Crossroads is a fan favorite. We’re MASH fans here at EC, and this tee was inspired from the famous sign that sat in the middle of the MASH camp throughout the entire span of the show. Our sign however, is full of famous race destinations. Including Ishigaki – a tribute to our EC family member, Sakiko Kedashiro – friend to the stars.

Since we’re launching this week, thought this was a good video to post from Modern Collective. It’s a pretty sweet version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Patti Smith as well. I guess we’ll be venturing into the video ads world after seeing this. Hell, I’d buy a potatoe sack if she was wearing it.

Here’s a great speech by Yvon Chouinard – it’s about an hour in length, so listen when you have time. It goes by pretty quickly. About 39:30 into it he begins talking about the most devastating material in the apparel business…cotton. Some pretty incredible statistics back up exactly why EC chose to go the organic cotton route – and not just organic cotton, but we actually spoke with our friends at Patagonia and asked who they would recommend we work with in the business. That’s one of the best and most admirable things about the Patagonia business model, they volunteer their resources to other companies in hopes of encouraging more businesses to follow their lead.

There are many manufacturing companies out there that claim to deal with organic materials and sustainable means of production, but only a few that actually live up to their word. We stated very early on in the development of EC that if we couldn’t do things properly, then we wouldn’t move forward. Our EC tees are made with some of the finest ringspun organic cotton and screened in an environmentally friendly way. And, our trucker hats are made with 70% organic cotton and 30% recycled polyester. It’s a start.

We’ve spent the last couple weeks working day and night to get everything finished…and we’re almost there. We’re definitely looking forward to taking a holiday break – heading off to Puget Sound for some kayaking with the orca’s. We’ll be sure to take alot of photos.

Quick shot of Retul Founder, Franko Vatterott Showing Some EC Love at the Crowie Industry party held at the Sheraton Keahou Resort & Spa. More pics can be found here.

Here’s the final look at a little project we did for our friends at Retul, who are launching their new “Retul University” at Interbike next week.

Photog extraordinaire, Brent Humphreys, unveiled his Tour de France project recently – a few sweet ones below and you can view the whole project here.
It’s well worth the click – cool stuff!

Some pretty envelope pushing art coming out of Surfrider Europe. If you’ve never seen their videos, calendars or posters, then be prepared to be moved or disturbed depending on the image. Our oceans are definitely under siege with single use plastic bottles and plastic bags, among other things and these guys are definitely serious about making that point known. Fisheries are collapsing while developing nations sprint towards greater consumption. Plastic outnumbers plankton 5:1 north of Hawaii in a zone compared to one of the largest states in the U.S (you’ve heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch).

The Sea is at Risk of Becoming Uninhabitable

Surfrider Europe Calendar

One More..

Here’s a cool little video by the man himself giving a little tour of his garage in Aspen. Not a bad couple of bikes in there.

So we spent Friday night at the Endurance Sports Club in Colorado Springs. The grand opening was a suit and tie affair – nice to get that tidbit upon showing up in jeans, flip-flops and teeshirt. Of course, we never really want to go anywhere that we’re not welcome in a tee, so we fit right in once I pulled a stray aloha shirt that had been in the truck for a while.
The gala was pretty cool – world reknown coaches were present along with a few world champs and Olympians. Reigning Ironman world champ, Craig Alexander, was present along with the family – including new kiddo, Austin – as well as mountain bike world champ, Alison Dunlap and time trial world champ, Mari Holden.
EC was present and accounted for as the only apparel to be carried in the Pro shop of the Sports Club – nice! There are events and activities scheduled through the weekend, so if you’re in the Colorado area, check it out. The Club is in a newly renovated vintage building with alot of history in it just a mile or two away from downtown Col Springs.
The entrance has a very cool mural drawing of past and current tour winners – I tried to get a couple good shots of it. The whole place is as much a museum of famous cyclists and motivational quotes as anything. Makes for a very motivational training space.
Unfortunately, with all the craziness in preparing for the opening, we forgot our camera, so forgive the poor quality of these taken from my crackberry – yep, we’re holding out on the iphone a bit longer!