Blue Point Capital Partners and its portfolio company National Safety Apparel (NSA) have announced its acquisition of Tri-Star Glove (TSG), a manufacturer of personal protective apparel, primarily serving the automotive, foundry, fabrication and glass end-markets. TSG is NSA’s 14^th acquisition since 2012 and the first investment since partnering with Blue Point less than two months ago.

Indiana-based Tri-Star Glove, founded in 2000 by industry veterans Rod Townsend and Eric Moll, provides consistent, high-quality and sustainably designed products. With comprehensive safety apparel expertise, TSG works with end-users to identify hazards in the workplace and engineer custom solutions to specific threats, strategically using thoughtful design and materials to enhance safety, Blue Point said in a press release.

“Tri-Star has developed a reputation for manufacturing outstanding personal protective apparel that spans a variety of project types and serves a diverse group of customers,” said NSA CEO Chuck Grossman. “Through this partnership, we will continue providing premium PPE products to our customers, leveraging our combined experience and industry knowledge.”

“NSA is a market leader and acquirer of choice in the safety solutions space,” shared Tri-Star Glove president Rod Townsend. “Eric and I are proud to be joining NSA’s portfolio of companies with Blue Point’s support, as we sincerely feel this team will honour our combined 93 years of industry experience with a commitment to advancing Tri-Star's business and its employees.”

TSG has expanded from solely manufacturing high-performance gloves for the domestic automotive space into a more diverse customer base, manufacturing personal protective apparel for the industrial safety markets, including welding, glass and molten metals. The hand protection market boasts the highest year-over-year growth compared to other adjacent safety segments, making this an ideal fit for NSA’s expansion.

“NSA’s rich history of M&A expansion and integration, combined with Blue Point’s manufacturing and safety sector investing experience, make this an exciting acquisition in the early stages of our partnership,” said Blue Point partner Jonathan Pressnell. “We are here to support the management team with value-added operational resources and help maintain this momentum as we continue to collaborate and evaluate organic and M&A opportunities.”