The Steep Stuff Podcast
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The Steep Stuff Podcast
#134 - Zach Colby, Founder of Dust
A brand doesn’t become real the day the website goes live—it becomes real the day someone beats it up on a mountain and still reaches for it the next morning. That’s the heart of our conversation with Dust founder Zach Colby, who walked away from politics to build a running brand rooted in the Mountain West: trails, dirt, big days, and gear that doesn’t need babysitting.
We trace the idea back to Boulder, where Zach saw a clear gap. The urban-run-club look had its champions, but the West’s mix of gravel, alpine, and singletrack culture felt underserved. Dust answers with simple, durable pieces that carry a Western soul—led by the mechanic shirt, a breathable button-down designed to race, ride, and recover. Zach breaks down the less glamorous side too: hunting for the right factory, negotiating MOQs, iterating fabric weights across time zones, and learning that a great sample is earned, not ordered.
From there, we get into launch mechanics and marketing without the fluff. Boxes stacked in an apartment, a Shopify backend, word-of-mouth over ads, and photography that actually reflects how people move outside. We talk about the Dust Bus—a retired sheriff’s van now turned rolling pop-up—and why in-person events, beer miles, and race weekends matter more than impressions. Zach also shares what’s next: a women’s line with a dedicated designer, tech-forward shorts and tights, and an interest in a lightweight, no-nonsense running belt that disappears on the run.
If you care about trail running, niche outdoor brands, or the craft behind gear that holds up mile after mile, this one will hit. Tap play, then tell us what piece you wish more brands would build. And if you’re vibing with the show, subscribe, share with a trail friend, and leave a quick review—it helps more runners find us.
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Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James Lariello. And today I'm so excited to welcome Zach Colby to the show. Zach is the founder of Viral Western apparel brand Dust. That's right, the brand you might see guys like Kyle Richardson, Taton Knight, myself, and Jackson Cole sporting the mechanic shirt that's kind of taken the internet by storm. Really, really excited about this brand. We had Zach on to talk all about the founding of the business, uh kind of its roots, the inspiration for where it came from, all the way back in Boulder, Colorado, where Zach had spent some time living and got a lot of inspiration from, not just uh as far as trail running goes, but also kind of from the gravel and biking scene, uh, amongst many other kind of mountain west sports. Um, yeah, we talked all about building the business, founding it, the idea for where the name came from, supply chain, all kind of the little nuts and bolts. I love these types of episodes, and anywhere I absolutely can fit in a uh kind of more of a business side episode, I think that uh the audience always gets a lot away from that. So uh without further ado, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. I really, really have enjoyed the brand itself. Um, and uh I really enjoyed talking to Zach. So uh this is something I think you guys are gonna get a kick out of. Without further ado, Zach Colby, the founder of Dust. Ladies and gentlemen, Zach Colby. Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going, man?
SPEAKER_00:I'm good, James. I'm good. How are you? Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02:I'm doing great, man. Thanks for coming on. Sorry if I sound a little uh not my normal stuff. I'm just getting over a cold, so I sound like uh sound horrible.
SPEAKER_00:Um I'm I'm actually I'm actually in the same boat. I was uh on a couple planes over the weekend and I think I picked up uh yeah, bug.
SPEAKER_02:That seems to be some East Coast terms. Seems to be the jam, man. Well, dude, thanks for coming on. I'm super excited to have a conversation. Uh, for the audience that doesn't know, like you are the founder of Dust, which is this fun brand that just launched in October as far as product goes. Uh Kyle Richardson, Tate Knight, I've seen a lot of guys in the boulder community repping your gear. Um really like what you put out. We could talk about the products in a little bit, but um maybe just to get started, talk a little bit about yourself. Give me like give me like the five-minute elevator pitch on your background and uh kind of your backstory.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Uh so Dust was a a total professional 180 for me. I I worked actually in politics for the first kind of eight years of my career out of college, um, and left that industry for a variety of reasons that we don't probably need to get into on on this podcast, but I'm sure um many of them are a parent. Just wasn't wasn't for me long term. Um and knew I wanted to get into the outdoor industry. I've been a lifelong athlete. Um played sports in in high school, played soccer in college, um lived in San Francisco for a year out of school, then moved to Colorado, whereas where I really kind of fell in love with the trails. Um and I wasn't only a runner right away. I was kind of a jack of all trades. I mean I wasn't good at any of them, but I liked like doing all of them. Um so biking, hiking, backpacking, you know, kind of all the classic Colorado stuff. Um and then and that was all while I was that that's all separate from my career then. Um when I decided I want to get out of politics and and go I wanted to get into the outdoor industry. Like that was that was my goal. Um did some networking and it was it was kind of a hard pitch as as to like why should I, as this guy with no experience in the industry, do anything except some type of entry-level job in a store, basically. Um, and that this was in 2023 when I left that job. And I'd sort of gone all in on trail running at that point. Like I had sort of become my main thing after I got big into bikes, like during COVID. That was sort of my like so many other people. Um, and then really fell in love with running after that. And I've always been a gearhead, and I've I've always worn clothes, like most of us. Um so fair enough. So it was it was a confluence of of all those different factors um that led to the idea of dust sort of percolating in my mind. Um and I was living in Boulder at the time. And I do joke that I feel like I had so many conversations about starting this kind of western-oriented quote unquote third wave uh trail brand or running brand. Um and one day I just decided I'm just gonna do this. I'm just gonna try to figure it out and do it. Um and that was at in the spring of 2024, so a little over a year ago. Um, I was still doing some like consulting work on the side to keep some money coming through the door. Um and I decided to go all in. And funny, I was like, all right, I'm I'm doing this, I'm gonna be selling clothes by the fall of 2024. Um, just kind of went two feet in trying to figure it out. And that's when I learned that it's a lot more complicated to figure out how to make clothes and expensive. And it's really it's like really hard to get something right. Um and I didn't want to put a crap product out in the world. Um so that's sort of the genesis story of of of me and how I came to start dust.
SPEAKER_02:So let's let's backtrack a little bit. I want to talk about your time in Boulder because I feel like that's very I mean, I feel like that shapes a lot of people for their time in the mountain west, especially if they come from a different area. Um is that how you bumped into Kyle? Uh that's my curiosity. I didn't actually ask him this.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, it is. Okay. Um, just through through me from Buddies and Air. I mean, Boulder's obviously a small town.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so and I actually, I mean, my first year in Boulder, I wasn't like full go runner guy yet. Um, but I I obviously spent a lot of time on the trails. But but yeah, that is how I how I met Kyle.
SPEAKER_02:It's it's dude, it's it's an interesting thing. He's a legend, yeah. Oh yeah, he absolutely is. We'll we'll talk about him a little bit more later. But it's just interesting that like the Genesis 4 a product came to mind. I just find it really interesting too, because I mean it's got to be going through your head, like I want to start something. I feel like I can do what was the idea like I can do something and I can do it better, I can do it different. Because it's it's a tough environment. I mean, there's all these crazy brands out there. You got satisfy, you've got now coming up that's like kind of posh and doing its thing, or it's kind of like punk rock, and then you've got all these like established brands out there. It's a very interesting thing to kind of bring something new to the market. I like it because it's very western, it's very different. It seems to me like it's got its roots a little bit, maybe in something like a Rourke run amuck kind of thing. Maybe talk about just the um maybe like the I don't know. You can you can kind of thread that for a minute. So like brand positioning, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I would say Rourke is is a is probably the closest comp in the space. Um, I'm definitely not trying to be as sort of like graphic heavy as them. Um, but they are sort of that Western renegade um kind of mountain man aesthetic. Um but but yeah, that's the goal is to, I mean, I s just looking at the market, and as I got more into running, I got more into these brands and learning more about them and sort of what their value proposition is or their emotional proposition. Um and I did see, I I felt the gap was there in that no one had done like the mountain west and the western United States sort of version of you know, the bandits and satisfies that blew up during the COVID running boom, essentially. Or tracksmith, kind of that legacy urban um aesthetic, like all the cool run club kids on Instagram were wearing like all black, like represent 247 and that kind of brand. And I I just feel like that hasn't made its way to the West yet. I think partially because mountain people are less into that like Instagram cool guy culture. Yeah, um, and so I I I did think there is room in the market. As you said, it is hard, like it's super competitive industry, but at the same time, younger consumers are looking for something that's like more niche and more representative of their personalities. And so I think the big brands are just going to lose market share to all these smaller brands, and there's just a lot more room for more smaller brands generally, just because the barriers to entry are much lower than they've ever been.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Let's talk about that barrier to entry. Like, how much did you know about starting a business when you started business? Like going through the whole C Corp, S Corp, LLC thing, and then supply chain management, trying to figure out how to source a supply chain. Like, how much did you know about that like when you first started? And did you have to kind of like learn as you went?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'd I'd been kind of a political entrepreneur for lack of a better word. Like I worked in third party and independent politics. So it was a lot of really small campaigns, um, a lot of like people with no infrastructure. So I was comfortable sort of figuring out kind of administrative and operational problems, at least as far as you know, standing up an entity with a state and like filing your forms and doing taxes and doing accounting and kind of that side of the business. But the supply chain was like in in retrospect, it's honestly kind of hilarious how delusional I was. Um like it is really hard to make something good. Um you can go online and and find a factory and order a sample, and I have so many, so many bad samples. Um and a lot of the good factories like aren't aren't working with small brands, they won't work with you unless you're ordering a million dollars worth of product, and you do kind of have to sort through because there's I mean, there's so many factories out there, and there's so many amazing factories, and there's a lot of bad factories. Um, and just figuring that out kind of without any industry connections was hard. So eventually I eventually you you basically have to do it through networking, or like um, so that I worked, I ended up working with um a designer who had worked in clothing development before and had a relationship with a factory, and um so that was a long-winded answer of saying like standing up a business I could do, figuring out how to make good clothes and good product, very different problem. That took me, you know, over a year to figure out really.
SPEAKER_02:See, that's interesting. And uh so just a matter of like being able to source the factory, like how long did that take just to figure out like, okay, like this this particular factory can make this particular product, and then going back and forth trying to get because, like, for instance, like you sent me the mechanic shirt, dude. That is one of the nicest like running shirts I have ever tried in my life. Like, I I was thoroughly impressed. Like, you nailed it, it's it's legit for because dude, I'm always trying to find like a good button down. Like, I I do have a roar shirt, like I've been spotted wearing roar shirts and stuff like that before, but it just didn't have it's it's more like that's more of a going out shirt than something I'm gonna run a race in or something like that. Like I can run a race in the dust shirt and the mechanic shirt and get away with that, and like it's comfortable, it's light, it breathes, it's just I don't know, it's like the whatever material you use is legit. So, like, how long did it take to try to like kind of figure that part out to uh just go back and forth?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so actually finding the factory, once I um got connected with Peter, the designer, um he was business partners with a guy I went to college with. Um their business is called party practice. Uh they're in Austin's super cool dudes. Um they he had the connection with the factory, so then once we got the factory, then then it's kind of you hit the next part of the development process, which is basically like, okay, yeah, we need to find fabric. You know, we have we have an idea of what the shirt wants to look like. But then it's basically there's a and there's a few different ways you can do it. Um you can and what we did was have the factory source the fabric. So we sent over a bunch of comps, and we're basically like, we we want, you know, this is roughly the composition that we want, this is roughly the weight that we want. See what you guys have. And that that's a less expensive way of doing it than you can also go to a mill or a fabric maker and purchase whatever, 5,000 yards of fabric, and then send that to the factory and say, hey, here's the fabric we're using. Um so but at the at my order quantities, like I'm a small brand, that's it's a much harder to do. Like a lot in a lot of the big fabric makers, you have to order a massive quantity of fabric. Um so then, and it's it's just kind of a back and forth then with the factory, too. It's tweaking things and it takes a while, you know. Because my my factory's in China, um, you know, you're losing a day basically because you're it's essentially a 12-hour time difference. Um so that that whole development process does take a few months. Um then you get samples and you don't like it, and you tweak something, and that takes another couple weeks and has to you know get shipped over. So it's um yeah, coming from coming from a world where I my previous job, it's just like if if you were if this wasn't done yesterday, it's late. To like having to re-jigger my brain to be like, okay, this is actually gonna take six months to get right was frustrating at first, but um it also makes you so stoked when the mechanics regards you're like, wow, this thing is sick. Yeah, I'm gonna go for a run right now.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's legit. I should have worn it. It's a little cold out today, right? And put it on, but I was thinking about wearing it for the pod. But I I I'll get some I'll get some photos in it out there for you. I um dude, so uh you just launched obviously in October, so just we're just a few weeks removed from that. How long did it take to get yourself ready for that? Like you have to have everything in. Like, how how do you go ahead as a founder setting, okay, like I'm gonna set this date of October 15th as the launch date? Like it's just like uh you have to have all your ducks in a row. Like, what goes into that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um little peek behind the curtain that did get pushed back a few times. Um, but it was basically, I mean, I had the inventory all at my apartment um uh in late August. Um, and then it was like I'm still a one-man show, so it was basically like where can I where can I fit this in between like traveling to a couple weddings and like I need to be at home to then ship all the stuff out after I launch, because like that's obviously when the most sales are gonna happen or those whatever four days afterwards. So it was it was essentially push putting a date on a calendar and then working backwards from there. Um then yeah, I eventually moved it back a week because like I needed to get some more photos done. Um and yeah, it was it was essentially just putting putting something on a calendar and saying we're we're doing it. Um how does it because I had I had the website basically ready before then. Um and and then it was just like loading all the stuff in the back end into Shopify and and then it was just saying, all right, here press, press play.
SPEAKER_02:I've never messed with a Shopify account, but like it from an inventory perspective, like you put in like X amount you have in inventory, and then it after it sells out, it says it sells out, right? Like you don't have like yeah, I I always wondered about that, like, oh my gosh, what happens if we don't have enough or we don't have too much, or things like I yeah, I guess Shopify kind of solves that problem.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that exactly, yeah, that's an example of like a barrier to entry that's been lowered. Like Shopify does make it super easy um to run a one-man band operation.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. It's interesting, man, because like you get the whole kind of perspective as an entrepreneur, like you get the finance and accounting part, you get this uh, you know, the supply chain aspect of it, and as the business grows, then you'll have employees, and like that adds a whole different component. Like it's kind of I don't know. I always found the entrepreneurship aspect of the business like really fun. Um, I gotta ask you this: where'd you come up with the name at? The name is pretty dope.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you. Um it was it would I had a bunch of kind of names written down, um just sort of brainstorming. And it the idea had been percolating like for a couple months before I before it was serious. And there were there were always kind of names and spitballing. And then when I wrote dust down, I was just like, that's it. That's and then it was kind of investigating like, okay, are there any other clothing brands named Dust? And okay, there's one in Pakistan. Okay, I'm probably fine. I'm probably fine from a from a copyright perspective in the US. And then it's like, okay, which which website handles can I get? Which social handles can I get? But but I think the the word itself is just a good word, and it it kind of captures the brand's Western roots, it captures the kind of rawness of the trail, and I think it works literally and metaphorically, and like the word dust can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, which I think is useful. And I think having it be one syllable is just like great for a brand. Um it's easy to say, it's easy to remember. Um so so as soon as I wrote it down, I was like, if that works, that's it.
SPEAKER_02:Simple yet significant. That's cool, man, that you came up with it. And like it's usually like I don't know, like when I started this podcast, like the I came up with the name, and it's always like when you come up with your thing, like it's there's a lot more ownership of it instead of like asking 10,000 people to get what they think and everybody's got a different perspective, and it's like you know, it's uh when you find what sticks and what works, you you know what what works, which is kind of cool, right? Um, dude, so I want to pivot a little bit. I want to talk about the sport. Like this past year, I know you were at Broken Arrow, you got to check out the triple crown and and race that. Like, what do you think of the sport as a whole now? Like now that you're you're an entrepreneur, you're a business owner in the sport, like what do you like more? The short stuff, the long stuff, like what gets you stoked?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I um it's funny you say that because I've done two ultras this year. It's like I think I'm ready to do some shorter stuff. Um just it those take so long to train for and and just like eats up a lot of your time. Um but I don't know. This is as I mentioned earlier, like I I wasn't like a two feet in on this sport for my entire adult life. Like I'm I'm relatively new to like this being my main thing. Um, so it's it's kind of been fun to explore um different distances, kind of and and it's also like I didn't come to this as a fan of like the pro sport either. So now it's not like learning the big races and learning the top athletes, where it's like that wasn't my entry into the sport. My entry into the sport was like I love being on trails, I love being outside with my friends, I love clothes. You know, how do we put these things together? So it's been fun to discover the sport and learn the personalities and you know, meet people who are at the top of the sport and just see the different ways that that I don't know, people interact with it as as like an elite athletic pursuit, as opposed to like I'm outside having fun with my friends kind of thing. And I think it's it's cool to to see both poles of that. Um and to have have Dus like speak to people at both those poles.
SPEAKER_02:Did you now I know this was pre-launch, but at Broken Arrow, did you get a chance to like connect with people, talk about it at all, or was that was it more of uh just there to be racing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Um, I mean, yeah, I did I did do all three races, so I was kind of um focused on that. But I was also just coming back from a little bit of an injury, so I I wasn't really racing, I was just kind of hanging and running. And we had an Airbnb up there with 12 friends, so we were just and I actually didn't have the product, I didn't have anything except samples then. So I was but I did I did talk to people about the brand and then went to TrailCon, which was you know, whatever the two days after Broken Arrow, and then talked to talked to a bunch of people in the industry, you know, was wearing the gear around, had people ask about it. Um so that was that was super fun. And that this is a bit of a segue, but like going out into the world after being heads down, kind of by myself as a solo entrepreneur, has been so fun. Um just like that. That made kind of the year of heads-down work really gratifying, just like people, hey, what is that shirt? And get to tell them, Yeah, it's it's actually my shirt, it's my brand.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, it's cool to see it's cool to see. I mean, I've been excited to see so many people interacting with with the gear, and it must be really rewarding too. Like I just saw Jackson post a photo of someone recently. Jackson Cole was wearing a uh a mechanic shirt too, and I was like, oh dude, you got one too. Like, that's awesome. So yeah, it's uh it's very it's cool. I and this kind of makes me pivot a little bit towards like marketing. Like, how do you approach this from like a marketing perspective? Because like you always have to put that hat on as well. Obviously, your photo, your photos, your Instagram is awesome. Um, just like everything about it is kind of the way I would go about marketing a brand. Like, what is how do you how do you plan to do this? Like, do you just try to get shirts on as many people as possible? Um races, like how do you like I don't know, you gotta have some sort of scheme for it, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I guess note on the photos. Um, my buddy, do you know Brendan Davis?
SPEAKER_02:I do know that name, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Boulder guy. Well, he lives in New York now, but one of my buddies, he's incredible photographer, you know, photographs for you know, some of the biggest brands in in the world in the running space. Um and he he took a bunch of the photos that we did in Boulder. Um, just been a complete homie in in helping helping the brand out and making it really pop. Um so shout out to Brendan. Um but then yeah, as far as as far as the lead up to launch, I didn't do a ton of like I didn't do any paid marketing. Um and kind of tried to just do word of mouth. Um since launch, I've started to do like a little bit of boosting on Instagram and like seeing if that's worth it at all. And then have sent have just ceded product to some people. Um, like obviously Kyle and Kyle's Kyle is a wearing it before launch, um, getting people in the top of the funnel to use a some marketing jargon. Um but then yeah, my plan is to try to do as much in-person stuff as possible. So I don't I don't know if you saw this post, but I I bought the Dust Bus. Yes, which is uh 1995 Ford Icono line XL, former Sonoma County Sheriff tactical vehicle. What? Um Facebook Marketplace, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I'm gonna put some decals on the side of that, baby, and um start heading to races. Um I've done a few events. I did like a beer mile in Boulder and Bend and Seattle. Um gonna do something here in SF in a few weeks. So the plan is to to do as much in-person stuff as I can, just because like that's where I find a lot of joy, and like that's where I have great interactions, and I think that's where you can really establish brand loyalty. Um like if you talk to face to face with a founder, you're like, oh wow, this is a this is a real human doing a real thing, and humans like that. Um so so all I have to say is the plan is to do as much in-person stuff as possible, and then uh I'm also gonna work with Brendan a little bit more. I think we're gonna do some some magazine stuff to go back a little bit to that analog um print stuff, just because a lot of the brand is also sort of like I don't want it to live online, I don't want it to be that Instagram-y kind of Facebook meta ads brand. Um so, but a lot of it's just figuring it out, like like and like it's still entrepreneurial. I'm figuring out what works, what doesn't, what products people like, what products people don't like. Um so it's I think it's about just keeping my foot on the gas and keeping just keep showing up at these places.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um what uh what races do you think will see you out the summer? Anything in particular that you've got like you're that you're like I have to get to?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I think Black Canyon in in February. I think anything that's in, I'll probably be back at Broken Arrow. Okay. Um obviously Western states is relatively close here. So those are sort of the three I have on my on my calendar, but but having a van and having like flexibility, it's just like I can I'll I'll hit it, I'll go hit up a you know a local trail half marathon in the North Bay, probably just um but yeah. So still I wish I'd plan things out till next summer already, but I I've got the big ones on the calendar, but the the other interesting thing with clothes is like I already I have to start development on like the next round of stuff. So that's already happening in the background right now, too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, actually on that topic, I had a thing written down to actually ask you about this. Like I had seen on you had a job opening for um, I think it was for women's apparel. Is that something that you plan to expanding? I it's funny you like that it gets brought up because I've had so many people, I mean, just friends on the pop of the podcast and just friends and friends like bring up like how there's not a lot of really solid like women's apparel stuff out there. Like it's usually just like doesn't fit correctly or it's just not that great. Um yeah, maybe talk about that or how you plan to expand on that.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, we're we're gonna launch women's hopefully late in the spring, maybe earlier in the summer. Um, kind of in the early stages of of development now. Um but but that is that is in the plan. Have a rad female designer I'm working with. Um so yeah, that's in the that's in the cards.
SPEAKER_02:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:Um because I was I will say I did I did no no I interrupted you. Um I did uh I did hear that question a lot. Um also just like this stuff is rad and like where but where's the women's stuff? Um and it just it didn't make sense. I couldn't take that big of a swing on the first go just financially. Um but now that with a little bit momentum and now I have revenue, um, can start can start doing those, you know, forward more forward looking adventures.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. What is your what's your goal with this thing, dude? Like obviously this is like the coolest job ever to be able to just like go to races and pitch your product and talk about it. Like, I mean, is the goal to like make this like a gigantic thing or keep it grassroots? Like, like what's your like what is your ultimate kind of plan? For this thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I mean, my ultimate personal goal is to create a life and career in the outdoor industry. Um, like at bottom, that's why I kind of started this venture. And at the end of the day, that that's the most important goal. Um would I love to, you know, be the Mountain West trail running brand? Absolutely. I'm not gonna shy away from saying I'd love to grow this thing and make it big. Like that would be that would be awesome and fun and a cool journey. And it would just lead to so many interactions within this industry that I love that I've met already so many cool people in. Um and that just sounds like a like a working life as a life well lived kind of thing. Um, so so yeah, I mean, those are sort of the two tent post school. It's like a personal, like I love this, I love being outside, I love interacting with the cool people who also love being outside. And then two, I started a business. Of course I'd love to have a wildly successful business.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Is it is it stressful so far?
SPEAKER_00:It's definitely stressful. Um I wouldn't say I mean it is stressful for sure. Just like pressing that, like the day before launch, it's just like, okay, I hope people buy this tomorrow. Like I know my mom and dad will, but but uh and I know I know some of my friends will, but then it was just like it was so gratifying to see like, I don't know, a bunch of strange a bunch of people's names who I didn't know orders come through, just like, oh, that's so cool that I put this out into the world and someone vibed with it and spent their money on it. Like so definitely, definitely highs and lows of like any solo project and any venture like does require a bit of bit of vulnerability, but um it's really fun too. Like it is a super fun job.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so it's amazing. And one of the things that like stuck out to me the most, like I really loved, like I vibed with on the website. Like you wrote, I don't know if you wrote this or I guess this is the tagline, but based on the celebration of life outside, trails, dirt, good friends, old vans, and cold beer. Like I was like, that's that's legit. I like that. That sticks, that's that like how can you not vibe with that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, so yeah, and I think like I'm just trying to stay true to myself in building the brand. Like that is sort of how I just live my life. And I think, you know, if I can find a few other thousand people who like that, then then there's a business there. Yeah. And I just based on all my time on the trails and outside, like those people are there for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Is there uh a chance we get you back like in the mountain west? Like you think you make a return to Boulder, or are you probably based in San Fran for the remainder of your time?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I think it's definitely possible eventually. Um mostly moved out west for my fiance's career. Um but we had met in San Francisco, she's a California girl. Um so we're we're out here for a few years at least, but I I love Colorado. I both my brothers live in Colorado. Um my folks are in in Kansas City, so there's definitely a drawback there. And I love I love getting back there as much as I can. And obviously I've made it a point to to do as much dust stuff as I can in the in Colorado and in the front range. So um definitely will be there plenty, if not uh back permanently at some point down the line.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, the reason I ask is like because you know, I don't know. I I I think when you go on the website and we go on the Instagram, for instance, I think most of the listeners will probably pander over to, you know, pander over to both. And there's a lot of Kyle Richardson, who I and and Tate Knight, well, I think are two very good selections for like that just kind of embody what I think of when I think of the brand. I don't know, it just kind of like fits really well. Like Kyle is this interesting character, um, you know, not just a runner, also gets out on the bike a lot, but very Mountain West vibes, you know, very um artistic in what he does. Uh I don't know, it just it fits very well. So I think that was a very good, good selection for uh for the brand itself.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Kyle's Kyle's a legend and definitely personifies the brand well, like the true definition of a of a soul runner, like he's just out there crushing in the mountains every day. Um, and it's like no big deal. Yeah, like he'll just go up and it'll just be a random Tuesday, and he'll you know run one of the top ten times up Long Speak ever. Like he's he's just the beast.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he's a super gifted athlete. Well, what one of the things too that I thought was really cool is that on his um East Coast trip that he did, and and I I'll I'll link this in the show notes for listeners to go check out as well. Like when I had him on, we talked a lot about this. Um he basically rode near from New York City to Maine um and ended his trip in New Hampshire, but he had a mechanic shirt that he wore like a good chunk of it and didn't wash it, like held up really well and like survived kind of the east coast, which is kind of notorious for some of the worst weather, you know, in the time of the year. Um which I thought I thought was kind of cool. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that was that was the I mean he had like a sleep shirt, but he's that was the only shirt he brought. And um yeah, he's we we talked after the trip and he was like, dude, can you send me another one? I kind of want to get this shirt framed after the trip.
SPEAKER_02:It's very kind of frame it like that.
SPEAKER_00:We'll we'll put that up. We'll put that as that'd be a great post. Yeah. Um but yeah, it's uh um the fabric is is great. Like the the factory did an amazing job finding this fabric. Um it is just it's bomber, like so durable, so so durable. And um you can you can you can put it through the ringer, you can you can take it on a you know two and a half week trip and not watch it and just like put it in the stream and then put in the laundry at the end of it and it'll come out and look basically the same. Um so yeah, it's I I'm stoked with how how the shirt turned out for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. I mean the whole lineup, dude. I mean, I'll dig in the hats too. Hats are cool. Um yeah, I feel like it's very you can do it with a lot of um it's not just for running too. Like I feel like it it's got a good aesthetic for mountain and gravel cycling. Um there's a lot of like it, it's it's all over the place, which is kind of neat. Like it's very transferable.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And that was kind of the goal, as like going back to my point about you know, trail running is my thing right now, but at the end of the day, I'm I'm just like a trail athlete. Um, I do ride bikes a lot still. I I think it's great for biking. Um the mechanic shirt has been on a gravel podium. My dad, second place, 70 plus big sugar in October.
SPEAKER_02:Let's go. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00:Um but yeah, I that was in designing sort of the fruit the launch collection, it was like, how do I want to design? Like, how does my wardrobe look? It's it's a lot of really solid quality basics, and then a few pieces that are kind of more standout or that juge it up a little bit. Um, you know, if you're feeling yourself or you want to rock that special shirt on race day. Um so that's that's sort of my design philosophy behind it, and how I how I'm gonna, you know, keep doing the collections moving forward.
SPEAKER_02:Very cool, very cool. Do you think um, like is there a chance you get more into like technical apparel, like more like belts? I see like a big everybody's doing the belts or the or the vest snail. It seems like a popular thing. Like, do you see a space in which you kind of get into that as well?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, I think a belt is a possibility. Um the shorts we released are like extremely basic shorts, unlined, two pockets, one, three pockets, well, two side pockets and one rear zip pocket, but just like about as simple as you can get in terms of a short. It's a really nice short. Um, but you know, some people want liners, some people want a shorter short, some people want a perforated fabric. Um so we are gonna do in when we release women's, we're also gonna do like a techier outline short and also some some tights, um, some half-tights for for men, and then some full leggings for for women, and then like a kind of fun techier uh short for women as well. Um and that like figuring that out is much like talking about all the problem. I mean I was already going into how many issues I had getting like a shirt and like simple shorts developed, getting something techie figured out is like all of that times five, basically.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um but now that I've sort of figured out how to communicate these things, the design language, figuring out how to tweak, figuring out how to like um just the process generally, it just it it streamlines it a little bit, but it's still a lot of back and forth and but but yeah, all that to say super long answer. We are gonna do some techier stuff. I would love to eventually do a belt. I I was talking to Kyle actually a lot about that. Um I do think there is a I don't know if it's a gap in the market, but like a really lightweight basic belt. I think and I think the naked belts are pretty good. Um but something like that, that's you know, it's not the like super, it's not the rain belt, it's not like the techkiest, most bomber like thing you need if you're going out for a full day, but something that's like really light and really good.
SPEAKER_02:Simple yet significant. Yeah, I I think there is definitely a space for that. I mean, Kyle's the best person too, because he I know he played a huge role in helping develop the black diamond belt that I don't know saw the light of day. I I know he's got one, and I've seen them pop up here and there from like back in the day.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think Kyle has one of those too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, he but he Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Uh sorry, I thought you were talking, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. No, but not Kyle, uh yeah, yeah. Anyway, yeah. Kyle Richardson. Yeah. Lots of Kyle's floating around. Um, but yeah, dude, that's a that's a space uh and like I've worked with um uh a brand to try and get that to see the light of day. And I the brand that I've worked with particularly is just a like a lot of moving parts to it, so it's difficult to do. But yeah, if someone could just figure out the light, simple, significant belt, like it's just doesn't have to be rocket science. Just get it right, you know, right materials, you know, right space, and then also have like a small zipper pocket for for your keys or your key fob or whatever, that's all you need. You know, nothing too crazy. So yeah, putting that one into it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. I've I've I've dreamed about it. It's on it's in the it's in the documents, my litany of Google Docs somewhere. Um yeah, focused on focused on the women's stuff and the techier techier shorts right now. And you know, if those do well and we're bringing more people into the brand, then then yeah, cool. I'd love to because yeah, I'd eventually love to just like make my whole kit dust.
SPEAKER_02:Like that'd be awesome. Yeah, yeah, I I totally agree. Um, all right, man, we're at about 40 minutes. I want to get to like as we start to wind down, um, yeah, what what is what's something you want the listeners to resonate with? Like what what what really is one thing about the brand that you want to get out there to the world, like that that's gonna set you guys, make you guys different, and that you just want them to know about you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I think it is that kind of soul runner attitude that we talked about. Like it's it's gear that's great that you can go run a really fast race in, but but at the bottom it's it's more of the celebration of the feeling you get when you're outside on the trail. And the reason like that we all love this sport or whatever outdoor sport that we love. Um like at bottom, that feeling is what I want to have baked into the brand, and what I'm trying to convey with the copy and the photos and the people I'm sponsoring or sending gear to are the people who I think um who I think really get that that a life outside is a is a life well lived. Um so yeah, I think I that at the at the core of it, that's what that's what this brand is about. It's like the I know I know this feeling personally, and everyone, you know, everyone has their own feelings in relationship with with the outdoors, but um that feeling of being outside and being with your friends and having a beer and doing like fun, cool shit in the woods. That's what I love. Yeah, and that's what I that's what I want to celebrate and I want to empower other people to do.
SPEAKER_02:I love it. I love it. Zach, I'm such a fan, dude. Thank you for coming on. Great conversation. Um, and yeah, man, I think it's a good spot to stop. And we got to pick this up once you drop or once you drop the women's stuff, and as new stuff comes out, anytime you want to talk about it, we'll bring you back on and we'll uh we'll have a conversation.
SPEAKER_00:So awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, thanks, man.
SPEAKER_00:Well, very much appreciate you having me on, James. And yeah, hopefully we get a get a run together.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, I'd love it. Here soon. Absolutely. Appreciate you. What'd you guys think? Oh man, I'm really sorry about my voice. I've been sick all week. And uh yeah, it was it was pretty evident in uh it was pretty evident, not just in my interviewing, but also in my voice. So I uh apologize for that. Hoping to uh it seems like today I'm I'm on the up and up. So yeah. Um guys, if you uh wouldn't mind, the best way you can support Zach is to check out Dust. Uh you can find him at Weirdust.com. That's the best way you can support. Go ahead and jump on whereDust.com and also give Dust a follow on Instagram. You can just find them at Dust. It's gonna be linked in the show notes. If you toggle on over to the um uh if you toggle on over to the website, you can shop all and you that's where you can find that really dope mechanic shirt that I was talking about uh that you've seen a bunch of people wearing. Also check out the online short. I'm gonna throw an order for that in today because I'm stoked to see what that's all about. Uh also digging the hat. Um yeah, all kinds of good stuff there. Again, not a sponsored episode by Dust. I just uh really enjoy talking to founders and people that uh create things and uh you know go out and and and you know risk it all for a business that they're excited about and for something that they get stoked on. So yeah, I really got to commend uh Zach for what he's doing. And yeah, I would love to see this brand uh continue to grow and get some love. Uh yeah, like I said, you can also find them on Dust on Instagram. Best way you can support us is to give us a five-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you consume your podcast. And very last but not least, you can also support us by supporting our brand partner, Ultimate Direction. Big shout out to Ultimate Direction. Right now, you guys can get 25% off your cart. That's gonna get you 25% off by using code Steep StuffPod. That's one word, Steep Stuff Pod. And um, yeah, all kinds of good stuff out there on the horizon. Uh UD just launched, like I said, their new uh six-liter race vest and a 12-liter ultra vest, as well as a new pole quiver to accommodate any vest that you might have right now. Um, it fits on just about any vest. And on top of that, they've got a great belt selection as well. Guys, thanks so much. Um I really appreciate you guys staying tuned and following uh following along. Uh we took a little bit less episodes this week uh because we're working on a bunch of new stuff. We've got some new branding coming out. Um, working right now on some new stuff for all new video episodes, and we're just kind of planning the next iteration of the Steep Stuff podcast as it continues to evolve and grow. So that's taking a lot of time as well as being sick this week. So thanks for uh tuning along and following along and tuning in. And uh yeah, appreciate you all. Thanks, guys.
