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Static Climbing
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To find out more behind how Static Climbing got its start and what’s in store for the future, Josh interviews Static Climbing founder, Taylor Carpenter
More about the episode…
Josh sits down with Static Climbing founder Taylor Carpenter. Static Climbing is a company that came to Taylor organically in 2014 and soon became a full fledged company only a year later. Every step of Static Climbing’s production revolves around locality, from materials down to artists and designers. Tune is as Taylor shares the story of how she stumbled upon the name of Static Climbing, immersed herself in the climbing community, how she fell into her company and how it soon became an extension of herself.
Have an opinion? We want to hear it! Join the conversation and leave a comment, check out show notes, and get all the links mentioned in this episode below
Links/resources:
- Check out Static Climbing’s website
- Shop for a handmade chalk bag of your own
- More about Static Climbing
- Follow Static Climbing on Facebook, Instagram, and Pintrest
- Stay up-to-date with all things Static on their blog
Show Notes
- What is Static Climbing all about?
- “Static is all about being handmade. I wanted to be able to employ local seamstresses and local designers and keep as much of the production as possible in the San Diego area and in the United States…”
- Did you have any experience hand making products before starting Static?
- “Oddly enough, I did not sew before I started Static….I was at a get together for a friends birthday and… I kept having a conversation of ‘oh I have my degree, I’m going to do something with it, one day, one day, one day’ and I was tired of saying ‘one day’…”
- When did you turn Static into a serious brand?
- “I actually filed all the paperwork to start Static on May 13th…I didn’t really imagine it would turn into what it is today, that was the dream but, I just wanted to start making something as a hobby. When you have a craft it’s empowering when someone wants to support your craft…”
- How did you come up with the name ‘Static’?
- “It took a few weeks. At first I went to google and typed in climbing terms…I went through search engine after search engine of what a rad name would be and that wasn’t really working because I was trying to force it…”
- What is your background in climbing?
- “I was very involved with soccer my whole life up until junior college. My parents never saw climbing as an outlet for me but I was always climbing up all of our trees all around the neighborhood…”
- What has it been like developing your product from the first iteration to where it is now?
- “It actually happened so organically and naturally…it started with that first bag, everything was in the kitchen. We were burning the edges of the all of the ribbon and the webbing on the stove… I started getting the hang of it and it went from three days per bag, to two days per bag, to one day per bag…”
- Did you have any mentors that helped you build Static Climbing?
- “Everybody around me, I try to take every conversation I have and everyone I talk to. I try to take a piece of that and put it into my company whether it’s web design or just a friend’s feedback…”
- What is your commitment to sustainability?
- “I don’t want to outsource, I want to keep it local, I want to pay higher than minimum wage…”
- What has been one of the hardest parts about building Static?
- “Learning how to balance a life and making Static my life. I can definitely focus on Statice too much sometimes and run myself too thin. The hardest part about building a company is to give up control…”
- What is your greatest fear with Static?
- “My greatest fear is I never want to lose touch with the individual customer. I always want to hold true to being handmade, from wherever we’re based out of, and everything is really intimate with the production process… I don’t really like the whole automated response…”
- What have been some of your biggest mistakes that you’ve made with Static?
- Working too much and spreading myself too thin…I would love to be able to have Justin and hire someone new as well to help Justin sew. I still make every single bucket that’s out there…I really need to focus my time on R&D…”
- What’s in store for the future of Static Climbing?
- “I would love to create backpacks and I want to create an adventure backpack that’s handmade, that has a few surprises in store that most backpacks don’t have. We are launching the mini-duffle in the next couple of weeks…”
- What’s your favorite part about running Static Climbing?
- “Getting to interact with all the climbing world. I still go to all the pop-up shops and even down to the emails. Even having my office in a climbing gym, I am submerged in the climbing world…”
