By Janet Bressler-Bilenky
Primal Wear is like that garage band that “made it”. Dave Edwards, current President & CEO, started the business in an actual garage in Denver in 1992. His original plan was to silkscreen T Shirts targeted to the MTB scene in Colorado, but within a few years the company, Primal Wear, Inc began producing road bike wear and kits as well.
Primal Wear now offers a wide array of cycling apparel products with vibrant and eye-catching images featuring limited-edition themes ranging from nature to beer to music to baseball and beyond. Primal’s custom line has exploded along with Primal’s in-house creative capabilities. Teams, clubs, advocacy groups and charitable rides can order their own designs on jerseys, shorts, bibs and more. There are no limitations on color or number of colors.
Primal Wear currently employs almost 50 people in Denver, CO, with additional offices in Plymouth, UK, and Seoul, South Korea. All fabrics come from South Korea and all chamois from a single family in Italy.
The entire Art & Production department is controlled from Denver, where Primal has 10 graphic artists. Sales, accounting, marketing, events and administration are also headquartered in Denver.
“We are a family-owned business,” says Pat Mayben, Primal’s events manager
“With women in two out of three top management positions.”
Some of the Philadelphia-area groups that have partnered with Primal are Bike and Build, Bike MS City To Shore Ride, American Cancer Society Bike-A-Thon, Million Dollar Bike Ride, and Rare Disease Cycling.
As I browse through the ladybugs, butterflies, florals, abstracts and landscapes that make up the women’s collections, wondering what to choose, I’m thinking, maybe Primal will be doing one with a platypus, next. Anything’s possible.
