THE ENDURANCE CONSPIRACY
Why Tee Shirts?
Let's just say, that these days, we don't want to go anywhere or do anything that a tee shirt is not appropriate attire. When you’re wearing one of your favorite tees, you know you’ll be comfortable, and that’s reflected in your attitude and behavior.
T-shirts have always been a source of pride for the DeBoom boys. To this day, we still fondly remember and reminisce old classics, and even preserve some of our early favorites – keeping them safely stored like fine wines or priceless heirlooms. We traded them like baseball cards and comic books. Occasionally our favorite swim coach would open up his vast compilation of tees and pass them on to those deemed worthy. His tees provided a biographical account of his adventures. We would spend an entire day divvying them up in a selection process worthy of the NFL draft.
Throughout childhood, if the DeBoom boys weren’t outside playing sports, we were more than likely found sprawled out on the floor of our rec-room drawing and doodling for some upcoming art contest or just for the heck of it. As competitive swimmers, swim coaches, and lifeguards, we always volunteered to design the team shirts – along with our good childhood friend Vaclav Hasek. We took great pride in making sure our shirts stood out above all others. The ultimate compliment was when the other athletes and teams traded for our shirts.
Even as adults, when the brothers gathered, we were always sure to pull out the latest cool tee from our immense collections. We also continued to design tees on occasion for some of our friends in the industry. As the compliments grew and we garnered encouragement to expand our hobby into a business, the Endurance Conspiracy was realized.
The Endurance Conspiracy
We are a new athlete owned and managed company inspired by endurance sports and our love for the environment. We are dedicated to creating a unique line of apparel of the highest quality while maintaining and promoting the utmost ethical and environmental best practices.
The EC Line is art driven clothing born out of our passion for endurance sports. We love the idea that tee shirts can be used as an auto-biographical compilation of ones life, a conversation piece and even valued as a precious souvenir. We produce pieces that reflect our personalities and sensibilities; drawing from our own unique experience and the common understanding of those in love with endurance sports. While the rest of the sports industry is mired in plain logo based designs, EC has set out to create a brand built around engaging, artistic designs. The ideas that make us laugh and smile manifest themselves in our designs. The art for EC is a blend of original work and endurance sports history.
Most ideas come straight from the sketchbook and our experiences here at The EC, with cameos by a few other artists. Additionally, the EC artists provide custom design work for some of our friends in the endurance sports industry. In the past our artists have worked with Red Bull, Inside Tri Magazine and Red Rock Co. to name a few. We continue to do custom work for races, stores and teams.
Our goal at EC is to continually work to reduce our environmental impact while providing the best apparel possible. The goal is to create a higher level of relevance in the most responsible way possible. Our mission in driving the brand will be to develop products using a conscious approach to design, always sourcing the most environmentally friendly and sustainable materials possible, improving our products without damaging the environment, and to work with and promote other groups to help protect and restore our planet.
The Fabric
When we scrutinized environmentally friendly fabric fibers to determine their environmental impact, we evaluated several of the latest and most popular materials available on the market today. The one we determined to be the most sustainable and least harmful material, as well as, made one heck of a soft tee shirt, was organic cotton.
As it happens, very little is pure or natural about cotton when it is raised conventionally. Fully 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals in the United States are used to produce cotton, grown on just one percent of all major agricultural land. Conventional cotton crops in California alone are dusted every year with 6.9 million pounds of chemicals. And research shows that extensive and intensive use of synthetic fertilizers, soil additives, defoliants and other substances wreak terrible havoc on soil, water, air and many living things.
Thus, Organically cultivated cotton. There are farmers who have been growing cotton without harmful chemicals for years. Their yield is high and the quality of the cotton they grow is equal to or better than conventionally grown cotton. Their methods support biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, improve the quality of soil and often use less water. Growing organically takes more time, requires more knowledge and skill, and, for now, costs more. But it's worth it.
EC products are super soft, comfortable, hard wearing and well-made - from the best quality organic cotton, manufactured to the highest standard. You can be assured that they have minimum environmental impact right throughout the chain from the production of the cotton right through to the retailing.