CREAG Mountain Apparel Business "FOR SALE"

Colorado Mountain Apparel Brand for sale. Unfortunately, our March 2020 brand launch timing was not ideal. When everything got locked down, so did our private funding. So, despite our best effort we just couldn't make ends meet. We currently have over 175K in apparel inventory (at cost), and 100K in technical fabric and trims. We, also, have two active trademarks "CREAG" and "BE THE MOMENT." All of our apparel, other than hats and tees, are manufactured in the USA.

Men's Inventory: Pants, Shorts, Jackets, and Tees.

Women's Inventory: Pants, Tights, Compression Shorts, Jackets, and Tees.

Unisex: Truckers

Our website is fairly broken down at this point, but if anyone is interested in what kind of apparel we sell you can find it at www.creagwear.com. Our Instagram and Facebook handles are Instagram:@creagwear and Facebook:@creagwear.

If anyone is potentially interested in buying our company please contact Mac at ggaugh@gmail.com.. Although we were unable to make it happen thanks to COVID, nothing would make us more psyched than to know that someone will keep the dream alive.

Holy smokes, this is for sale?  Please somebody buy it and keep it alive.  I live in this gear, not just during outdoor activity but literally all the time around the house.  COVID sounds like it caused the sale but I can honestly say it's all I wore during COVID.  It's comfortable, high quality and I get tons of comments on it.  Keep it alive!!!

Just bought a pair of pants. Stoked to take them out, need some bright climbing pants :)

Man, that sucks. Your stuff looks nice. Not to rub salt in the wounds, but the price point is very high. $150 for climbing pants isn’t something I feel like I can afford. Not trying to troll. But pandemic or no pandemic, I honestly think no one is paying Arc’teryx prices for an unknown brand. Even of made in USA. (Caveat, I do not live in Boulder)

Why isn’t your whole site 50-60% off to recoup some of your costs? It sounds like you don’t believe in this clothing anymore than I do.

Again, condolences. It sounds like a kick in the teeth. But you came here looking for investors, and I couldn’t imagine investing in a company that sells climbing pants for $150 and shorts for $100 unless they make me climb 9a or are made of some incredible unobtanium magic fabric that turns CO2 to Bitcoin.

Also, the first guy to reply is **surprised** that this is for sale, but somehow felt so compelled that he made a Mtn project account and made his first post? Come on..

Sean Gleason wrote:

Holy smokes, this is for sale?  Please somebody buy it and keep it alive.  I live in this gear, not just during outdoor activity but literally all the time around the house.  COVID sounds like it caused the sale but I can honestly say it's all I wore during COVID.  It's comfortable, high quality and I get tons of comments on it.  Keep it alive!!!

something tells me you're selling it...

As of a few days ago, everything on the site was 60% off - I posted about it elsewhere on Mtn project.
it is super nice stuff - I’m wearing my quantum pants and a t right now. 

It is expensive, and a lot of cost seems to have gone into custom shipping bags and lots of stickers. But it’s well made, and made on this continent. I had never heard of this company until a few weeks ago and got some pants. I imagine some better marketing would have helped get the word out, but who knows. 

To Burger King. Yes, the pricing is very expensive, but you need to consider that manufacturing in the US is between 30-40% more than manufacturing overseas. When I decided to go about this venture the economy was strong, and a lot of people were migrating to American-made products. I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't predict the onset of a pandemic. I may have created a new brand, but personally, I think we have the best climbing pant made. I respect Sportiva and have worn their clothing for years. Yet, they charge $139 for pants, and just because you don't know a brand doesn't mean they can't produce something as good, if not better. The apparel industry is always changing and evolving. Unfortunately, too many outdoor brands have been stuck in the same patterns, colors, and designs for years. It's not that I don't believe in CREAG, it's just that I know my journey with it is over.

To Graham Johnson: Thanks for the kind words on our pants. There really wasn't much put into stickers and packaging. The cost was in US manufacturing and using really high-end fabrics/ trims. The problem with the climbing world is that everyone wants super high-end gear for next to nothing. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist. I do find it kind of ironic that with the amount of money in the climbing industry these days everyone still wants dirtbag prices on gear. I mean half of the climbing culture is driving Sprinter Vans. That's hardly roughing it as far as I'm concerned.

Mac Gaugh wrote:

To Burger King. Yes, the pricing is very expensive, but you need to consider that manufacturing in the US is between 30-40% more than manufacturing overseas. When I decided to go about this venture the economy was strong, and a lot of people were migrating to American-made products. I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't predict the onset of a pandemic. I may have created a new brand, but personally, I think we have the best climbing pant made. I respect Sportiva and have worn their clothing for years. Yet, they charge $139 for pants, and just because you don't know a brand doesn't mean they can't produce something as good, if not better. The apparel industry is always changing and evolving. Unfortunately, too many outdoor brands have been stuck in the same patterns, colors, and designs for years. It's not that I don't believe in CREAG, it's just that I know my journey with it is over.

To Graham Johnson: Thanks for the kind words on our pants. There really wasn't much put into stickers and packaging. The cost was in US manufacturing and using really high-end fabrics/ trims. The problem with the climbing world is that everyone wants super high-end gear for next to nothing. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist. I do find it kind of ironic that with the amount of money in the climbing industry these days everyone still wants dirtbag prices on gear. I mean half of the climbing culture is driving Sprinter Vans. That's hardly roughing it as far as I'm concerned.

Deleted my original post as I think it may be a little more critical than I intended.

Good luck! It is hard owning a business. Most of them fail, hope your next venture works out better!

Bump for great seller and great pants. Super nice guy. And yeah this stuff is super high quality!

Although I had never heard of them before, the Quantum pants I got were top quality; excellent in design and execution. Lots of thought went into that piece and I would expect the other pieces to be the same.

"To Graham Johnson: Thanks for the kind words on our pants. There really wasn't much put into stickers and packaging. The cost was in US manufacturing and using really high-end fabrics/ trims. The problem with the climbing world is that everyone wants super high-end gear for next to nothing. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist. I do find it kind of ironic that with the amount of money in the climbing industry these days everyone still wants dirtbag prices on gear. I mean half of the climbing culture is driving Sprinter Vans. That's hardly roughing it as far as I'm concerned"

"Money in the climbing industry people still want dirtbag prices on gear"

How would money in the industry effect money of the consumer base? Our incomes are not based around the money within the industry unless we work in the industry. It's not as if climbing getting bigger increases the salary of a teacher. If you don't have the awareness to know that $140 prices out 90% of the country on pants, then you're too deep into a echo chamber within Boulder Colorado. I'm not saying that there isn't room for luxury items for people who want to pay it, but let's not pretend that these prices are reasonable for the average climber.

I’m still trying to find people who pay that much for pants. I think the most I ever paid was $75 and that was because E9 pants have super badass pockets and a shit ton of awesome color schemes. I wouldn’t buy them full price. I’ve never bought any clothes for climbing at retail value. I’m pretty sure most people are like me on this; or maybe I have a skewed view, since most of my gear came from this website.

Are they actually durable? If I take them to work as an arborist, will they last more than a week of being poked and grabbed by branches? The hollow fibers sound awesome, but also more prone to getting grabbed by gritty features. No rock climbing pants I’ve owned can handle tree work to any sort of efficient degree. They seem more like a fashion statement, rather than actually providing something that $20 stretchy wrangler Walmart jeans can’t provide you.

Graham Johnson wrote:

As of a few days ago, everything on the site was 60% off - I posted about it elsewhere on Mtn project.
it is super nice stuff - I’m wearing my quantum pants and a t right now. 

Seeing full price now...

Burger King: Thanks for your insight. I was planning to move production overseas after the next season since trying to do it here was impractical. It may seem as though I'm blaming COVID, but for the first six months of the pandemic, people were spending money on needs, and not wants. As a new brand, trying to get another production line going is rough, and early sales are critical. You may have owned your own business before, but I'm assuming it was not an apparel line. The first two years are meant for seeding and profitability is none. So, you take what you can get and run with it. It's imperative that you have enough capital to push through your next production line, but when funding was cut due to the pandemic, there wasn't much left to do. So, yes, COVID played a critical role in me moving forward despite what you may think. You mention brands like Patagonia, etc. a brand that has been around forever and has endless capital to sit through rough situations without enduring much damage. However, when you have continual lockdowns on small businesses so the elite liberals can pay back their big donors like Amazon, etc. it makes it tough for new and existing small businesses to survive. A lot of my revenue came from people who worked in retail and restaurants.

Just out of curiosity, have you worn a pair of our pants or are you basing your opinion on what you have seen on the website?  How can you make an informed opinion that way? It would be like me saying the new Audi Q7 is garbage because it's way overpriced even though I never took it for a ride. There have been pro climbers that have worn our lightweight pants in Vedauwoo for a couple of months without even a scratch. If you are not familiar with the area, I would suggest wearing your favorite pant and see how well it holds up. We designed clothing that would last. So, you can burn through two of your favorite pants by the time you wear out one of ours. If you do the math you would end up saving money in the long run. 

I'm not actually trying to sell my business on Mountain Project. I've avoided this forum for years because it's full of trolls. I was simply posting it to see what kind of feedback I would get. I have no investors; I'm simply just trying to unload my fabric/trims and inventory in bulk. Sure, I could run a sale for the next month on my website and sell most of my stock, but I'm ready to close this chapter of my life and move on.

I honestly do appreciate your input, but before you decide to lecture someone about what they have done wrong with their business, I would make sure that you truly understand the dynamic of the situation. More importantly, maybe try taking the gear for a spin first before posting your critique on something you have never tested yourself.

To all the other comments and questions, thank you. I think most of them are answered above. As for the pricing, yes, our pricing is high but that’s only because we manufactured in the US, and that would have been resolved when we moved production overseas. As for the designs and color schemes, I assure you that each piece was carefully thought out and all aspects of the designs are fully functional. Nothing we did was gimmicky or for a fashion statement. Although patchy color schemes are cool to look at, they are impractical. Our goal was to create complex designs that appeared simplistic which is why we kept things monochromatic. Lastly, a typical pant has six panels, and ours has fourteen. The amount of time it takes to cut and sew each panel increases overall cost exponentially. 

Another goal was to keep our clothing out of the closet and on people, and if you have a bunch of bright patchwork all over the place, it makes it tough to match with anything else. Not to mention, as a new brand it can get very expensive to buy a whole bunch of different fabric colors and quantities. You get hit with surcharges for every MOQ (minimum order quantity) and MCQ (minimum color quantity) you go under. Most textile companies require in the excess of 3000 yards and up to avoid surcharges, and as a new company, we could come nowhere near that amount. So, there are a lot of factors you need to consider when designing apparel.

If you are an arborist, then these pants would work just fine, but I would typically wear a Carhartt or something much thicker. Our pants are durable, but they are lightweight. So, getting jabbed by sharp twigs all day would probably not be worth your while.

Thanks again for all the great feedback.

Sorry to hear about the demise of your business. It's always tough.

To me, there's a marketing lesson to be had. You're right that climbers (as a demographic) always want top-quality gear at Target prices. True fact. That's why companies such as Patagonia, BD and numerous others have migrated AWAY from targeting climbers and toward more affluent, loose-spending groups such as skiers, campers and, even more generally, just street fashions. Most people buying "surf" clothes don't surf.

I think naming your company CREAG, a play on CRAG, probably didn't help. 

Carhartts are good for groundsman, but you still need a lot of freedom of movement in a tree just like you do for rock climbing. It’s not often that it happens, but when it does it is rather frustrating having your pants get in the way of being able to get yourself in a goofy, but solid, work position.

There just isn’t a good medium between cheap $20 stretchy jeans; and $300 cloggers/gladiators for trees. And then those $300 pants are more of a hazard than they’re worth in southern states during the summer because of how easy it is to overheat in them. No pants seem capable of being truly durable and also lightweight/breathable/flexible with our current fabric technology. 

I think people made great points about the fashion part of this. I’m from a beach town and I can confirm that everyone wears surf attire regardless of wether they actually surf or even go to the beach.

Erik Strand wrote:

Carhartts are good for groundsman, but you still need a lot of freedom of movement in a tree just like you do for rock climbing. It’s not often that it happens, but when it does it is rather frustrating having your pants get in the way of being able to get yourself in a goofy, but solid, work position.

There just isn’t a good medium between cheap $20 stretchy jeans; and $300 cloggers/gladiators for trees. And then those $300 pants are more of a hazard than they’re worth in southern states during the summer because of how easy it is to overheat in them. No pants seem capable of being truly durable and also lightweight/breathable/flexible with our current fabric technology. 

I think people made great points about the fashion part of this. I’m from a beach town and I can confirm that everyone wears surf attire regardless of wether they actually surf or even go to the beach.

i think this is what you want: https://truewerk.com/

I'm sure their pants are great. There is just nothing that differentiates them from every other super euro looking outdoor brand.

curt86iroc wrote:

i think this is what you want: https://truewerk.com/

Those look pretty legit. Do you have a pair? If so, is there any reason to prefer paying a premium for rock climbing pants instead of these truewerk pants? For rock climbing/bouldering

I have a friend that swears by his stretch Deluth pants. He has about 5 different pairs and they might be what you are looking for.

As for the name of the brand; I'm Scottish and CREAG is Gaelic for cliff. I'm not sure why that would have anything to do with selling products but we are all entitled to our opinion. Our pants are ideal for the surf. I wear them all the time at the beach. They are lightweight, breathable, and if you soak them they will dry in 10 minutes.

I can second the stretch Duluth's. I work construction and they blow carhartt's and Dickies out of the water.