Tall Tara

This is Day 14 of a 21-Day Salute ™, an attempt to share a little bit of what I love about living in Boulder.

I know, I know…first I’m praising the skirts, now it’s the pants. What can I say? There are just some activities that call for a piece of clothing that allow you to throw a leg up or stretch out wide to find a foot hold. Bouldering is just such an activity and Verve pants are exactly what to wear when attempting such moves.

It seems like I'm defying gravity on this bouldering problem. Maybe I should rotate the picture?

I worked at a gear store when I first moved to town and Verve was a local brand that was featured in the store. The company was started by a famous climber, Christian Griffith, who had been making these bomber pants and selling them out of his garage for years. In addition to being well-made, the pants allow for ease of movement, have no pockets to get in the way of a climbing harness and are super comfortable. Then, on top of all that, they last forever. In terms of what to wear when climbing*, Verve pants are right up there next to your climbing shoes.

When checking out Verve online, I discovered some interesting facts about the company. I had heard stories about Christian’s climbing, but I didn’t know much about the evolution of his business. He went from selling chalk bags to clothing, all through word of mouth within the international climbing community. Christian was one of the very first sponsored climbers and in order to get some free marketing, he would wear his Verve pants to an Oakley photo shoot. He catered to a specific niche back when climbing was a specific niche.

As if I didn’t already just feel good wearing his pants, I then go on to find out that over 90% of Verve’s pants are hand sewn by four grandmothers in town. (While I’m as glad as the next guy that these grandmothers have jobs, I thought Boulder for sure had laws against grandparent labor.)

And for the record, I bought my Verve capris and extra long pants (yet another reason to love Christian…very few companies make extra long pants) in summer 2003. I’m still wearing them.

*Apparently, those who do yoga also think highly of these pants. And just as soon as I go back to yoga and stop talking about going back to yoga, then perhaps I’ll be better suited to talk about what an awesome yoga pant Verve is. Gah. I need to go to yoga.