Pilgrimage to the Perfect Sweatshirt

The trek to Leadville, Colorado is not for the faint of heart. The long, curving road is covered with snow for half of the year. In many areas, there are no guardrails separating the narrow road from the steep incline below. 

Red Cliff Bridge, Red Cliff, Colorado

A historic-looking town nestled along a single avenue appears on the horizon after over an hour of driving. Leadville has a population of fewer than 3,000 residents and an elevation of over 10,000 feet. The surrounding mountains and trees stand tall, enhancing the bittersweet feeling of isolation.

Welcome to Leadville!

It’s possible the only thing higher than the elevation in this tiny town is the demand for the hoodies made there. Melanzana is a local business that has been sustainably making outdoor wear since 1994, all in-house. Production and inventory are often limited at the store, as each piece of fabric is hand-cut and sewn in the warehouse-like building that is the storefront. While shopping, the whir of sewing machines fill the building, overlapped only by small-town chatter. 

The most popular product sold at Melanzana is their micro-grid hoodie, which is made from a soft, lightweight fleece material. The gridded texture provides warmth and acts as a great base layer.

As a native Coloradan, this had been a part of my uniform for years, so I was surprised to see folks wearing these hoodies when I moved to Austin. It turns out, people travel from all over the country to get their hands on this Rocky Mountain essential. 

For Catherine Schmidt, a third-year geology student at the University of Texas, she was introduced to the brand through Young Life, a Christian youth fellowship group.

“I think I first heard about Melanzana in high school,” Schmidt said. “it’s kind of like the staple to being a Young Life leader, and being a part of the camp culture as a whole.”

Although she has spent a fair amount of time in Colorado, Schmidt purchased her Melanzana hoodie second hand on the app, Depop, for half off. Consignment has been the only way to order a Melanzana online.

“I've always looked on their website when they had had new products posted, but you can’t buy from their online store, which makes them even more unattainable,” Schmidt said. “I think that definitely increases the demand for them.” 

Dakota Kern, a communications major at UT, has a house in Granby, Colorado, about a two-hour drive to the Melanzana storefront. On a ski trip a couple of years ago, a friend of Kern’s told her about the company and brought her a sweatshirt. Since then, Kern has brought friends back to the Leadville storefront to buy a ‘Melly’ of their own.  

“I loved my time in Leadville,” Kern said. “It is a very small, very slow-paced town. At the time, I felt like everybody knew about Mellies, and so I kind of expected it to be this like, really hot commodity. And then we showed up and it was just the smallest little town and nobody was in a rush. It’s a great place to spend a slow, laid-back day.”

Now, Kern said she lives in a house off-campus with ten girls, each of whom owns at least one Melanzana hoodie. 

As someone who was born and raised in a small, rural Colorado town, its comforting to me when I see someone in Austin wearing a Melanzana. Both Schmidt and Kern admitted that they bought their hoodies for the sake of the name brand. I think people generally come for the sake of the brand but then stay for the comfort and community associated with the Melanzana Tag.

Melanzana Storefront; currently closed due to COVID-19

Not unscathed by the pandemic, Melanzana has had to reimagine its business model.

Before the start of the pandemic, the only way to get your hands on any Melanzana product was to call ahead of time to check their inventory before you begin your journey to the store.

Now, Melanzana has decided to open its online shop. However, this hardly means the popular sweatshirts will be more easily accessible. The company is hosting weekly online lotteries, the winners of which receive a link that is valid for online shopping for 5 days. Only one entry is allowed per shipping address, and it is prohibited to enter multiple times, even if over the course of a few weeks. 

Generally, the harder it is to get something, the more people want it.

“It almost makes you feel like a part of a community being able to buy it,” Schmidt said.

If the pandemic has proven anything in Leadville, CO, and beyond, it’s that Melanzana is loyal to its community and vice versa. Because of its dedicated customers, Melanzana has kept its sewing machines running and tentatively plans to open its doors as soon as possible.

Photos by Hannah Heckman