When I started Alpine Parrot, I only had one product: the Ponderosa Pants, aka the best hiking pants I’ve ever worn (and continue to wear to this day)! But over the last four years, we’ve developed an incredible flannel shirt, amazing shorts, and my new favorite sun hoodie.
It's hard to believe that it's been almost four years since my last post! Though that's not really true - I've been writing loads over the last four years, just not here, in this blog. If you're really curious, you
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First things first: Things are still messed up. Whether we like it or not, however, the Earth continues to spin around the sun, and I, personally, can't sit still. I'm fortunate to have been looking forward to today's post for many months now -
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I was going to make a big announcement today. It's super exciting, and it's been in the works for literally months. It brings me joy and I know it will bring delight to so many others, too. But first, let's acknowledge the elephant in
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For those of you following me on Instagram, you may have seen some extra fun stories a few weeks ago, in which I showed the step-by-step process of making my latest prototype, from laying out the pattern pieces on fabric to adding a button and sporting them in front of
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In one of my earliest posts, I mentioned the importance in having pockets in my ideal pair of hiking pants. Growing up, I was exposed to purses, like many young girls. My middle school years, however, coincided with the peak of cargo pocket fashion. Y'all. Cargo pants were
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I've gotten some questions on social media about what sewing machines I use. Since I promised an overview of sewing machines in a previous post, here is that post! Sewing, in my opinion, is one of the best parts of the apparel-making process. It's the means
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This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Oh goodie - more pants! In today's iteration, I've defied the scientific process again, messing with both the pattern and the fabric. Let&
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This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. In my last post, I shared how a well-meaning garment can completely fail as pants. So in this and the next couple of posts, I'll
Building a business is hard. Documenting it should be a little easier.
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Once we've got the block fitting pretty well, we can start adding details! The key to good software is to make it work, then make
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. It's the moment we've all been waiting for! We've taken measurements, drafted the block, and now we're making prototypes!
Twice a year, the biggest trade show for the outdoor industry takes place in Denver, Colorado. Ski makers, fabric vendors, apparel brands, and everyone in between come together to share industry best practices and network, network, network. For reasons that I will explain in a later post, I'm
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Now that we’ve got our first draft of the block, we need to try it on! While it might be tempting to get some awesome fabric
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Now that we have our tools and our measurements, it's time to start pattern drafting! I mentioned in my last post that I won'
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Patterns can be made either digitally or manually. In my patternmaking classes, I was taught to do it by hand, and then I eventually moved to doing
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Before we can make a pattern, we need really good measurements. It's important to take these well, as being off by even a quarter of
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. Apparel prototyping is a lot like software prototyping, with one major difference: where software is a whole bunch of zeroes and ones, apparel exists in a physical
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. So what, exactly, constitutes a "perfect" pair of hiking pants? 1. FIT! And not just fit "well enough," either: when I'm
This post is part of a series called 2020: The Year of the Pants. Catch all of the posts via the YOTP tag. In this Year of the Pants, it's important to be very specific about what kind of pants I'm going to be making. tl;
Ohai friends. It's been a really long time since my last year-in-review (2015, by the looks of things). A whole lot has changed in my life, both personally and professionally. There have been ups and downs and all arounds, but I'm still here and you'
When it comes to giving talks, here are the major things I try to keep in mind: 1. It doesn't matter if the audience is 5 or 500; they are all there to hear YOU speak, and are eager to learn. 2. Instead of thinking about your speech
