Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiall Wheatley.
Hi Kiall, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We are Dead Eye Club. A design and manufacturing company with a focus on making amazing products for trouble makers, adventurers and modern rogues. Dead Eye Club is helmed by Kiall & Jon Wheatley, two brothers from the U.K who now proudly call Saint Louis their home.
Our mission is to design and manufacture top quality mischief. Our gear is tough, simple and designed to last a lifetime. Every Dead Eye Club Product is the result of extensive (and fun) in house testing and embodies the following values:
Fun – If it isn’t insanely fun to play with we won’t sell it.
A bit dangerous – Live life on the edge.
No Batteries – Dead Eye Club is about analogue fun.
Skill -Something you can learn and get better at over time.
Does that sound like you? Join the Club!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The covid-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges for us, as it has many businesses around the world. Issues with shipping, lead times on manufacturing and other issues have all reared their heads.
The biggest challenge that we’ve faced (at least initially) however was juggling the workload of our new company along with our existing 9-5 jobs. We are now running DEC full time, but the first two years it was necessary to do both simultaneously while also keeping our side hustle secret from our current employers. Stressful.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Dead Eye Club?
Dead Eye Club is all about fun, we design stuff to have fun with. That’s it. Our ultimate goal? – to get our designs out there into the world and hopefully spark some enjoyment in people’s lives.
Our brand voice is laid back, irreverent & playful. We like to poke fun at ourselves and others. We listen to punk rock at the office and stay up late. We like skeletons, science-fiction space adventures and always appreciate a good meme.
A crash course in Dead Eye Club products –
The Wishbone – A premium, deadly accurate and powerful slingshot, designed and manufactured right here in Saint Louis. This ain’t your daddy’s wrist-rocket, guys and girls. The Wishbone is outfitted with tuned, slingshot-specific elastic and a minimalist modern design, making each slingshot capable of shocking accuracy and eye-watering levels of power. Hard anodised in a variety of finishes, the wishbone is supplied with a metal storage case, some ammo to get you started and arrives ready to shoot.
Throwing Cards – a new take on traditional playing cards. Dead Eye Club cards eschew traditional construction techniques in favour of something a little bit different. Our cards are constructed from super thick (.32mm) weighted PVC plastic, making them extremely sturdy and impervious to water, whisky & violence. Perhaps most importantly, they look great and are more than capable of eviscerating fruit and veg at 20 paces (check out the videos on our website) and they will hurt if flung in the direction of another human (not recommended). If things kick off at your next poker game you’ll have 52 weapons within reach hiding in plain sight.
Our throwing cards come in two flavours. The ‘widow-maker deck’, styled after a fictitious 1920s cigarette brand and featuring the artwork of skeleton warriors, archers and spearmen, and the ‘rouge planets’ deck styled after a fictitious brand of cigarettes smoked in the future by interstellar smugglers featuring the artwork of skeleton astronauts, ray guns and aliens.
The mischief kit – everything you need to start shooting a slingshot. 1x wishbone slingshot 1x pack of replacement bands 1x pack of slingshot ammo.
Coming soon – Soft goods (bags, wallets etc) apparel, more slingshots, desk accessories, tools, games & more
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Likes – easy to do business, STL residents are positive, industrious and easy to work with. Easy to find workspace/storage. Lots of characters in the different neighborhoods. Low cost of doing business.
Dislikes – None, STL is our home. We love it here.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@deadeyeclub.com
- Website: deadeyeclub.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deadeyeclub/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dead-Eye-Club-101959794764748/
