitRide]

RIP, Mr. Craighead.

[Patton]

I to have owned one of his holsters. He was always trying to say he had a patent pending and saying to other manufacturers that he would get them for copyright infringement, but to my understanding he wasn't even close to being the first to produce that style of holster. Anyone know about how many employees he had ? It couldn't have been more than a just a couple.

[Links2k]

I have a holster on order from crossbreed, I hope this doesn't affect that. My thought and prayers are with the family.

I hear you. We wouldn't want a guys death to get in the way of you getting your hands on a $50 holster.

[Slpeod]

Dang... RIP, hope they do good on all that he started.

[Oh Shoot]

I to have owned one of his holsters. He was always trying to say he had a patent pending and saying to other manufacturers that he would get them for copyright infringement, but to my understanding he wasn't even close to being the first to produce that style of holster. ....

Not meaning to speak badly of the departed in any way, but yeah, seems he leaned on the Kholster guy who shut down site/production for a little while and "redesigned"; supposedly that's really why the backing is round or crescent on his, changed it to "distinguish" his product, though he says it's so the end use can customize it. A mention of a couple of patents indeed did appear on Crossbreed's site at some point around this time, and are still mentioned there, FWIW.

Seems that the first designer with any following was Tucker's "The Answer" -- if a copyright on the kydex/leather style would indeed ever have been enforceable, seems he was the one who should have patented it. Then next major maker was CompTac with the Minotaur, which really took off. Then Crossbreed cranked up later.

And certainly "everyone" makes one nowadays, from one man shops to some of the traditional bigs like Desantis and Galco, etc. So obviously there must be quite a bit of um...leeway, in Crossbreed's patents, to say the least.

Again, not saying anyone in the whole saga was a bad guy at all, just quick recap of that holster genre.

RIP, Mr. Craighead, and my condolences to all his friends and loved ones.

- OS

Edited August 28, 2012 by OhShoot

[hornett22]

RIP. prayers go out to the family.

[RobertNashville]

Just to show what kind of company CrossBread Holsters is; about two weeks ago I sent in a damaged SuperTuck holster for repair.

I had shifted to off-body carry and left the holster inside of my SUV on one of the very, very hot days we had a few weeks ago and the kydex had actually melted and lost all its shape.

I mailed to to them along with a letter explaining what had happened and in less than two weeks they sent me, not a "repaired" holster but a brand new one at no change.

It's too bad more companies can't learn that kind of customer service but I will say, exceptional customer service seems to be the "norm" with many companies in the firearms industry as compared to any other segement.

[MiddTennTaco]

In two weeks? I just ordered one today and I hope mine comes in two weeks, lol.

May the owner RIP...

Sent from my HTC Inspire using Tapatalk 2

[tennessee01tacoma]

I recieved my holster yesterday. Im really appreciative of the great product and customer service that crossbreed continues. It's really easy to be a critic over the internet but I would dare say that any of you would think the same thing if you had paid for a product and 7 days later you had heard of the owners death. I meant no disrespect to Mr. Craighead. Sincerity is hard to convey over the internet. I lost my dad at 9 years old he was in his 30s. I know all too well the hole left behind by a life taken away too soon.

Edited September 9, 2012 by tennessee01tacoma

[tennessee01tacoma]

Dang... RIP, hope they do good on all that he started.

+1