as life ticks on and our movements into manhood become more focussed so grows the importance on remaining focussed. time is a commodity so often squandered and again, as we travel our roads, must try use time to the best of our abilities.

so… we work, and at the end of it ,the work itslef is as important as the result . for us its the hours designing, working on an engine, cleaning parts, pouring over swatches, scrubbing the dirt from under your nails, or scratching your head after a long day.

its as great as the first turn of a key and a motor roars to life, or sliding a perfect sample over your shoulders. we do the work for those ends as well as those beginings and all things in between.

keep yours eyes the horizon mates elc mens is at work

Crestone Knife

Maybe it was spending too much time in the woods this summer, or the fact that we all had some memories of getting our first knife from a father or grandfather, but we feel that every man should own a good knife. Some fancy composite and steel folding pocket knife was clearly not going to do.

For this 100 days accessories collection we sourced a knife with a damascus steel blade and a true stag bone handle, and then designed a sheath from Horween’s Huntsman leather to create a piece that is rugged, simple, and timeless.

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The best kind of company

Patrick and I started elc Mens in 2006 because we like to make things. We wanted to see if instead of making art in the form of Tattoos and oil paintings, or rebuilding mechanical things like old cars and motorcycles we could turn our creative attention on clothing. It has been a labor of love ever since, with more than our fair share of hardships and failures along the way.

As I sit here after a gluttonous thanksgiving feast and think of all that I am grateful for, the friends of elc Mens are at the top of my list. I am thankful to be surrounded by individuals driven to create. From Tattooing, to music, to paintings, to fabricating metal into motorcycle art, to furniture design, to the craft of bringing an old car back from the dead, our friends are makers.

The finished product is always striking but for those who love to make the inspiration is in the dedication. We all fail, and learn, then create better things. Makers are not easily deterred and to all of the friends of elc Mens who spend those late nights in a workshop or in front of a canvas, or a computer alone this Thanksgiving I am thankful for you, for inspiring me to keep pursuing elc Mens.

Stamping Hammer

One of the reasons we started elc Mens back in 2007 was because we are the kind of people that would rather make something than just buy it. Whether it is building custom motorcycles or restoring old cars or making tattoo machines there is a pride of ownership from something you make that you can never get with something you buy. Making things yourself also helps you to realize that you can never become good enough at all the different trades to make everything yourself. What it does do is raise your appreciation of craftsman who master their trades. That is why we use a 3rd generation single needle tailoring shop for our button down shirts and a suitmaker staffed with a bunch of amazing old italian tailors who know what hand finishing is truly supposed to look like.

For the holidays we are working on a few accessories that no man should be without. While we are not quite ready to unveil the line I will say that the process of putting together this small collection has been a great reminder of why we got in this business to begin with.

We have spent weeks fumbling with our leather tools and painstakingly revising our designs until we had a set of products we were 100% proud of. With design complete we sourced some amazing materials and hardware, and are spending our nights in the workshop at Th’Ink Tank Tattoo where Patrick spends his days tattooing.

Th'Ink Tank Workshop

As I write this I am still pulling little shards of brass from my hands, and the product is coming out amazing!

Drilling

The honest truth are that there are a lot of things that drive the lives of the men behind elc Mens. For the last few months whether it was restoring old cars, racing motorcycles, djing and making music, or going into the woods to clear land, the boys of elc have been doing a lot of living.

As the dog days of summer gave way to the brisk nights of fall we stumbled into a bar only to find our way down a creaky set of stairs to wine cellar from a bygone era.  This random space of dusty brick and dim light has become the new creative sanctuary for our development meetings. From this dank old cellar we are twisting and forging all the pieces of our summer endeavors into new elc mens product.

The directions are expansive and the vision is unwavering.

Get ready for new things from elc Mens.

Tree falling

I remember growing up thinking of most outdoor work as a chore and something to generally be avoided. Its funny how things change as we grow up. Now after spending week after week  working indoors and staring at a computer screen I long to be outdoors sweating doing physical labor.

The other thing that has caused my change of heart on manual labor is owning land. Its not much but it is a couple acres in southern Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo mountain range.

You drive down to the 600 person town of Westcliffe Colorado then head east out 6 miles of paved road, then down 11 miles of dirt road and through a rickety old gate, and you have arrived right in the middle of no where. That is where my wife and I have our little 3.5 acres complete with a mountain stream running through the land and a handful of 14,000 ft. peaks in our back yard.

Westcliffe Colorado

Going down to Westcliffe to camp and clear the land in anticipation of building a little cabin has become a bit of an elc Mens tradition. A few friends, a few axes and shovels, a good chainsaw, and a lot of whiskey sets you up for a days of man work.  You sweat and curse and you get dirty and drunk. It is fun, and honest and exhausting in a way more satisfying than my 15 year old self would have ever imagined. Continue Reading

Race Day MRA Peublo

Patrick King elc’s head designer and I have been riding and racing motorcycles for over a decade now in one form or another. After a brutal year for me between 2008 and 2009 where I sustained a two sets of broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken collar bone in 3 separate crashes, I decided that I would take this season off from track riding. Patrick finished his 2009 season in similarly  broken fashion with a plate and several screws in his lower leg.

Unlike me Patrick got back on that horse for 2010 and learned how to make that horse go. Patrick and his Wolf Brigade Triumph 675 managed to climb his way from the back of the grid on the first race of the season to a class contender and multiple race winner by the end of the 2010 MRA season.

At the beginning of the season I swore to myself I was not going to spend my weekends out watching my friends race, it makes me too mad, and jealous, and makes me do stupid things like shopping ebay until ungodly hours to find parts for my damaged R6. By the middle of the summer I couldn’t help myself and to head out to the track. What I saw was my childhood friend, business partner, and brother for lack of a more appropriate term getting seriously fast.

High Plains Raceway pre race

Patrick has always been fast on a bike but normally it was the kind of fast that comes from having more balls than skill, but this was different. This was learned fast, the fast of proper body position, and race craft applied to smart smooth passes. In the last half of the season Patrick placed on the podium for nearly all of the races in his class. He ended up 2nd overall in the points championship and people around the track are looking at him to be a serious contender next year.

Knee dragging through turn 10

Watching a person start to master something they love is a beautiful thing and watching Patrick bring home trophies for elc mens was just that. I can’t wait to get back on the race track next year and to get elc Mens working on some sets of full leathers.

Trophy Time

Adam Rosenthal 1967 GTO

The other night the boys of elc Mens were dining, drinking, and talking fashion when our dear friend and famous Denver Tattooer Adam Rosenthal showed up driving his recently restored ‘67 Pontiac GTO. Adam has put his blood and sweat into restoring the car of his dream and the result is nothing short of stunning.

This particular night was Adam’s maiden voyage with the newly restored Goat and with it we were all reminded of the Triumph and Tragedy of Classic cars. All the way to dinner the sound of a 400 cubic inch American V8 and the luster of the deep cherry red turned heads at every corner. As he drove up to the restaurant the owners of the establishment approached him and asked him to park his car in the reserved spot in front of the restaurant for all to see. Continue Reading

Lee Alexander McQueen has always been an inspiration to us at elc Mens. Partially because of his visionary design, but more so because of his irreverence towards the industry and the rebellious and dramatic flair that embodied his runway shows.

For the record I am not a student of fashion and I don’t spend my time following the careers of big name designers. Maybe that is why McQueen’s passing has touched me. I remember seeing some of the early-ish collections of the Alexander McQueen brand and thinking that it was all too theatrical and flamboyant.  I dismissed McQueen as another high brow concept designer that I lacked the understanding to truly appreciate.

As we began working on the elc Mens line my understanding of design and tailoring increased and with that knowledge came a reverence for Lee Alexander McQueen. I saw a review of one of his runway shows where  a fashion critic described him as an engineer and said something like – even his silk dress seem to have some type of scaffolding.  Whether or not I loved the things he would create I began to see the genius of McQueen; he would make simple things look amazing and amazingly grand things look simple.

Obviously our fashion enterprise and desires are much more humble than that of McQueen’s but he serves as an inspiration in so many ways. Whether it is the impeccable tailoring that would be a worthy goal of any clothing manufacture or his sense of story telling and showmanship that he brought to the garments he created.

Whether you are a designer, or someone who appreciates fashion, or just someone who is a fan of those among us that push the boundaries of creative vision you can’t help but to feel the loss of Lee Alexander McQueen.

I for one tip my cap to the rebel with the incredible fuck you attitude of a young tailor who spent weeks making a suit jacket for Prince Charles only to inscribe,  “ I am a Cunt” in the lining! RIP Lee Alexander McQueen you will be missed

Westcliffe Colorado

Back in early December Denver had a pretty brutal cold snap with 7 days under 10 degrees. During that week we drove to Southern Colorado to check on our secret t-shirt experiment and I realized what a lack of proper hand wear I have.

After checking in our project we spent a good 20 min trying to thaw our hands back in the car and the idea for building a tough ass pair of winter gloves was born.

They would have to be rugged and warm, and fit with the Colorado inspiration of the collection. A proper lined leather glove born from the ranching tradition seemed to suit our aesthetic perfectly.

Since the very early days of elc Mens we have been inspired to create clothes that fit our lifestyle, incorporate our unique design perspective, and showed a personal craftsmanship.

Tanning experiments

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