May 17th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
Our Hat Supplier just notified me the new Cordura fabric cannot be made into a flex-fit because it does not stretch.
The Stark brothers and a few others recommended a fitted hat versus flex-fit. The hat supplier can make us a size run of fitted caps.
I need to know what sizes we will need. For those of you who know your hat sizes will you please comment your size. This will be really helpful for me to get a size range that covers everyone.
I am excited about being able to offer a fitted hat, as Justin mentioned this is the type of product KUIU should be offering.
Thanks again for all of your help and input. It is how we make KUIU a next level company.
Jason
May 15th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
Hi Everyone,
I have had repeated requests for what is new in 2012 and when to can you get your hands on it.
I appreciate your patience as we have had the factory maxed working on getting our current product line completed so we can fill the hundreds of backorders.
As we have finally began to get caught up the factory will begin to delivery new product styles for 2012 beginning last week with the Guide Pant and new styles to follow. Below is the most current information on deliveries, which are subject to change depending on the factory and customs.
Merino 185 Crew Tee: Available Late June
Yukon Gaiter: Available Late June
Icon Rain Covers (3 Sizes): Available July
Icon Suspension & Frame: Available in July
30 Denier Cordura Sill Nylon Roll Top Dry Bags (4 sizes): Available July
2012 Guide Gloves: August, due to delayed delivery by Pittards Leather (I am pushing to move up this delivery date)
Jason
May 8th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
Guide Pant Available Now
A 19 ounce Toray Soft Shell Pant with the same cut, fit, and features as your Attack Pant and made with the same fabric as your Guide Jacket. This is the go to pant for your late season or cold weather hunts. Highly wind resistant and weather resistant with micro-fleece lining make the Guide Pant incredibly versatile. Quantities are very limited.
Guide Vest in Major Brown
The Guide Vest is now in-stock in all sizes for the new Major Brown.
May 3rd, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
With so many new customers and subscribers to the Building KUIU blog I want to remind everyone why KUIU exists. In building Sitka, I realized how much the retail model strangles innovation. No Toray, No The Merino Company, No Icon Carbon Fiber, no cutting edge innovation. Price is too important to drive sales.
As Mountain Hunters and Guides, we rely on gear in the most demanding conditions on the planet. Before Sitka, I always asked why is our gear decades behind the Outdoor Industry? We should be leading not following. We hunt despite the weather and many times because of the weather. There is no lodge at the top of the mountain, weather does not cancel our trips, we go anyways.
We need uncompromised products made with the finest materials and manufacturing. Products designed without price targets so there are no limitations on what goes into our products. KUIU was created so I can design and build products with as much reliability as money can buy.
Because of this, I have nothing to hide what goes into KUIU products. Opening up the inside of this business, sharing our world-class suppliers; Toray, The Merino Company, Pittards Leather, Cordura, YKK, Duraflex, and Bemis. I want you to have confidence in KUIU products. So much confidence you recommend KUIU. So much confidence KUIU becomes your brand.
The Internet has forever changed retail, we no longer have to rely on a retail sales person for the latest product information. The Internet has given us the power to search and research products and brands, read unbiased reviews, post reviews, post complaints and become complete experts of the gear we buy.
Because of the Internet, retailers no longer have to be experts of the products they sell because the customer is. The Internet has changed retail into a self-service business, hang it on the rack or wait for an order on-line and ship it.
If the retailer no longer adds value to the sale why pay them 40% to 50% more?
KUIU product prices do not include retail mark up. You are buying KUIU products at the same price as I would sell to a retailer. Selling KUIU in this model allows me to continue to develop product without cutting any corners to meet price targets for retailers and allows more people to experience this amazing product line. We all win this way.
Thank you for all of your support and helping me build a brand that is creating significant change to this industry and will turn KUIU into the technical leader no matter what industry.
Jason
May 1st, 2012 | By: kuiuteam
I had the chance to meet Brad Christian in our show room last fall and we talked about hunting and gear then he told me about a new business venture he was working on called Button Buck. If you have kids and like to hunt like many of us you will love Brad’s clothes for your little guys Button Buck.
I want to help spread the word for Brad and help create awareness for his Brand.
OUR STORY
 My name is Brad Christian and I grew up a frog-catching, lizard chasing, Colorado boy who got an early start with a suction-cup bow and arrow, cane pole, and Red Ryder BB gun. College took me from the Rockies to Nashville where I worked in the music biz and met Lauren, a fun-loving California girl studying to be a trauma nurse. We played well outside together, fell head-over-heels in love and got married in Vegas. Just kidding, it was a nice and proper wedding
Though she lured me back to Northern California to be near her family, she became my constant field companion. The flack I took early on for having a female hunting partner was easily offset by the fact that I no longer had to share a tiny two-man pack tent with a dude (an often overlooked consideration).
We were on a wild journey together, making memories that will last a lifetime—like the infamous wedding anniversary we spent . . . in a tree . . . on a farm . . . in minus 24 degree temps. “Husband Of the Year! Husband Of the Year!” But our greatest adventure was yet ahead.
We were pregnant!!! And we could hardly wait to share our outdoor traditions with the newest member of our posse. As parents-to-be, we began searching for kid’s clothing that represented our family’s unique hunting lifestyle. Unfortunately, all we could turn up was a few super cheesy t-shirts and a dress that looked like someone sewed a back onto a camo Snuggie.
As modern hunters, we were bummed. If our goal was to display our love for hunting at the expense of our style, we’d wear our waders out to dinner. But when it comes to our lifestyle clothing choices, “style” is a prerequisite for our picks.
We wanted stylish design inspired by our outdoor culture. That is, “hunting t-shirts” that looked nothing like “hunting t-shirts.” We also wanted the same cut, quality, and ultra-soft fabrics enjoyed in the mainstream. And with nostalgic memories of cool brands from our own childhood, we were motivated to create a relevant brand for a new generation.
So we set out to honor your wild kids and culture with BUTTON BUCK—the original lifestyle-clothing brand for the kids of modern outdoorsmen. So here’s to you little guys and gals! Rock it proudly . . . and may hunting always be relevant to you—“hunting’s future.”
Brad Christian
BradC@ButtonBuck.com
  
April 25th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
We just received 200 Guide Jackets in Olive. This is a special limited edition run online now and available only while supplies last (no pre-orders). We also restocked Guide Jackets in Frost Grey.
The Guide Beanies are now in stock in the following sizes and colors:
- Olive: Medium and Large
- Major Brown: Medium and Large
- Frost Grey: Medium and Large
- Vias Camo: Medium (size Large will be arriving in the next 2 weeks)
Attack Pants are restocked in all colors.
We’re expecting the Guide Vest in Major Brown in our next shipment, so call 1-855-367-5848 to pre-order yours now.
April 18th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
Frank Noska from Wasilla Alaska submitted this amazing photo of a recent Musk Ox hunt to the KUIU Album. Frank will be featured in the May/June issue of Eastman’s Bowhunting Journal. Congratulations Frank on a great trophy!
Please submit your photo to the Album and you may be selected for the next Eastman’s Hunting or Bowhunting Journal.
Jason
April 12th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
Thank you for the massive response! This input is so helpful and I really appreciate the support. It was really impressive!!!
From your input, it is obvious we need to make both styles, Velcro closure and Flex Fit. These new hats will be available in early summer and I will give you exact ship dates here on the blog as soon as I have the confirmation from the factory.
In addition to the Flex Fit and Velcro Closure hats I have received quite a few request for a “Boonie Style hat”. How many of you would like this added to the hat line up? We would make it out of this light weight Cordura Nylon Rip Stop Fabric. Let me know with a comment below and if there is enough request I will develop this style as well.
I appreciate the input and help.
Jason
April 10th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
I am working on a new line up of ball caps hats using our lightweight Cordura 160D Rip-Stop fabric we use for our packs. It makes an awesome technical hat.
How do you prefer your Cap?
- Flex Fit 2 sizes as our new Trucker hats………………………….or
- Velcro Closure, same as our current hats
Everyone is pretty particular on how their hats fit. Please let me know your preference as soon as possible with a comment below.
These new hats will be available in July.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Jason
April 4th, 2012 | By: Jason Hairston
I carefully pick each “ingredient” that goes into KUIU’s products. Our ingredient brand partners are the absolute highest quality possible for each product type. From fabrics to zippers to insulation, down to the leather in the Guide Glove you will find a brand associated such as Toray, Dermizax EV, Primeflex, YKK, The Merino Company, Cordura, Primaloft, Bemis, Pittards.
These branded suppliers insure quality and performance. If you are researching products I encourage you to ask why a brand is not telling you who they are buying their fabrics, zippers, insulation or seam tape from. If they are not telling you there is a reason!
Non-branded suppliers exist to cut corners to save money and these products are not close to being the same quality or performance.
PRIMALOFT
PrimaLoft® is a division of Albany International Corp., a global advanced textiles and materials process company, located in Rochester, NH. Albany International Corp.’s core business is the world’s leading producer of custom-designed fabrics and belts essential to the production of paper and paperboard.
 X-33 Technology Demonstrator Vehicle  B2 Stealth Bomber Albany’s family of growth businesses extends its advanced textiles and materials capabilities into a variety of other industries, most notably aerospace composites, including the development of sophisticated insulations for aerospace projects including the Space Shuttle, B2 Stealth Bomber and the X-33 Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, nonwovens, building products, and high-performance insulations and yarns.
The PrimaLoft® brand is the leader in fiber research and development for high performance insulations and yarns. PrimaLoft insulation, originally developed for the U.S. Army as a water resistant alternative to down, is globally recognized as the world’s best synthetic insulation.
Through continuous research and innovation, PrimaLoft® has developed a line of the highest rated synthetic insulations available on the market, including PrimaLoft® ONE, SPORT, SYNERGY, ECO and INFINITY.
Independent, Third-Party Testing
All PrimaLoft® Insulations are subjected to a wide variety of tests and certified at the most renowned third-party testing facilities in the world, including the Hohenstein Institute in Boennigheim, Germany and the research institution at Kansas State University.
Internationally Recognized Standards
PrimaLoft® Insulation’s high performance reputation is more than a marketing slogan. It is the collective recognition of standards proven by researchers around the globe in repeatable testing of materials used in every type of application imaginable. PrimaLoft® Insulations have received certifications to the most widely trusted standards including ISO 11092 (International Organization for Standardization) for thermal wet/dry performance.
CLO Value
One of the most important measurements of performance, the warmth-per-weight ratio, is used to measure thermal comfort of an insulated garment and is measured as a “CLO” ratio of clo per ounce per square yard (clo/oz/sqyd). PrimaLoft® ONE has a dry clo/oz/sqyd value of 0.92 and
PrimaLoft® ONE is the highest performing insulation on the market for warmth, water resistance, softness and compressibility. PrimaLoft® ONE is an ultra-fine microfiber insulation that is as warm, soft and lightweight, and is warmer wet or dry than all other insulations.
 
The 13 ounce KUIU Spindrift is filled with 70 grams of Primaloft One insulation designed for maximum versatility for early season hunts to a late season insulation layer. The Spindrift will significantly increase the range of temperatures and environments of your layering system.
Because of Primaloft One the Spindrift has the highest warmth to weight ratio for its category, is highly compressible and packs down into its own pocket. The Spindrift is always on my gear list.
Jason
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