Built on Passion

Josh sits down with Allett Wallets co-owner Adam Muscat. Allett makes Ultra Thin Wallets and leather accessories. You may have heard of them already as they happen be the pioneers of the ultra thin wallet trend, which they introduced in 1995. Surprisingly enough, Adam and his co-owner and sister, Bridget Muscat got their entrepreneurial spirit from being involved in their parents pasta manufacturing business. They grew up helping out out making organic noodles, going to trade shows, and sitting in on business meetings helping spark their passion for business. So, how does one go from pasta to wallets? It wouldn't be until a fateful plane ride that Adam and his father would find themselves sitting next to the original founders of Allett Wallets. One thing led to another and three months later they bought Allett and have building it since to the leather carry good titan it’s slowly rising to be.

Josh sits down with Ridgemont Outfitters co-founder Stacy Lowery. Outdoor lifestyle footwear and accessories brand that’s inspired by action sports. Lowery’s experience in the outdoor sport industry has been quite evolutionary, starting as a skater and designer and increasingly getting more into the outdoorsy side of action sports. After gathering gear for a trip abroad, he found that the options on the market weren’t exactly what he was looking for and, with that in mind, he got to work designing something closer to what he was looking for. It wasn’t long until he found the perfect mix of style and functionality to spark what would snowball into Ridgemont Outfitters.

This podcast episode was originally recorded on Sept 4, 2018. Since Two Wheel Gear is a part of our current bike gear giveaway we wanted to bring this episode back from the archives. We've cleaned up the audio a bit and hope that you enjoy the episode with Owner Reid Hemsing talking about his journey in building Two Wheel Gear.

Josh sits down with Two Wheel Gear owner Reid Hemsing. Two Wheel Gear makes bike bags and packs for the everyday commuter. Although Two Wheel Gear, founded by Ken MacLean and Craig Coulombe originally got its start in 1999, Reid Hemsing, owner and president of Two Wheel Gear has successfully brought this rising star of a company into the 21st century. With more and more bike commuters searching for a practical, stylish, functional bag, Two Wheel Gear’s revitalization has sent it soaring but, what comes next, you’ll have to tune in to find out. 

Josh sits down with NW Alpine brand manager Cameron Larson. NW Alpine makes technical apparel for women and men climbers, mountaineers, and anyone in an alpine environment. Their products are not only of the highest technical quality but are made responsibly, and they pay a living responsible wage to all their employees. Infact, they’re one of the few brands that’s focusing on making gear IN house and in the US. Longtime climber and NW Alpine founder, Bill Amos created NW Alpine during the 2008 recession after becoming absolutely fed up with the state of the outdoor apparel industry. Climbing heritage brands were producing great things but geared towards lifestyle, losing a lot of unique features that were being robbed from climbers (just fashionable enough to sell on a rack at a retail store). It’s not everyday that you find a climbing brand that got its start due to the ripple effects of a financial recession, so we’re thrilled at the chance to dig deep into the fine details of how NW Alpine got started and snowballed into this climbing apparel behemoth

Josh sits down with Priority Bicycles CMO/co-founder Connor Swegle. Priority Bicycles was started to make biking simple and low maintenance with their belt drive bicycles. Connor and his fellow co-founder Dave Weiner have known each other since college, their paths staying relatively parallel, only diverging when their careers took them in different directions. Years went by, life happened, their jobs got super stressful, and they found themselves wanting to switch things up. After they both took the plunge to quit jobs they hated, Dave was absolutely fixated on getting back into the bike industry and that was all the inspiration Connor needed to join him. Together they made it a priority to spread the joy of getting on and riding bikes. But, how do you make something like that possible? After taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, they realized they just needed to take the work aspect out of biking. With that, they created a low maintenance bike that’s great for everyday riders, and set a reasonable price. This entire package hadn’t existed yet...so they made it and Priority Bicycles was born.

Josh sits down with Zoic founder Paul Wyandt. Zoic is a relaxed fit cycling clothing company that mainly focuses on mountain bike clothing providing loose-fit, technical performance clothing for anyone who wants to be comfy on the bike, and not wear spandex for cycling. After growing for several years and successful of creating this comfy-fit category of bike clothing, Paul came in and started working with Zoic and a sister brand to keep them alive and thriving. Eventually he saw an opportunity to fully take the helm of the operation and is now aiming to take this brand to another level.

Josh sits down with STAG Rack co-founder Joey Bridges. STAG Rack makes removable roof racks for your car to carry your skis, bike, and/or snowboard to wherever the adventure takes you. You may have heard of STAG rack before from a previous interview with co-founder Levi Lewandowski, where we got a chance to get a better look at how the idea for STAG Rack came about. This time around, Joey is stepping up to give us an update and some improvements made to their initial design. Join us as we sit down and dissect where STAG Rack is now and where they’re headed into the future! 

Josh sits down with ABLE CBD co-founders Krista Treid & Bill Ekeler. Able is a CBD vertically integrated CBD and hemp organization making products meant to relieve stress, inflammation, help with sleep and improve your overall quality of life. Krista and BIll built this budding CBD as a differentiator in the hemp industry by being a vertically driven company that is involved from the farming of hemp to their own health products, including the actual legislation involved in growing and producing hemp based products. Bill and Krista originally got started by looking at this for a wellness option to help improve the quality of life for close friends and family members, though the didn’t expect to become one of the Leading CBD companies in the industry. We’re psyched to get the chance to sit down and discuss how ABLE has helped set the stage of where the CBD industry is heading and what’s in store for the bright future of this company.

This podcast episode was originally recorded on August 21, 2017. Since Butora is a part of our current climbing giveaway we wanted to bring this episode back from the archives. We've cleaned up the audio a bit and hope that you enjoy the episode with co-owner Bradley Hilbert talking about how and why he started Butora.

Josh sits down with Butora Co-Owner Bradley Hilbert. Bradley was bitten by the travel bug long before he was bitten by the climbing bug once he moved to South Korea. It would be halfway around the world when he would meet up with his partners and the founder of what is now known as Butora. In this episode of the ReddyYeti Podcast we follow along as Brad shares his journey with us and gives us a play-by-play of one of the most revolutionary and comfortable climbing shoes we’ve seen in awhile.

Josh sits down with Rhino Skin Solutions founder Justin Brown. Rhino Skin Solutions makes functional skin care products for athletes including skin repair, muscle and joint recovery, small wound care, hydrating spray, and antiperspirant for hands and feet. Brown is a long time rock climber and is extremely passionate about the sport. He’s been lucky enough to watch the sport evolve and grow over the years, especially the performance aspect. It’s no surprise that shredding your skin comes with the territory of climbing and while there were a couple products he had his eye on, the price and quality just wasn’t what he wanted and, with a little encouragement from the climbing community, he got to work batching his own. It wasn’t long before his fellow climbers were coming to him for skin care products that blew his competitors out of the water for half the price.