LBT, Who We Are

Headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, London Bridge Trading Company, Ltd. ("LBT" for short") is not, in fact, a trading company. That's just our name. Our founder and Chairman, Dr. Doug McDougal, started LBT in 1985 after leaving a career as a professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Virginia, to pursue his dream of turning an interest in the military into a business that supports​ the very hard work done by the men and women of the armed forces. Dr. McDougal's "hobby" of attending trade shows and "trading" in militaria, antique arms and other military paraphernalia - hence our name! - has, today, turned into a company with manufacturing facilities in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and El Paso, Texas, that employs more than 250 people from 18 countries with an average tenure of nearly 10 years. We also have a joint venture manufacturing facility in Cranston, Rhode Island. After 37 years, however, LBT still remains a family business with Dr. McDougal's son-in-law, David Bohannon, now our President and Chief Executive Officer.

Over our more than three decade history, we have become a diverse family of brands beyond just “LBT” whose tactical nylon products are coveted by the U.S. military; Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement agencies; Foreign Governments and an array of foreign and domestic defense contractors. Outside the U.S., we have provided our gear to military and law enforcement customers in Great Britain, Canada, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Sweden. With the launch of our LBX brand in 2011, we also now sell directly to individual consumers through our LBX website and other retail partners.

We are a “Commercial-Off-The-Shelf” (“COTS”) manufacturer which basically means that our products are available to everyone. We have literally thousands of COTS products for sale to our customers across dozens of colors and patterns and develop in the neighborhood of 700 new products each and every year, many upon a specific request or for a special purpose. To serve many of our foreign and non-government customers, we have developed a manufacturing partnership in Peru that shares our commitment to being among the premier tactical gear manufacturers in the world. Whether merely components or the finished product, our foreign partners manufacture to our standards of quality, adhering to our designs and using primarily U.S. made materials. We are proud to say that we are mentioned in the same sentence as other premier COTS manufacturers like Crye Precision, Eagle, First Spear, Force Protector, Mystery Ranch, Propper, S&S Precision, Tyr Tactical, and T3 Gear.

As always, we welcome any customer, contracting officer, vendor or 3rd party reseller to contact us to visit any of our facilities before, during or after their products are made.

Our Company - Where we are going

Even as we have grown and evolved into a company serving a global customer base, less than ten (10) percent of our revenue comes from products manufactured outside of the United States. We are committed to creating jobs in the United States using U.S. made materials. That was Dr. McDougal’s mission on day 1 for LBT and remains our mission today.