I’ve seen plenty of hammer guns in my time with “Not for Ball” stamped on the barrel flats. It hearkens back to a time when guns had to be multipurpose in the dustier parts of the globe. They needed to provide sport and food for the off-duty officers of the regiment as well as having the ability to drop a tiger with a simple change of ammunition, should the need arise. The buckshot reference in the name Ball and Buck was easier to deduce and a flash of recognition went across Mark Bollman’s face as I joined the simple dots together to decode the brand name he founded. But I’m only half right it turns out. “Buck and ball” is what George Washington had his regiments load their smoothbore muskets with. It gave them a greater chance of causing casualties between 50 and 100 yards. Volley fire would have been appallingly effective.

It is this kind of detail that runs through the clothing produced by Ball and Buck and much of it is down to the fastidious level of detail Mark insists on. That passion for detail is born out of a practical experience: Mark spends much of his time outdoors fishing and hunting. But the origins of the brand go back much further.

As a 7-year-old, he would get put on a plane as an unaccompanied minor to go and see his grandparents for holidays. Flying into Flint, Michigan, he would then accompany his grandfather north to his duck-hunting club in Saint Helen. It was during one of those trips, Mark explains, that prompted his early insight into the importance of quality hunting gear. “I was sitting there in the freezing rain. I had just bought some new top-of-the-line camo, and I was shivering and he wasn’t. He asked me ‘Why are you so cold? I thought you just got your new jacket.’

“I thought, Why are you not cold?

“He said ‘Look, you can always buy the newest thing, but I have had this jacket for 40 years and it’s served me well.’”

He then went on to recount the trips he had taken wearing that jacket. It struck Mark that high-quality hunting clothing can become almost a journal of your sporting life. That experience planted a seed, which later grew into Ball and Buck.

Fast-forward to the present: I am here, in the hills of Arizona, on a quest for the desert-quail grand slam, and it is clear that the clothes Mark has lent me are designed to allow you to shoot your best in this unforgiving landscape. Much of the design inspiration comes from solving real-world problems.

It’s early in the day as we begin our hunt but even now it is beginning to get warm with effort and the tin-cloth trousers seem to form themselves to my shape. With every step forward, cool air from the ground is drawn upward. I feel like I have an air-conditioning system built into the trouser leg. But Mark goes on to explain that this is neither an accident nor an isolated example. The performance field pant is a product that embodies his obsessive attention to detail. Somewhere in between ‘so heavy that it’s uncomfortably hot’ and ‘so light that it shreds on any thorn’ lies the perfect performance garment for a harsh hunting environment. There are two separate problems to be addressed: heat generated in the groin area through exertion and protection of the lower leg from the rugged environment.

To solve this, Ball and Buck created a flexible, breathable area through the seat and crotch. And for the lower leg, which requires strength for protection, they used a heavy Mil-Spec canvas that is not available off the shelf. It is the same canvas used during World War II for military tents, and the archives still have the specifications used in the government tender. They took these specifications to a mill and had the cloth remade.

When you buy a Ball and Buck shirt, you are not buying something outsourced to Puerto Rico and made in bulk. You are buying into a level of detail that goes right down to the cotton-wrapped poly core that makes the stitching thread incredibly strong but not shiny. The jackets, too, have been subject to the intense level of scrutiny that is the hallmark of Ball and Buck.

“On most jackets you’ll notice the seam is on the bottom of the sleeve,” says Bollman. “That’s the traditional place to put it, but it’s clear that failures in many garments occur at seams.” Taking that failure rate into consideration, the problem has been designed out of Ball and Buck jackets by moving the seam to the inside of the arm and then fully reinforcing the panel where you have high-wear zones. “We don’t just make a product,” he continues. “We make a product because it solves a defined need or because the competitors are not at the required level in construction, stitching, material, or thought behind the features.”

I have traveled halfway around the world to join the team on this hunt. Living out of a suitcase, I am therefore short on kit and Mark lends me a shooting vest to try on as we get our gear ready in the cool morning light of the Southern Arizona foothills. He winks and smiles at me impishly. “That’s a lucky jacket,” he says. It is far from brand-new, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s a clear sense of the confidence he has in his products. Within half an hour, I am carefully placing my first Mearns’s quail into the game pocket at the back. As he comes over to congratulate me, I tell him I’ve never felt luckier.

To be in this landscape hunting some of the fastest wild game I have ever lifted a shotgun to is an experience to be treasured. He tells me he is field-testing a strap vest on this trip. He has already tested it twice, but changes will be made after this trial. They are not major changes, but this is part of the thought behind the brand. Unlike other firms, he doesn’t just launch a product into the market—this strap vest has been five years in the making.

This gear is not cheap, but the price is not high just to make a profit. Some luxury brands will make something for $10 and sell it for $700. That is not the way these guys operate. They are offering high value. They are offering the confidence that your garment won’t fail you in the field. You can buy a similar jacket that doesn’t last, or you can buy one jacket that will last, creating a lifetime of memories. Your kit is going to perform.

“Buy once, cry once,” as Mark puts it.

It’s in the details. They are charged 5 percent more for using the poly-core thread in their garments, for example, but if it provides exactly the right combination of strength and lack of shine, then it is a price worth paying. The reinforcing stitch used is specified by Mark—it’s more expensive but it’s stronger and ensures the longevity crucial to their products. A lot of garments designed for outdoor sporting are ill-conceived by design students who have never set foot on a bird hunt. Mark believes that level of disconnection from the end user is inherently flawed. It’s why he spends so much time in the field, testing his gear. But he is not too proud for feedback.

“Hunting guides using our gear will very often come back to us requesting specific features,” Bollman says. “And if we can, we will accommodate those ideas into the next iteration. So, it’s a constant evolution.”

The company’s original launch plan was one shop in Boston with a single barber’s chair to draw people in. Pretty soon that grew to three barbers’ chairs, and plenty of people found their way to the brand because of that idea. Ball and Buck then established a solid e-commerce presence, and collaborations followed. Mark finds the mutual benefits of these partnerships just as rewarding as the creative process of working with like-minded entities. “You can learn very quickly whether your values align,” he says.

One of his first collaborations was with New Balance. It was the shoe giant’s only collaboration, and it was centered around the trademark camouflage pattern inherent to Ball and Buck. The pattern itself is from his grandfather’s original hunting jacket that has proven to be the wellspring of Ball and Buck’s creativity. “I had my grandfather’s hunting jacket in a light box and then we lab-dipped the color. We had to test under four different lighting conditions, including ultraviolet to make sure it wasn’t glowing, and we did this for all four colors that make up the pattern of the Ball and Buck camo. I was in that lab for four days.”

There is a strong sense of shared identity between Ball and Buck and the partners with whom they work. It’s about celebrating conservative values and the history of the country, as well as excelling in quality. Each Ball and Buck garment has the Second Amendment subtly stitched into it as a connection to the past. “We are trying to build a brand that you can relate to as a hunter. I don’t know anyone who plays polo,” he says, a smile and nod to a famous international brand, “but I know a lot of people who’ve handled a shotgun.”

I end my hunt in the desert bleeding only from my unprotected forearm—my legs are scratch-free. “Those trousers have done a full decade of hunting and a motorcycle tour up the West Coast,” he tells me. I look back on it now, smiling, knowing that I’ve added my own layer of sweat and blood to the fabric of the Ball and Buck story.

Originally published in Volume 12, Number 4 (June-July 2024) of Covey Rise.