Q: Give us a little background on how Fly Low began and who was involved.
A: FlyLow Gear began three years ago out of my partner Greg Steen’s frustration with the alpine mountaineering and skiing industry’s lack of attention to what has become the fast growing sector of the industry. We found that climbing companies were marketing climbing clothes to telemark skiers without actually taking into account the need of the sport, and ski clothing companies had fallen behind a decade ago.
Now I love duct tape, don’t get me wrong here, but when your pants have duct tape and seem seal covering the same spots every year there is a problem; and, although the climbing industry giants will warrantee fabric and manufacturing defects, they do not cover the results of knee-dropping skiers. So, Greg and I saw a need for a mountaineering pant that actually caters to the needs of the ski-mountaineer.
The next driving force leading to the inception of FlyLow Gear was the lack of appealing style and the development of more climbing specific gear in the industry. Top of the line pants and jackets were getting tighter and lighter following the ‘pack light, move fast’ mantra of climbing clothing. Pants that have to stretch to fit over a pair of tele/snow board/ ski boots just don’t work well. Taught fabric rips/tares/cuts easier and they just aren’t that cool looking. The same went with the tighter over fit through the knees. There is a delicate balance between function and fashion, and it is relevant for us. If my pants can’t handle a knee pad while allowing the pant to fall right, you wide up with taught fabric through the knees. So it was simple, make room for the knee pads/boots and put some bomber 1200 denier codura fabric as reinforcements in those spots as well.
After developing our pant concepts we attacked the modern climbing soft-shell jacket, wondering why our favorite clothing manufacturers would not add pit-zippers and a hood that fits a ski helmet (not a climbing helmet) to technical pieces being marketed to snow riders. The difference between climbing up and walking down a mountain and what we do (climb up and ski down) is quite great. Being able to regulate body temp is crucial for a waterproof/breathable layer, even if it is a soft-shell. Once again we tweaked the mountaineering design concept of outer layers to better suit our sport and hopefully others as well.
After starting with t-shirts and sweat shirts three years ago, Greg and I are now producing our second line of technical outer layers appealing to telemarker and all snow riders that want tough clothes with style.
Q: Do you consider Fly Low a Telemark Company or are you going to be marketing to the Alpine and Snowboard community as well.
A: We Began as a tele specific line, and still focus on making clothes for the sport, however, they are also the best clothes for skiing and boarding alike. So, we consider ourselves and ‘ski-mountaineering’ company.
“Clothes for those who work outside and call it play.”
Q: It is our understanding that you are sponsoring some athletes. Who are they? Is there a place to find more information on them?
A: We sponsor some increadible atheletes, including: Dylan Crossman, Erin Young and the third partner in Flylow, Eben Mond.
Dylan is a super smooth skier from Vermont that winters at Alta, UT. Since I’ve met him he has been pretty consistent on the podium at the western region tele comps (winning a lot of them). Erin Young is our tele park rat/racer, competing for the past four years around the world, and Eben is the Colorado front range big mountain favorite. You can find Dylan, Eben and Erin with a simple google.com search and soon at flylowgear.com: also look for Eben in Couloir and Tele Skier magazines this year.
Q: Where will Fly Low be available this upcoming season for our readers to buy?
A: FlyLow Gear is available at:
- Mountain Miser, Denver, CO
- White Pines Touring, Park City, UT (fall 05)
- Down Wind Sports, Marquette, MI (fall 05)
- AlpenGlo, Golen, CO (fall 05)
- Backcountry.com (fall 05)
- FlyLowgear.com
Q: What are your goals for the company in the next couple of years?
A: We want to develop our line to cover all aspects of outer wear and underwear (or rather, long under wear, although our girls ‘boy-short’ underwear are very hot). There are so many innovations we want to bring to the alpine sports apparel industry but capital is what it will take to make these things happen. Greg and I feel we can build slow with the sport and attempt to satisfy the needs of our sport.
Q: Do you have a website?
A: www.flylowgear.com
Q: Which product in your new line are you most excited about?
A: Our pants are so tough you’ll break a bone before you break to material. We really developed our concept of the over stout pant to make a statement: ‘our gear is here to stay, because it wears in, not out’.
Contributed by Josh Madsen