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C L I M B I N G A P P A R E L

ITH CLIMBING CLOTHES KNOWN AS LOOSE, STRETCHYor just plain comfy threads, it shouldn’t be too surprising that an increas-ingly wide selection of clothing that claims a climbing heritage is used

more for climbing on and off a coffee shop stool than up and down crags. So what theheck is “climbing apparel?” Depends on your definition, but one thing is for certain—you won’t get a consensus from either climbers or manufacturers.

In the 1960s, standard attire for rock climbing was corduroy knickers and acomfortable shirt. A decade later, the uniform of climbers nationwide appeared tobe white painter’s pants and a rugby shirt (women were essentially an unknownconcept at that time). A shameful period in the 1980s had climbers wearing bright-ly colored Lycra tights and T-shirts. (No worries, this author has successfully de-stroyed all evidence of past transgressions.)

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that “climbing” and “fashion” could be used in thesame sentence. Nowadays, climbing apparel is all about the “urban outdoorlifestyle.” The challenge is looking like a climber while ordering an iced doubledecaf mocha soy latte, while not really looking too much like a climber. The dirt-bag look is definitely out.

DIRTBAGS TO RICHESThere is scarcely an outdoor clothing company that doesn’t offer “climbing apparel.”The workbooks from The North Face/A5, Marmot, Patagonia, Arc’Teryx, Mountain Hard-wear, Cloudveil, Outdoor Research, GoLite and Sierra Designs all contain “lifestyle” prod-ucts for climbing. Both Gramicci and Royal Robbins, formerly considered “core brands,”have since gone mainstream and lost much of their prior climbing-rooted identity.

Among the original climbing brands from the ’70s, Patagonia is the only onethat hasn’t been assimilated. Some of the earliest products from the Great Pacif-

ic Iron Works softgoods division wereStand Up Shorts (“These are not collegiatecut Bermudas or jive safaris; these areclimbing shorts,” the catalog copy asserts)and rugby shirts.

Never a trend-follower, Patagonia did-n’t do much with its rock climbing cloth-ing for decades, other than update colorsand fabrics. In 2000, however, the com-pany started paying more attention to fash-ion and fit with the introduction of theRhythm Collection.

“When we started Rhythm, we didn’twant to wear a uniform that had been co-opted by a wider public, and we were cer-tainly not going to slip into peg leg cot-ton/Lycra tights,” said Rob BonDurant,Patagonia brand director. “So we went forfunky, yet functional styles. None of it mer-chandised together, and we didn’t want itto. That was the genesis for Rhythm.”

Though climbing continues to be a male-dominated sport, 70 percent of the Rhythmline is for women. For either gender, the col-lection strives to standout from other brands.

“Our top difference is the environmentalquality of our styles,” said BonDurant. “Westick to the Patagonia mission statement

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of making the best product and causing nounnecessary harm. For example, we havewholly committed to the use of organic cot-ton throughout our line, and PCR and re-cycled materials whenever possible.

“Also, what we hope is an obvious dif-ferentiation is the fashion direction of ourstyles,” added BonDurant. “We aim to makeclothing for a climber that currently reflectsa departure from the norm, we go forunique styling, fresh prints, hidden sur-prises, and most importantly, clothes that wewant to wear that have a timeless quality.”

The other clear leader in the climbingapparel segment is Prana. Part of its suc-cess is due to the marketing genius ofchoosing a 5,000-year-old Sanskrit word(meaning life force and vitality) and opt-ing for soft, organic, feel-good clothing.

Prana started in 1992 by selling cloth-ing to specialty shops in five major climb-ing centers: Joshua Tree, Red Rocks, theGunks, Salt Lake and Smith Rocks. In theearly days, the company dyed fabrics athome and made hangtags by hand. Nowit is an industry leader with 60 employ-ees—half are in the main office, and theyall answer the telephone.

The brand grew with the rising tide ofclimbing and, as Beaver Theodosakis,president of Prana, told GearTrends®, “Wehad the luxury of slow growth; it was neverforce fed.”

A 14-year-old kid named Chris Sharmaapproached them a decade ago saying heliked their stuff and wanted to wear it.The growth of bouldering, at which Shar-ma was at the forefront, as well as the ex-plosion of yoga, propelled Prana. On topof all that, a strong commitment to in-house service (no sales reps) has con-tributed to Prana being named REI’s Ven-dor of the Year for the last two years.

BLURRING THE LINESAmong the newer brands making waves isBlurr, a Canadian company that pushed theurban theme earlier than most. Indeed, whenBlurr came on the scene in 2001, many buy-ers didn’t get the concept. Of course, thosesame buyers probably never imagined amagazine called Urban Climber either.

According to Gus Alexandropoulos,Blurr’s marketing director, “When Blurrstarted, there were and still are, plenty ofgood brands that served the needs of 8,000-meter mountaineers. What we were lookingto provide was an alternative that allowedyou to still get outside but not look like youhave just ‘summitted’ when you had to stopand put gas in the car. We no longer livesuch segmented lives, and we believe thatyou can climb hard and still live in a city.

“For us, the advantages that large urban

centers offer are just as compelling as theadvantages found in the outdoors. So westarted designing products that more accu-rately reflected this new urban-oriented ap-proach to the outdoors. Clothing that workedbut also looked good enough to wear whengoing out for a drink,” added Alexan-dropoulos. “Packs and bags that could carryyour gear to the climbing gym and also safe-ly transport your laptop when traveling. Ul-timately, we wanted to create a line of prod-ucts that reflected the way many of usactually climb, train, work and travel.”

While the traditional outdoor compa-nies have been slow to catch on to what’shappening at crags and climbing gyms,Alexandropoulos told us that Blurr hasbeen an active participant. What differ-entiates the line is, he said, “We are moreunapologetically urban in our approach,and we try to allow that philosophy to per-meate our products.

“Whenever possible we want to mergetechnical materials and construction withmore mainstream urban style and fashion,”said Alexandropoulos. “Whether it’s laptopsleeves in our bags, iPod pockets in ourclothing or even the use of stretch denim, wewant to build products that truly reflect thisnew urban-oriented attitude. The gear needsto work, but it also needs to look good andaddress your real world needs.”

Blurr has taken that unapologetic,urban-focused mentality into its market-ing campaigns as well. Blurr’s in-your-facead campaign has created quite a bit ofcontroversy among climbers. Like it orhate it, the ads get noticed (see them onwww.blurrstuff.com).

“Instead of the classic image of the dirt-bag climber living alone in the desert, wedecided to embrace another more urban-oriented direction by showing our climbingteam members in their urban fantasy per-sonas,” said Alexandropoulos. “The cam-paign was meant to challenge our own in-ternal biases as to what a climber is supposedto look like and has garnered a huge re-sponse. All the folks involved in the ads, in-cluding the photographers, layout and pro-duction team and models, are climbers.”

RACK SPACE FOR THE LITTLE GUYSWith climbing apparel, as in any other ap-parel and product category, specialty re-tailers need products from smaller, nichecompanies to be able to stand out fromthe chain stores. Ultimately, there is noth-ing special about a store that carries thesame things as everyone else. To escapeblandness, buyers need to take risks onthe lesser-known lines that have a uniquelook and a core audience.

When he was an elite climber in the’80s, Christian Griffith often heard fromhis sponsors that “climbers don’t buyclothing.” Frustrated with this myopic vi-sion, Griffith started Verve in 1988 to be-come the first company dedicated entire-ly to rock climbing apparel.

He contends that in the early years, mostof the other brands “were focused on mod-erate movement in extreme conditions. In-stead, our clothing was made for extrememovements in mild conditions.” The heavystretch cotton fabrics were functional andparticularly flattering to female climbers.Undeniably authentic, and “not chasing



“What we were looking to provide was an alternative that allowed

you to still get outside but not look like you have just ‘summitted’

when you had to stop and put gas in the car.” —Gus Alexandropoulos, Blurr

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the yogarainbow,”

Verve re-mains a small

company. Verve’sentire product line

is “home-sewn inBoulder, Colo., by six

grannies.” Ropegun, a great name

for a climbing companythat seemingly appeared and

disappeared overnight, is nowback. According to JaimeGrant, “Ropegun originallylaunched in the late ’90s.My partner, Greg Loh, andI purchased the Ropegunassets in October of 2003

to reform the company afterone and a half years of stagnancy.”

Asked about their motivation to revivethe brand, Grant said, “In the time sinceGreg and I started climbing, participationin rock climbing has increased in orders ofmagnitude. Surprisingly, sales of climb-ing-specific brands have not kept pace.Following the successful paradigm of surfbrands that capitalized on the growth of

that sport in the mid-1990s, we believe aclimbing brand can both capture the loy-alty of its core consumer base and reachout to broader markets not currently court-ed by most outdoor retail channels.”

Grant said he recognizes that it’s diffi-cult to stay out of the me-too trap, so Rope-gun puts a lot of energy into development.“We design our products from the climber’sbody out, beginning with movement-friend-ly design elements that undergo several it-erations of fit-testing. Though engineeredfor movement, our clothes are meant forboth stone and street. Climbers are lookingfor clothes that meet both their functionneeds and their lifestyle needs. We recog-nize that climbers are wearing more urban-inspired clothes to the crags, and we tai-lor our designs to embrace that aesthetic.”

While striving for originality, Ropegunisn’t about to give up on a sure thing, thecompany told us. “Let’s face it; men love toclimb in jeans. You might as well climb ina pair that is engineered for climbing.”

Historically, climbing has been very male-focused, but there is little doubt that a sig-nificant portion of the growth of climbingcan be attributed to women entering thesport. Over the past decade, the ratio has

gone from 90 percent male/10 percent fe-male to something around 60/40 dependingon the discipline (and to whom you listen).

This has meant an opportunity forwomen’s-only companies such asStonewear Designs that truly understandthe body shapes of different women. Ac-cording to Kitty Bradley, director of salesfor Stonewear, “Our attention to fit andour truly supportive and comfortable float-ing bras differentiates us from the rest.Most of our styles fit many types ofwomen’s bodies, from athletic to curvy.For example, our Stonewear Pant comesin regular, petite and long, sizes XS toXXL—that’s 21 different sizes!”

While Stonewear started as a core climb-ing company, it sees opportunities in yogastudios, spa resorts and fitness stores. “Weeven have a hospital that sells a few itemsin their store for post surgical and mater-nity patients due to comfort.”

CHECKING OUTBefore there was a huge selection of ap-parel on the market, many climbing com-panies complemented their lines with cloth-ing. Some, such as Five Ten and LaSportiva, made weak attempts that in hind-



“We recognize that climbers are wearing more urban-inspired clothes to the crags, andwe tailor our designs to embrace that aesthetic.” —Jaime Grant, Ropegun»

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sight were doomed from the beginning.Others did reasonably well but decided thattheir energy was better directed elsewhere.

“Believe it or not, we got out of the cloth-ing market because our line was too suc-cessful,” said Brooke Sandahl at Metolius.“Our passion was to make climbing equip-ment and supporting pieces that helped yougo climbing. When our Canvas Pants andShorts sales went ballistic, we were at acrossroads. We knew getting into the ragtrade was not something we were that com-fortable with and didn’t understand it like wedid the hardgoods side of things. We knewthe path would be outsource, go overseasand, in the end, nobody internally wanted totake the bull by the horns....We still get has-sled from people all over the country de-manding we restart the clothing line.”

Black Diamond is another hardgoodscompany that has dabbled with clothingsince the beginning. However, it too hasdecided to call it quits, according to soft-goods category manager Robert Ytturi.

“In a directional shift, Black Diamondis moving more toward a ‘promotional-only’ based clothing line in supporting thebrand,” Ytturi told GearTrends®. “The tech-

nical apparel space is very crowded, andwe’ve decided not to play in it at this time.”

Grant at Ropegun summed it up well,“The apparel industry is a tricky business. Ityields nicely to economies of scale, but tendsto eat up poorly funded start-ups and nichemanufacturers. Some gear companies havemade forays into apparel, but I imagine theydiscovered that their existing manufactur-ing business had little in common with ap-parel. The supply chain and manufacturinginfrastructure are completely unique to ap-parel. You don’t just start a small divisionand expect to make a successful run in cloth-ing. No matter what your sales channel, youhad better know the rag trade or you are infor a rude awakening.”

FASHION FORWARDOutdoor Industry Association does nottrack climbing apparel in its Top Line SalesReport, so it is difficult to assess the sizeof this segment of the market. With somuch crossover into other categories, anyestimates would be suspicious.

It’s clear that the old concepts of howand what to sell in the outdoor markets arechanging rapidly. In-store boutiques with

custom clothing racks, better lighting andgood merchandising are no longer rarities.Savvy shoppers demand more because,after all, there’s always the Internet.

If your store fails to meet your cus-tomer’s expectations when it comes toclimbing apparel, remember always thatthe same customer can easily find a web-site like ThePerfectHigh.com, which sellsnothing but clothing and gear for boul-dering and yoga. Founded in 2003, andbased in Crested Butte, Colo., The PerfectHigh offers one-stop shopping for theyounger generation of climbers. With lineslike Prana, Blurr and Ben Sherman, theonline retailer caters directly to a marketfrequently ignored by climbing shops.

Ironically, most of these radical vision-aries have also lost sight of another truth:Honed, lithe young bodies sometimes turninto sedentary, plushier, older bodies. Whilethere is no evidence that life ends above a38-inch waist or size 14 dress, it’s quite ap-parent that for many of the youthful climb-ing brands, larger sizes are a market thatseems to have been mostly forgotten.

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