Jet Lag
Shallow Snowpack
Walk in the Park - Tom Wallisch
Walk in the Park - Dash Kamp
Walk in the Park - Adam Delorme
Welcome to the Fam - Clayton Villa and Sean Jordan
How is that us moving away from skiing? We also have a plan to shoot again this winter on a series of edits. If that means that we are not involved in this sport somehow I am not sure how to respond to that. We made a movie in 2010 but we decided to focus more on shorter edits so that we can produce content the entire year and keep things fresh. Athletes schedules are real packed, especially our guys but they always make a point to gets shots with us for these videos. Getting everyone together at once though is just a lot harder now due to their contest and film schedules. So we shoot whenever they are available and we get quite a bit of footage in my opinion as evidenced by the 6 edits we made last year.
To the comment about how we only make size large-4xl...we make size Small and Medium too. We also only make sizes S-2XL on our Grand Cru stuff which is more upscale. Our Waxed Cotton Varsity fits snug and maybe someone who owns one cans comment on the cut (Balto, you bought one I think, right?). Our summer stuff is made in smaller sizes as well. Only things we make larger are the sweatshirt modeled pieces which are done in case people want to ride in them. I wear a medium because I like my clothing to be more fitted and apparently a lot of our customers do too because we sold through those sizes the quickest this year.
As far as the creative direction....you all make your own stylistic choices and if you don't like our clothing we understand. We have always made the clothing we liked. It is really nice that others like it too or else we would not be in business. Pandering to a specific audience or trying to make something you think others like but that you don't like is the very definition of a sell-out in my opinion. Happens all the time in music and art as well. People grab big bucks and try to cash out and appeal to the masses. We haven't and we grew independently to what we are today. We have 3 of our own boutiques and that is not something very many companies can say....especially ones that started with $417 in clothing (12 sweatshirts and 12 t-shirts). We had no money and no connections when we started. And we grew by putting the company first, above anything else. We didn't take a paycheck for the first 5 years and dumped every penny into the company we had, plus a lot more we didn't have.
Why would we walk away from skiing? Makes no sense. We have always been a clothing company and always will be a clothing company that is rooted in our lifestyle. We are not outerwear or hardgoods. If we only stayed in skiing then we would have to sell our clothing in every single ski shop in North America to be a viable entity. It is why brands to trade shows and have sales reps because they need to be in a shitload of shops to generate enough revenue to make the margins work. We don't want to do that so instead of flooding our product into every shop out there we choose to grow in a direction that allows us keep our product from being saturated in any one area. We have never done a trade show and do not have a single sales rep. It is a conscious decision. Also, as far as I can remember we have only had 1 design that ever had a skier on it in our entire history. Side note: Anyone know what that was? I'd be impressed if you did.
Brands grow and evolve and we will continue to grow an evolve. You can't wear a hoodie every day of the year and so we expanded our range. If you don't like something the great thing is that you don't have to buy it. You have lots of options and I am sure another company will come along and make something you like. But we will continue to make clothing we like and if you don't like the products available now or in the Spring, we will have an entirely new collection this next Fall/Winter that will completely different than what we produced this year. And yes, it is more colorful and diverse. I was just at the Factory reviewing samples and prototypes. There are a ton of really unique pieces.
Either way, buy what you like from brands you like. Support the people you want to support. And dress how you want to dress.
Alright, I am going back to work. Thanks for the little break.
Happy Holidays,
-Pete
