A while back, I wrote a post admitting that some of the mockups were lame and the shop had more filler than it needed. Probably not the strongest sales pitch I’ve ever made. But if I could see it, I figured you could too.
I also said I’d start phasing things out and work toward a proper clothing brand. Somewhere between running CLCA and adding more ideas to a list that already needed adult supervision, it was time to follow through.
You’d think somebody who spends this much time looking at trees would recognize when his own website needed pruning.
Some things were there because I could put them there. That didn’t automatically mean they belonged. So the shop got a cleanup: fewer distractions, a homepage with some direction, and a better chance of finding the thing you actually came for before forgetting why you opened your phone.
There are five collections to poke around in. Edgy Educator is where the bug nerd in me gets to make questionable jokes and sneak some actual knowledge onto a shirt. Knotty Originals holds the rope logo and the ideas that make you wonder what the hell I was thinking. Treeple is for the people whose eyes go straight to the canopy when everyone else is looking ahead.
CLCA Official Gear has its own place, too. That’s the business behind the sawdust and the reason so much tree work finds its way into this one. And if you just want a hat, Headwear gets you there without making you sit through my entire personality first. You’re welcome.
The people around this brand deserve some space here, too. They wear the gear, feed me ideas, and occasionally send something that makes me think, “Well, now I have to put that on a shirt.”
That’s where Knotty in the Wild comes in.
There are already some familiar faces over there, along with a fish whose reputation has received more attention than its measurements deserved. Now I’d like to see where the rest of the gear ends up.
Got a KI shirt, a CLCA hoodie, or a hat that’s already been dragged through a few questionable decisions? Send a photo and a little of the story through the Knotty in the Wild page. A jobsite, a boat, your backyard—wherever you actually wear it. You don’t need to manufacture an adventure for a clothing company.
I’m proud of the progress. This started with a vinyl cutter and ideas I couldn’t leave alone, and it’s beginning to look more like the brand I had in my head.
Of course, that same head approved a shirt based on a stick and two pinecones. So let’s keep our expectations reasonable.
The website’s getting its shit together. I make no promises about its owner.
—Chris