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a new level of resolve
November 30, 2019
notes
A close friend who’s seen every bit of this Uphill journey told us “What impresses me most about you two is that when everyone else would have given up, you’ve stayed.”
We’ll take it, even if you really mean’t “should” instead of “would” with that backhanded compliment of yours. We’ve made plenty of mistakes and there are times we should have failed (what else would you expect from two kids with no experience running a company or making things). But we are stubborn and scrappy and lucky and aren’t ashamed to admit that for quite a while we got at least 50% of our food out of a grocery store dumpster (ok, Mal is a little ashamed, but in that “I’m still gonna wear it as a badge of honor” kind of way).
With a year-long construction project outside our retail store, we’re here to say ‘This ain’t the thing that’s gonna take us down, y’all!’ Well okay, this time it might, because here’s the thing, we’ve finally hit something that’s mostly out of our hands. Long-term road projects shutter small businesses every day. It’s a problem that more late nights & more creative food solutions finally won’t solve. It’s going to take a different kind of work and a new level of resolve.
Since we’re not the type to lament our situation or sit back and hope things will get better, we got crystal clear on what we’re here for and what our value is. Easy, we founded Uphill on 2 principles: creating heritage goods that bring you joy every single day, and the importance of nurturing human connection. As our losses grew this year, we knew the clock was ticking to finally give Uphill Designs the full product offering we had always envisioned. We spent precious early morning hours and late nights in August and September, doing more creatively product-wise in 2 months than we had in the previous year. Backed up against the deadline of our Holiday photo shoot, we did our absolute best work - creating 6 new heritage designs that take Uphill’s luxury bag line from a scatter shot to a full range of bags that fit any need.
A close friend who’s seen every bit of this Uphill journey told us “What impresses me most about you two is that when everyone else would have given up, you’ve stayed.”
We’ll take it, even if you really mean’t “should” instead of “would” with that backhanded compliment of yours. We’ve made plenty of mistakes and there are times we should have failed (what else would you expect from two kids with no experience running a company or making things). But we are stubborn and scrappy and lucky and aren’t ashamed to admit that for quite a while we got at least 50% of our food out of a grocery store dumpster (ok, Mal is a little ashamed, but in that “I’m still gonna wear it as a badge of honor” kind of way).
With a year-long construction project outside our retail store, we’re here to say ‘This ain’t the thing that’s gonna take us down, y’all!’ Well okay, this time it might, because here’s the thing, we’ve finally hit something that’s mostly out of our hands. Long-term road projects shutter small businesses every day. It’s a problem that more late nights & more creative food solutions finally won’t solve. It’s going to take a different kind of work and a new level of resolve.
Since we’re not the type to lament our situation or sit back and hope things will get better, we got crystal clear on what we’re here for and what our value is. Easy, we founded Uphill on 2 principles: creating heritage goods that bring you joy every single day, and the importance of nurturing human connection. As our losses grew this year, we knew the clock was ticking to finally give Uphill Designs the full product offering we had always envisioned. We spent precious early morning hours and late nights in August and September, doing more creatively product-wise in 2 months than we had in the previous year. Backed up against the deadline of our Holiday photo shoot, we did our absolute best work - creating 6 new heritage designs that take Uphill’s luxury bag line from a scatter shot to a full range of bags that fit any need.
One of those new designs that’s most dear to our hearts is the Leather Crest Backpack. By no means are we acting as if we’re not redefining the leather backpack, but we are redefining OUR leather backpack.
This Crest design gone through some iterations - material, size, additions (yoga mat holder, anyone?!). But we’re now settled on this one. And by settled, I mean I’ll definitely re-read these words in a year after more design changes and think “what a cute, ignorant little songbird.” This is THE bag that gets its roots from an experience in my life that embodies not giving up, adapting and changing and pushing forward and celebrating not in spite of the hard climb, but because of it (Hi, I’m Dan. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and my trail name was ‘Uphill’ in case we’ve never met or else you would have heard it before).
Our design process is completely our own and usually occurs behind closed workshop doors on quiet days. We will never stop creating and finding beauty through design, and I felt drawn to explore the deepest roots of our company, about what makes what we do so special. For me it’s rooted in story, and I wanted to explore the story of that initial pack that was my constant companion for 2,665 long, lovely, difficult miles.
On a Thursday in August I invited our friend and talented videographer Andrew Shepherd to our workshop. I wanted to shoot completely off the cuff with a design I had never made. No takes, no redos, and no bullshit - always the Uphill way.
Video: Magicking the Leather Crest into Existence
Now, no matter what, we’ll have this proof of how and why we created what we did. We rest assured that this bag and thousands of other heritage leather bags our hands have willed into existence will long outlive us.
Here’s our promise: this company will rise or fall as we’ve always done - with our values at the forefront and creating what we love, how we want, with our hands. This is our rebellion, that we will celebrate the difficult and the painful every single step because it is hard, because this is our path in our evolution to live our better lives and we wouldn’t take it any other way. Pulling magic and creativity from the difficult moments feeds our souls and our deep hope is that we have left an indelible mark to inspire others to do the same (if we could be so bold?)
♥ dan
One of those new designs that’s most dear to our hearts is the Leather Crest Backpack. By no means are we acting as if we’re not redefining the leather backpack, but we are redefining OUR leather backpack.
This Crest design gone through some iterations - material, size, additions (yoga mat holder, anyone?!). But we’re now settled on this one. And by settled, I mean I’ll definitely re-read these words in a year after more design changes and think “what a cute, ignorant little songbird.” This is THE bag that gets its roots from an experience in my life that embodies not giving up, adapting and changing and pushing forward and celebrating not in spite of the hard climb, but because of it (Hi, I’m Dan. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and my trail name was ‘Uphill’ in case we’ve never met or else you would have heard it before).
Our design process is completely our own and usually occurs behind closed workshop doors on quiet days. We will never stop creating and finding beauty through design, and I felt drawn to explore the deepest roots of our company, about what makes what we do so special. For me it’s rooted in story, and I wanted to explore the story of that initial pack that was my constant companion for 2,665 long, lovely, difficult miles.
On a Thursday in August I invited our friend and talented videographer Andrew Shepherd to our workshop. I wanted to shoot completely off the cuff with a design I had never made. No takes, no redos, and no bullshit - always the Uphill way.
Video: Magicking the Leather Crest into Existence
Now, no matter what, we’ll have this proof of how and why we created what we did. We rest assured that this bag and thousands of other heritage leather bags our hands have willed into existence will long outlive us.
Here’s our promise: this company will rise or fall as we’ve always done - with our values at the forefront and creating what we love, how we want, with our hands. This is our rebellion, that we will celebrate the difficult and the painful every single step because it is hard, because this is our path in our evolution to live our better lives and we wouldn’t take it any other way. Pulling magic and creativity from the difficult moments feeds our souls and our deep hope is that we have left an indelible mark to inspire others to do the same (if we could be so bold?)
♥ dan
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a new level of resolve
November 30, 2019
notes
A close friend who’s seen every bit of this Uphill journey told us “What impresses me most about you two is that when everyone else would have given up, you’ve stayed.”
We’ll take it, even if you really mean’t “should” instead of “would” with that backhanded compliment of yours. We’ve made plenty of mistakes and there are times we should have failed (what else would you expect from two kids with no experience running a company or making things). But we are stubborn and scrappy and lucky and aren’t ashamed to admit that for quite a while we got at least 50% of our food out of a grocery store dumpster (ok, Mal is a little ashamed, but in that “I’m still gonna wear it as a badge of honor” kind of way).
With a year-long construction project outside our retail store, we’re here to say ‘This ain’t the thing that’s gonna take us down, y’all!’ Well okay, this time it might, because here’s the thing, we’ve finally hit something that’s mostly out of our hands. Long-term road projects shutter small businesses every day. It’s a problem that more late nights & more creative food solutions finally won’t solve. It’s going to take a different kind of work and a new level of resolve.
Since we’re not the type to lament our situation or sit back and hope things will get better, we got crystal clear on what we’re here for and what our value is. Easy, we founded Uphill on 2 principles: creating heritage goods that bring you joy every single day, and the importance of nurturing human connection. As our losses grew this year, we knew the clock was ticking to finally give Uphill Designs the full product offering we had always envisioned. We spent precious early morning hours and late nights in August and September, doing more creatively product-wise in 2 months than we had in the previous year. Backed up against the deadline of our Holiday photo shoot, we did our absolute best work - creating 6 new heritage designs that take Uphill’s luxury bag line from a scatter shot to a full range of bags that fit any need.
One of those new designs that’s most dear to our hearts is the Leather Crest Backpack. By no means are we acting as if we’re not redefining the leather backpack, but we are redefining OUR leather backpack.
This Crest design gone through some iterations - material, size, additions (yoga mat holder, anyone?!). But we’re now settled on this one. And by settled, I mean I’ll definitely re-read these words in a year after more design changes and think “what a cute, ignorant little songbird.” This is THE bag that gets its roots from an experience in my life that embodies not giving up, adapting and changing and pushing forward and celebrating not in spite of the hard climb, but because of it (Hi, I’m Dan. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and my trail name was ‘Uphill’ in case we’ve never met or else you would have heard it before).
Our design process is completely our own and usually occurs behind closed workshop doors on quiet days. We will never stop creating and finding beauty through design, and I felt drawn to explore the deepest roots of our company, about what makes what we do so special. For me it’s rooted in story, and I wanted to explore the story of that initial pack that was my constant companion for 2,665 long, lovely, difficult miles.
On a Thursday in August I invited our friend and talented videographer Andrew Shepherd to our workshop. I wanted to shoot completely off the cuff with a design I had never made. No takes, no redos, and no bullshit - always the Uphill way.
Video: Magicking the Leather Crest into Existence
Now, no matter what, we’ll have this proof of how and why we created what we did. We rest assured that this bag and thousands of other heritage leather bags our hands have willed into existence will long outlive us.
Here’s our promise: this company will rise or fall as we’ve always done - with our values at the forefront and creating what we love, how we want, with our hands. This is our rebellion, that we will celebrate the difficult and the painful every single step because it is hard, because this is our path in our evolution to live our better lives and we wouldn’t take it any other way. Pulling magic and creativity from the difficult moments feeds our souls and our deep hope is that we have left an indelible mark to inspire others to do the same (if we could be so bold?)
♥ dan
One of those new designs that’s most dear to our hearts is the Leather Crest Backpack. By no means are we acting as if we’re not redefining the leather backpack, but we are redefining OUR leather backpack.
This Crest design gone through some iterations - material, size, additions (yoga mat holder, anyone?!). But we’re now settled on this one. And by settled, I mean I’ll definitely re-read these words in a year after more design changes and think “what a cute, ignorant little songbird.” This is THE bag that gets its roots from an experience in my life that embodies not giving up, adapting and changing and pushing forward and celebrating not in spite of the hard climb, but because of it (Hi, I’m Dan. I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and my trail name was ‘Uphill’ in case we’ve never met or else you would have heard it before).
Our design process is completely our own and usually occurs behind closed workshop doors on quiet days. We will never stop creating and finding beauty through design, and I felt drawn to explore the deepest roots of our company, about what makes what we do so special. For me it’s rooted in story, and I wanted to explore the story of that initial pack that was my constant companion for 2,665 long, lovely, difficult miles.
On a Thursday in August I invited our friend and talented videographer Andrew Shepherd to our workshop. I wanted to shoot completely off the cuff with a design I had never made. No takes, no redos, and no bullshit - always the Uphill way.
Video: Magicking the Leather Crest into Existence
Now, no matter what, we’ll have this proof of how and why we created what we did. We rest assured that this bag and thousands of other heritage leather bags our hands have willed into existence will long outlive us.
Here’s our promise: this company will rise or fall as we’ve always done - with our values at the forefront and creating what we love, how we want, with our hands. This is our rebellion, that we will celebrate the difficult and the painful every single step because it is hard, because this is our path in our evolution to live our better lives and we wouldn’t take it any other way. Pulling magic and creativity from the difficult moments feeds our souls and our deep hope is that we have left an indelible mark to inspire others to do the same (if we could be so bold?)
♥ dan