BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder outdoor equipment store has been named one of the 50 best clothing stores in the United States by the New York Times. Montbell is a Japanese company, and the Boulder store is its only one in the U.S.
Montbell’s website says it produces all of the 5,200 products it sells in-house with the guiding Japanese philosophy of kinobi, which can be translated as “function is beauty.”
The company sells alpine clothing, fleeces, hiking boots and shoes, backpacks, fishing gear, climbing gear, and even camping chopsticks. The New York Times describes it like this:
Montbell, the Japanese cousin of Patagonia founded by Isamu Tatsuno, has only one store in the United States. Wardrobe gems like fleece tabi slippers, down pants, ripstop tote bags and outdoor hats for a variety of face shapes are among its hundreds of products, which also include tents, glow-in-the-dark zipper pulls, camping chopsticks and watercolor painting sets. Even those not into roughing it might enjoy the house line of sandals, which are a stylish alternative (and priced comparably) to Tevas.
Denver7 anchor Shannon Ogden spoke with store managers Yuya Shirakawa and Brayton Maine, who handle Montbell’s U.S. web presence. They said they found out about the Times article through customers…