After reviewing my notes from Winter OR, I realized I left out some products and fun facts I wanted to share about Chaos Headware, Gramicci, and Cushe Foowear.
Chaos Headwear:
While most retailers and consumers are scaling back, Chaos Headware said its sales were up nearly 50% over last year. Not only does Chaos specialize in the cool snowboarder beanies, there’s also a kid’s division that has anyone with or without children want one of the hats that looks like a monster, or some other animal. Also new this year is the Huddle Hat. Sure, it might look like something only a 7-year-old boy would wear, but put a few beers in a grown man, and he will be knocking down the kids to get this hat. It’s that cool, and I’m not even a football fan by any stretch of the imagination (I “watch” the Super Bowl for the booze.) When coming up with the prototype for this hat, it took the creator a month to just make one. The football mask on the front of the hat snaps on or off depending on how rowdy the crowd gets.
Every time I see Gramicci at OR, I’m baffled by not just the variety of their clothing, but how cool it looks. Most times when I see the brand at the stores, it’s usually the high-wasted granny pants and boring shirts. With that narrow minded knowledge under my (thankfully-not-grandma styled) belt, I entered the booth with an open mind. I loved Gramicci’s take on the 1940’s military inspired line of jackets, pants, and shirts. Sure they’re heading back to the classics, but the new-meets-old style is something hipsters will want. Glancing at the solid woven line, you would never know the fabrics were made from scraps gathered from the cutting room floor. If I were a retailer, I’d be falling over myself trying to get both the mens and womens clothing on the racks.
Another brand I would like to see more often is Cushe footwear. This year was a big year for them at OR. For being a fairly new company they had a wide selection of shoes under three collections: urban safari, universal traveler, and coastal supremacy. Being that I live in a state that has all four seasons, I really liked the universal traveler selection the most. Representatives from the company say that they are trying to expand to bring fashionable shoes to the outdoor world. Being that I work outside and usually end up with clunky, boring shoes, I really can’t wait to see more of Cushe on the shelves of my local retailer.