This IA sidearm was designed for the Gentleman on the go. Both a functional piece and a statement piece. As one designer commented at the release afterparty: "Anyone shot by one of these should feel honored that such a fine looking weapon was used on them."
The Legate was designed to bring the IA name back into the forefront of the sidearm market. With a smooth, sculpted appearance, IA was promising a product that harkened back to the romance of the ancient westerns with their revolvers.
The legate wasn't wildly successful at first, until the marketing team switched up their plan and began pushing this as the "Gentleman's Sidearm." Once the wealtheir strata of society began seeing the Legate as a statement piece as well as a personal defense item, sales took off.
Within a year of this marketing pivot, a lucrative secondary market of Legate customization opened up. IA, in a surprise move, embraced this evolution. In a private investor call, the CFO at the time stated: "No, I'm not worried about them 'stealing' our revenue. They still buy the weapons from us, and as yet, none of them have even asked about bulk purchase discounts. We're still receiving the exact same revenue that we would if we sold all these units to the individual customers directly. We've never balked at our customers making modifications to our product in the past, and there's no benefit in starting now. You where there is a benefit? Sales of Legates have jump 20% since we started granting some of these gunsmiths 'Approved Modifier' status."