In the midst of the vast landscape of clothing brands you've found yourself reading this blog at weissvin.ca, home to one of the newest and probably one of the smallest clothing companies in Canada. Why do we exist? What do we offer? This post is our introduction, our story and our purpose.
Weissvin (pronounced "Vice-Vin") is run by a husband and wife team. Like many of you, we fell absolutely head over heels for climbing and after buying our shoes, harnesses and chalk bags quickly opened our browsers and searched for "climbing apparel." There were options, but we quickly realized that when it came to climbing themed clothing you either had the (really awesome) expensive options like North face and Patagonia, or you found something on Etsy that cost $25 to ship to Canada. We decided that we wanted to provide an alternative option.
For our identity we wanted to brand around the Edelweiss flower, a plant that for over a century has been linked to life at elevation. This flower survives at heights that others simply can't and has been a symbol of determination, devotion and love in multiple countries. Since the flower is native to the Swiss Alps, this brought our attention to that mountain range and specifically the peak known as Finsteraarhorn. That became the inspiration behind our circle logo.
With a name and branding figured out we had to take a look at how we would provide that "alternative option" to the other established brands. We soon found out that it was not the easiest endeavour. We wanted to keep our prices reasonable, but also wanted to provide a quality product. So we began the age old discussion around quality, profit and pricing. We began looking into what companies we wanted to buy our garment blanks from and decided that they needed to meet at least three conditions. They needed to: provide a high quality blank, hold a commitment to sustainability, and show an emphasis on healthy working conditions. These requirements meant that their garment blanks naturally came at a higher price point. Additionally, we are aware of how wasteful the fashion industry can be and have made it a point of emphasis to do what we can to be more efficient in our production. We've also decided to make our packaging either recyclable, reusable or compostable.
Our second desire with this brand is to be able to give back to the climbing community. When we met Brandon Barraclough and heard about his Six Nations wall initiative we decided it was a project that aligned with what we wanted to stand for. Ten percent of all retail sales will go to support that project. We also realized that we wanted to open ourselves up in the future to other methods of supporting climbers through sponsorships, collaborations etc. This meant that we had to find a balance in pricing vs our ability to support the brand and the community. This led to the current pricing structure that we have.
As a brand we offer three ways to wear and support Weissvin.
1. A traditional retail line up that includes our preset designs and colours.
2. The Remix option which allows you to customize the colour combinations of our existing line.
3. Small batch custom orders.
As with any new company there are big dreams. We have pages and pages of plans, both for our products and for this community. For right now though, we want to begin by providing you a quality product that you can feel good wearing at your gym, outdoors at the crag, or even just around the house. Whether you wear our clothes to pull on plastic, rock, or your fridge, we want you to know that not only will you be supporting a local small business, but you will also be helping us build toward a greater impact in the climbing community.