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Protective Industrial Products
Protective Industrial Products, founded by Joe Milot in 1984, is North America's largest supplier of consumable industrial safety products.
Protective Industrial Products
Joe Milot founded Protective Industrial Products in Latham, New York, in 1984 as a direct-mail supplier of work gloves. The company grew into a broad-line distributor of personal protective equipment (PPE), selling hand protection, eyewear, hearing protection, respirators, and high-visibility clothing to industrial distributors across North America. Wealth origin is not publicly disclosed beyond the company's organic growth in safety distribution. PIP operates as a hybrid designer, importer, and master distributor rather than a manufacturer. The firm sources from third-party factories globally, warehouses the finished goods, and sells through a network of independent safety distributors, rarely going direct to end-users. Its product catalog spans hand protection, protective clothing, head-to-toe safety gear, and facility safety products. Geographic coverage concentrates on the United States and Canada, with a distribution footprint built through multiple warehouses. Specific portfolio companies or investment deals are not publicly tracked in the format of a family office or fund. Scale is private and closely held. Employment numbers vary across public databases, typically ranging from several hundred to over a thousand workers. PIP does not publish revenue or total deployment figures. The firm maintains a network of regional distribution centers to serve a base of thousands of safety distributors. No recent major operational event is verifiable from primary sourcing within the last 24 months. PIP's structural differentiator is its classic safety distribution moat — it sits between thousands of global factories and an even larger, fragmented network of local distributors. There is no public family-office structure, co-investment club, or succession filing visible. The firm remains a privately owned operating company with a deep SKU count and entrenched safety-channel relationships, a model that has made the sector a target for private equity roll-ups that PIP has, to date, remained outside of as an independent entity.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1984
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Latham
Corporate office
Latham, NY, United States
Principals
Joe Milot
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs Protective Industrial Products?
The firm was founded by Joe Milot in 1984. Curran 'Curt' Holtz was named President and CEO in 2019 after serving as Chief Operating Officer since 2016. The senior leadership team includes functional heads overseeing operations, sales, and product management, though the firm does not publicly list a full executive roster.
Does PIP manufacture its own products?
PIP is primarily a designer, importer, and master distributor, not a mass manufacturer. It develops proprietary products and brands, but production is outsourced to a global network of third-party factories. The company warehouses the finished goods at its own distribution centers and ships to safety distributors.
What product categories does PIP cover?
The company's catalog spans head-to-toe personal protective equipment. Core categories include hand protection, protective clothing, eye and face protection, hearing protection, respiratory protection, head protection, and facility safety products. It is best known for its dominant position in industrial work gloves.
Who are PIP's typical customers?
PIP sells through a network of thousands of independent safety distributors and industrial wholesalers, not typically direct to the end-user. The end users of its products are workers across manufacturing, construction, oil and gas, utilities, and other heavy industries throughout North America.
Is Protective Industrial Products a family office or an investment vehicle?
No. PIP is an operating company — a privately held distributor of industrial safety products. It is not structured as a family office, nor does it publicly operate a corporate venture arm or investment management division. It runs the core business of importing and distributing PPE.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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