Combat Flip Flops CEO works to secure safety of Issaquah company's Afghan workers
Matthew Griffin, CEO of Issaquah-based Combat Flip Flops and a former Army Ranger, deployed to Afghanistan three times before leaving the Army in 2006. He got out of the military because he felt the war effort wasn't truly helping the people overseas.
"They wanted jobs, clean water, employment, food, shelter and security, and we saw that nothing we were doing was going to help them," Griffin said. Working with Remote Medical International after the Army, Griffin helped government contractors put up clinics in difficult places around the world.
"What I saw was that small businesses were the true leaders providing security," he said. "Those are the guys who are watching their street corners and not letting anything happen."
Giffin helped found Combat Flip Flops in 2012. The company makes scarves, sandals, shirts and hats. It now has operations in Afghanistan, Colombia and Laos.
In Afghanistan the company employs 44 men and 36 women, not including administrative positions, at its two factories, where it makes large square shemagh scarves.
With the Taliban swiftly taking control of Afghanistan amid the U.S. withdrawal, Griffin and Combat Flip Flops are now working to keep factory employees and their families safe.
The company has instructed factory managers to wipe their computers and phones to eliminate any indication they have worked with an American business. They've also secured all products in English so they can't be confiscated. The factories are closed, and workers are staying at home. Griffin and his team are also working to get children of employees out of the country, as some could be forcefully recruited into the Taliban.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/08/19/combat-flip-flops-ceo-afghan-safety.html