ds us . in b h ic h w t onoring tha h e il h w , s u all around e r u t a n e th g life and in t a r b le e c , h the pack it w e e r f n owd and ru r c e h t m o ut f r To stand o
2014
pantone 158 C
pantone 5615 C
http://shop.themountain.me facebook: @themountain | instagram: @themountainteeshirts #themountain #wolfshirtwednesday #threewolfmoon The Mountain Retail 59 Optical Ave. Keene, NH 03431 | PH 1-877-686-8337 | retail@themountain.com
Our Mission To stand out from the crowd and run free with the pack, celebrating life and the nature all around us, while honoring that which binds us. Be epic!
Our Family Our shirts are dyed and printed in our own facility here in New Hampshire. We believe that Fair Trade starts at home by taking good care of our employees and their families. The Mountain® maintains an on-site Child Care Center that is available for all employees’ preschool aged children. With our first t-shirt designed and for more than 22 years now, The Mountain has directly supported our extended family of artists and their families by giving a percentage of each shirt sold to the artist who created it. Our fans are zealous, they gather in tribes, they wear our shirts as part of the experience showing their personal or the group’s inner spirit, it brings them closer, makes the moment more memorable. We do it for them and we welcome them all to The Mountain® Family.
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One fine day in 1993, a screen print rep walked into the print shop and changed the face of the company forever by introducing us to water base inks. Krinsky & McGloin (who were trying to figure out how to print batik and tie-dye without having the classic ink shield effect) instantly realized this was the game changer. If they could harness the power of this ink, they could change everything about the t-shirt printing industry for the better. With great ink came great responsibility, The Mountain® went green.
As the business grew, more stores were added in the Northeast and an epic selection of Rock n’ Roll T-Shirts, hats and other products were added. The two Mike’s hatched a genius idea, they convinced a local mall owner to rent them space in the middle aisle of the mall for the Christmas season. Before this, mall kiosks never existed. Over the next 15 years the Mike’s built out a chain of retail kiosks up and down the East Coast. After the retail chain was established, Mountain Magic started to design their own products and T-Shirts for their stores, which in turn, started the conversation about building The Mountain® print shop.
Feeling the pinch of success and need for growth, McGloin asked his close friend Jeff Grosner (who worked in the shop) to help run the printshop allowing McGloin to focus on the art direction of the company. With Jeff on board, this collaboration: McGloin the artist, creative and technical director, Grosner the scientist and inventor, rounded out Krinsky the financial ninja and Gallen the master of systems and sales, to make a perfect mix of business, technology, art and social responsibility to start the t-shirt revolution.
In 1991 the Mike’s met the third Mike (McGloin), a maker, artist & screenprinter who had his own t-shirt brand. McGloin was recycling, upcycling, designing and producing t-shirts himself, working with 15 different artists to develop his line of Artwear, sold mainly at local NH & VT shops, music festivals and on Dead and Phish tour.
Our Story The Mountain®, started like most companies, in the basements of the founders Mike Krinsky and Mike Gallen. The two Mike’s grew up together in a small town in NJ, and moved their families to NH in the early 70’s. By 1972 the two were crafters making Stained Glass and Leather Goods, inspired by the beauty of nature all around them. They soon combined their talents and started the Mountain Magic leather company, where they learned about the art of business and the business of art by selling over 500 different nature and rock n’ roll inspired belt buckles at craft and music festivals. With that success a single store was opened on the N.J. Boardwalk and the highly popular buckle business launched the first Mountain Magic store.
The print shop became an R&D machine, The Mountain® patented the process of printing batiks with water-base discharge inks and developed a new way to dye mottled tees. During this phase we learned we weren’t bound by the t-shirt color limitations the rest of the industry faced, but only by our imagination. The Mountain® exploded on the scene with organic reactive dyes, in colors no one ever knew existed. Then McGloin, Grosner and their team developed the holy grail: waterbase CMYKW process printing, allowing us to print thousands of colors with 5 screens, on our signature hand-dyed mottled t-shirts. The Mountain® had officially developed the secret sauce
From the very beginning McGloin’s vision of Artwear as a concept was to let the t-shirt tell the story. His focus was to give freelance artists and illustrators a visual voice and share in the profits of the company by receiving royalties on every shirt sold. A core principal of The Mountain brand to this day. After successfully selling his look in the stores for 6 months, the three Mike’s decided to work together having McGloin build the in-house art department and print shop to start to design and develop The Mountain’s T-Shirt brand. In 1992, The Mountain pint shop started with a single 6 color manual press, no computer and simple print shop setup, designing the tees, separating the art and printing every shirt by hand. The early 90’s was a time of great Art & Design invention through computing (the true birth of the digital art movement) and automation of the screen print industry. It allowed us to figure out how to do everything under one roof (design, separate, dye and print). With an amazing team of local artists, The Mountain® was able to start the build of an art company whose canvas was apparel. Some of our first designs ©Bob Marley Music ©GDM ©The Mountain®
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The Mountain® retail stores allowed us sell our shirts fast, far and wide up and down the east coast. In the middle of it all, we caught the attention of Grateful Dead Merchandising, they loved our batik work so much, we were granted our first Rock n’ Roll license, followed soon after by Marley and Hendrix. The years of retail helped shape what the company was becoming, a retail friendly wholesale company. Great customer service, tons of choices, always in stock with the ability to ship our shirts in 24 hours. We printed our first wholesale catalog in 1995, the stores sold in 1996 and The Mountain® t-shirt brand was officially launched.
For over two decades, The Mountain® has been a bold player in the t-shirt game. From the iconic Three Wolf Moon to the newest collection of Big Face Animal Tees, The Mountain® appeals to anyone who wants to make a statement or simply just have fun with fashion. What started as a ‘90s staple with licensed tees for the Grateful Dead, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, has grown to include over 1000 eclectic designs, seen on the likes of Jack Black, Tyler the Creator, Matty Mullins, Travis $cott, Jessie J, Jordan Hoffart, The Boston Bruins, NBA stars Joakim Noah and Matt Bonner as well as many others. The Mountain’s cult-like following and undeniable vision has inspired both trends and imitations from the streets all the way to the high fashion runways. The Mountain® brand is sold worldwide.
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The Greenest T-Shirt Company in the USA pantone 158 C
pantone 5615 C
The Mountain® is proud to be called the greenest t-shirt company in the U.S., our commitment to the environment is in our DNA. From day one we have always used the highest quality natural materials to create our t-shirts with. We start with a white t-shirt made from 100% natural USA cotton (down to the thread holding it together). To color our garments, we use fiber reactive organic dyes to create over 800 colors that are inspired by nature. *Our Dye Oxidation System (DOS), purifies our manufacturing process waste water by removing color and additives without the addition of chemical.
Green Initiatives • Since 1992 We have used 100% Cotton, grown and woven in the USA • Since 1993 We have used waterbase ink • Since 1994 We have used organic reactive dyes • In 1999 We began the digital edition of our catalog to save on waste and save trees • In 2000 we began conversion of our lighting, company-wide to save our natural resources
Our waste dye water before and after
Dye Oxidation System Tech
• In 2004 The Mountain’s Apparel was Oekotex 100% certified (one of the highest qualification worldwide). This guarantees our shirts are free of chemicals harmful to your body.
Because this process does not rely on the use of chemical it does not create dead water that has been stripped of its’ oxygen. Rather, it does the opposite in that the final product is enriched with oxygen which works harmoniously with the micro-organisms that are used in our local city water treatment facility.
• In 2006 We converted to DTS (Direct to Screen) for printing our separations. Eliminating thousands of pounds of plastic film per year.
Next our t-shirts are printed with environmentally friendly water based inks. Most screen printers use solvent based inks made primarily of plastic (petroleum) that have a rough feel and contain toxic Phthalates. While many printers are trying to kick the chemical habit and learn how to use water based inks, we are light years ahead of them. We are the pioneers of using water base discharge ink and have perfected it’s use to create photo-realistic imagery that is not attainable by other screen printers.
• In 2012 we installed filtered water fountains company wide to reduce plastic bottle waste
For many years, the founders have been involved with Green Causes. One of them has been a longtime advocate of local, national and worldwide conservation organizations dedicated to keeping land preserved so that ecosystems can remain intact for future generations. Another has had his personal land certified as an organic farm, making it possible for local farmers to use this land to grow organic food. Being “green” to us means being mindful of our choices which have a direct impact on the environment and future generations.
• In 2010 we closed the loop on all our cardboard waste with our box supplier • In 2011 Our Dye Oxidation System (DOS) went on line (see side bar)*
• From June 2013 to June 2014 we have been able to reuse over 1,000,000 gallons of water that was purified by our DOS System. • In January 2014 we started The Mountain Makers initiative, which makes use of our t-shirt seconds, thirds and cover garments to turn them into up-cycled fashion apparel and products. We plan on launching in Fall of 2014.
Future Green Initiatives Latent heat recovery
Energy
Water Recycling
Process water to hot water Process water to space heating Process air to make-up air
Solar Energy Generation Drying Process heat to heat water Drying Process heat to building heat
Recycling of all water in a closed loop system
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Honoring that which binds us
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The Mountain
59 Optical Ave. Keene, NH 03431
Located within Jaffrey and Dublin, NH, Mount Monadnock is 3,165 ft high and boasts approximately 35 miles of maintained hiking trails. The mountain is nearly 1,000 ft higher than any other mountain peak within 30 miles and the summit rises 2,000 ft above the surrounding landscape. Mount Monadnock attracts many hikers each year and is said to be the third most climbed mountain in the world behind Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Tai in China.
PH: 1-877-686-8337
Monday - Friday 8:30 AM -4:30 PM EST
retail@themountain.com