Good day!
In a day and age that’s filled with health hacks (drink this, eat that, don’t touch bread, sip on bone broth) it seems like we have lost touch with what it takes to live a happy and healthy life. Hey, don't get me wrong, I’ve drunk the chia seed juice too.
Internally at KETL, we share Catherine Price’s TED Talk Why Having Fun Is the Secret to a Healthier Life with the entire staff multiple times a year. In my eyes, it’s a great reminder that health isn’t about the next health hack fad, but something more. More on this below.
What we are working on.
As far as garments go, we have many new products launching this year. As well as refinements to existing products (We hear you about adding a new relaxed pant fit. That’s coming in the fall).
Here’s the inside scoop for recent additions/refinements.
- Vent Lightweight Active Shorts: We just launched these for this summer. I basically lived in the prototypes of these last summer. So breathable, so light, and you pretty much never have to wash them. Oh, and they keep your nuggets from melting on hot summer days. 😎
- NoFry Sun Hoodie: We added two new colors, slate and white. With these colors come a slightly updated fit (larger hood and longer sleeves) as well as the addition of thumbholes and new minimal snap buttons. These new updates will be coming to the rest of the colors in 6 months or so. We are a small team, cut us some slack. 🤷
Here’s the inside scoop for what's coming super soonish.
- Shenanigan Outdoor Pant and Short: The fabric we chose for these is rad! It basically looks like a jean, but it’s made of a durable, stretch nylon. Again, classy enough for your tinder date night, yet highly functional for the outdoors.
- Egg Cradle Boxer Briefs: We designed these to feel like you are going commando all day. Because, who really likes to wear underwear?
- Alpine Dip-n-More Shorts: These are our take on a board short. Super fast drying fabric, casual enough for a weekend BBQ, and light enough for running…hints the name, Dip-n-More. 😘
- MTB Short: We know a thing or two about mountain biking (if you didn’t know, we also run WWC.com) so we wanted to design a short that’s meant to be in the saddle all day.
- Packable Insulated Jacket and Rain Shell: We don’t have clever names for these yet, so if you have any brilliant ideas, shoot them my way!
- Hats (packable, water resistant, lightweight) and MTB gloves (hyper-breathable and lightweight summer gloves).
What we are up to.
Back to having fun for a healthier life.
In Price’s TED talk, she mentions that true fun can only be found at the intersection of playfulness, connection and flow.
What’s that? How have I had true fun recently? I thought you would never ask. ;)
I recently went on a week long backcountry ski trip in British Columbia, just South of Revelstoke. The trip was a bucket list trip of sorts. We took a helicopter back to an off-the-grid cabin where we spent 6 days touring (self powered) throughout the mountains.
Doing a trip like this takes a lot of time, money, and effort so you really want to be certain it’s going to be worth it. IE, the people are going to be cool and capable. Plus, the snow, weather, and terrain are going to be good. However, many of these things were out of my control. So, I just decided to have a positive mindset, and the worst case scenario, if everything were to suck, I’d get to spend a week off the grid in the mountains
Enter: Skier Heaven.
Long story short, everything lined up perfectly for the trip. The people (mainly from Colorado, Utah and Lake Tahoe) were all super fun. The weather gods cooperated and even gave us two feet of fresh powder to play with. And the food 🤤…whipped up by a charismatic French chef named, Fabian (he could have been straight out of a Pixar movie).
Flow: Skiing big lines in the backcountry takes full focus on the uphill and downhill.
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Connection: Great conversations with new people in an incredible setting without cell service.
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Playfulness: Everyone felt like little kids without a care in the world. Cracking jokes, smiling and pillow popping (if you know, you know).
=
Fun
A bit of inspiration.
Mountaineer Alex Lowe on how to be the best:
"The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun."
A question for you.
When was the last time you truly had fun?
Flow. Connection. Playfulness.
Connoisseur of many. Master of none.
Dom
