A company like Conation has certain requirements for a company vehicle. It has to hold bikes – obviously. It should hold a fair amount of people too, in a comfortable and relaxing way, because there will be lots of camping, and hanging out, and sleeping in. Getting lost and unlost with friends, taking some epic adventures and probably having some hiccups along the way.
Dirt Rag’s theme this month is ‘Murica, edited by bike industry legend Stevil Kinevil. Guess what else is in this month’s issue? That’s right – ‘Murican-made clothing from Conation Collective! We’re pumped to get into such an iconic issue, and even more honored that Mike Cushionbury says the jersey “looks so good [he’s] probably worn it as much off-the-bike casually as on the singletrack.” Check out the full review in issue #192 on page 83, on shelves now!
Update: In case you missed it, you can check out the full article here!
Last Sunday wasn’t a good day. I tried to ride outside of Nederland, a small mountain town above Boulder, but was shut down by an early thunder storm that rolled through at 11am complete with a substantial amount of hail. That combined with a few other factors put me in a bad mood, and I wasn’t sure how to shake it. Eventually I decided to go for a second ride, more locally at Betasso this time, and hopefully get better weather.
We heard that making a video is the cool thing to do, so we decided to hop on the bandwagon! We decided to skip the roosting and sick turn-bar’s in favor or something we actually do all the time – ride around with some friends. That’s what we know how to do, so that’s what happens when a camera man is watching.
Today’s bike to work day so we got up nice and early to cruise around the city with everyone else on two wheels. Breakfast stops all over the city ensure everyone’s fed, and a couple of the stops even have tools and mechanics for quick repairs on your way into the office. So if you have to go to work today, make sure to pedal your way in and grab some food along they way!
It’s been a long winter here in Colorado with a lot of awesome days on skis ripping through soft fluffy powder. Recently we’ve been teased with a couple warm days and it has definitely gotten us excited about the arrival of Spring wildflowers, camping, long rides with friends in the mountains, and rocking Conation Collective gear!
I recently met up 
with someone looking to start their own apparel line, and our conversation brought the different classes of outdoor companies into stark contrast. We started talking with a brief history of the Conation Collective. I explained how I sketched out some ideas a couple years ago while working at a bike company and then started talking to manufacturers. There weren’t products on the market that resembled what I envisioned so Conation had to start from scratch. First we sourced fabric and chamois from around the world, but the fabric only came in solid-color rolls so we had to find an artist to create our western look. After digitizing the artist’s work we found most domestic print shops are set up for tee shirt production, but since we wanted to print fabric by the roll we had to locate a printer across the country to do it. Several people deeply involved in the apparel production industry told us there was no way to produce the kind of technical clothing in America at the volume (or lack thereof) that we wanted. They were almost right, but after 3 failed sample runs we finally found a solution to our manufacturing issues. Despite thinking we were in the home stretch we still had to scale fit specifically for cyclist’s body type, source a second print shop after the first one ate a bunch of fabric printing off-colors, and deal with supply chain issues that pushed our production back to September.
It was a wild ride, but it allowed us to have complete control over the production of Conation Collective apparel, making sure no corners were cut when it came to the garments we’re proud to put our name on. Conation Collective had to go through all of that because our competitive advantage is product-based, coming from creating garments that aren’t on the market already.
But a lot of companies aren’t like that, and simply recreate existing products with their own take on the branding – essentially a marketing company that is tied to in-house products. Several years ago I worked for a wheel company whose founder hadn’t considered if he was a proponent of the low rotational mass but high aerodynamic penalty of wheels with light rims that necessitate higher spoke counts, or thought aerodynamic benefit outweighed the weight penalty of a stronger rimmed wheel. He said he had simply picked cool looking wheels from a catalog in Asia, pasted some stickers on the rims, and voila, he had a wheel company.
But how do we know this is a pervasive trend? To start, we can look at the labels and fit on supposed “outdoor” apparel. We all know that cotton has terrible performance characteristics yet we find it in apparel because outdoor brands aren’t sourcing their own fabric. Or check out the fit of apparel. Tall people end up with shirts that look like tents because they’re being fit from a generic manufacturing model, not corrected for an athletic body type. And it’s not just our industry, as evidenced by this article about craft whiskey.
If these big factories were creating awesome products that were beneficial to riders, we understand less people would care about small companies making products in America. But we don’t think they’re putting out awesome products, and we don’t think that flashy marketing makes a wheel spin faster or a jersey fit better or whiskey go down smoother. So pick up a piece of Conation Collective apparel today and experience real product differentiation – with quality, fit, and passion.
It’s been a great winter here in Colorado with some beautifully warm and sunny days especially in February. We’ve been able to squeeze in some rides on the Front Range between snow storms and are looking forward to the warmer weather ahead, though it looks like we have a couple snow storms to get through first.
A few weeks ago Matt went out for a quick photoshoot with our buddy Dane Cronin behind the lens and Brian Alders joining in the fun despite having gone on a long training ride all morning. That guy’s unstoppable! Matt had been laid up in bed for two days before with uncharacteristic lethargy and an equally uncharacteristic fever but rallied for the occasion. We had some issues with the weather but ultimately got some sweet shots of riding, getting ready, and, for better or worse, fixing a flat.
It was great to get a couple more people in Conation gear and hear positive reviews. Can’t wait for Spring to hit Colorado and get out for some longer rides! We have big plans this summer and are excited for the warmer weather.
Check out our dealer locator to check out gear in person, connect with those social media links in the top left, or go straight to our product pages. See ya out on the trails!
Big thanks to Mountain Bike Action giving us a shout out in the Quick Releases section of their new issue! They checked out a full kit and gave praise for “offering uniquely styled shorts and jerseys for riders who want performance but don’t really want to wear a Lycra speedsuit.” Hopefully a more in depth review will be coming soon! Read more here!
We want to give a huge shout out to VeloNews for being the first major media to cover the launch of Conation Collective. We got a mention in their holiday gift guide, next to Patagonia jeans and a Lululemon jacket, with the sentiment that “if drinking post-ride beers — and looking good while doing it — makes us cliché, so be it.” Read more here!
