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Born In The Mountains
ABOUT US
“Original, unique and refreshingly different”™
Our focus is on the product and only the product. This rebellious approach to question everything defies and opposes the logo driven norm. At Kühl® we set out to demonstrate what an original idea leads to in creating the finest clothes we know how to design and manufacture.
“Born in the Mountains”®
The predecessor to Kühl®, Alfwear, began in 1983 with the Alf hat, a Peruvian inspired hat design that many ski bums began to wear in the middle of the 1980’s. Updated and advanced by the use of polar fleece, John "Alf" Engwall used his skills to design the pattern for the hat that would become the choice for serious skiers of deep powder in the Rocky Mountains of North America. Alf Engwall, Conrad Anker (the now legendary mountaineer), and brothers Jay and Kevin Boyle set out to introduce this effective hat design to the skiing and mountaineering world. The four co-founders consisted of three skiers and an accomplished and focused rock climber all of whom aspired to the summit of actualization both in business and in the attempt to build a lifestyle that involved outdoor sport.
After a tragic car accident resulted in the death of Alf Engwall, the three remaining partners built the business for several years before setting out on their individual passions. The Alfwear partnership dissolved in the late summer of 1989. The fledgling company had lost its two biggest accounts. Conrad Anker received an offer to become a sponsored professional climber. Jay Boyle moved to Arizona and attended graduate school at Thunderbird in Phoenix. At the time the partnership dissolved, Alfwear consisted of eight or nine plastic bags full of the original Alf Hat.
Conrad Anker reached the goal of becoming a world-class rock climber and mountaineer, traveling the world ascending the major summits, and famously finding the body of Mallory on Everest. His accomplishments speak well of setting and realizing difficult dreams.
Jay Boyle began to study Tai Chi, earned his MBA and moved to Shanghai, China. He speaks Chinese and is involved in production overseas for Kühl®. His company, EXPAT-CFO, does business consultancy for companies seeking to do business in China.
Kevin Boyle set out to transform Alfwear into something more than just a hat company. With his passion for skiing, living in the mountains, and his artistic background, Kevin Boyle began to design garments made from performance fabrics for the outdoor lifestyle he lived in the skiing world. Kevin Boyle turned Alfwear into today’s outdoor lifestyle clothing company known as Kühl®.
In 1990 Kühl® introduced the Jacquard jacket, our signature Euro-styled Polartec® fleece top that featured the first, the original, innovative built-in thumb-loop cuff system, and lightweight underarm gussets for comfort, achieving an optimal climate control. This top gained cult status in the outdoor community and went on to win editors choice for the first Malden Mills Apex Award. To this day, Kühl ® has remained one of the few organically grown, independent outdoor brands. Kühl® is independently owned and financed and generates its own ideas from living the lifestyle people who buy Kühl® products aspire to live. Kühl® currently designs and manufactures the top selling pants and shirts found in outdoor retailers of national renown.
“Mountain Grown”®
Each person who contributes to Kühl® comes to the company with extensive experience of living the outdoor lifestyle ranging from skiing, mountain and road biking, backpacking, camping, mountaineering and extensive traveling to alpine destinations around the world. Kevin Boyle began skiing over a hundred days a year in the epic snowfall year of 1982, and Evan Shapiro, the company’s first full-time employee, moved to Utah in 1984 to do the same. After many years of deep powder skiing seasons in arguably one of the world’s great ski areas, they now not only ski the best powder days of each season but take those experiences and apply them to building Kühl® into a unique, independent company that answers to the needs of people who yearn for the freedom found in skiing, biking, living and playing in touch with the great outdoors. Kühl® has continued to provide them with opportunities to contribute to the lifestyle of mountain culture in their efforts to construct what many believe to be the finest quality clothing for men and women in the outdoor industry.
At Kühl® the passion remains to get out and stay outdoors and have fun. Kühl® is what it means to be comfortable and relaxed in the challenging environment of life and sport. Kühl® means creating the best environment for yourself and that means knowing the importance of following your own choices, beliefs and desires in every moment of life. For Kühl® dedication to original thinking translates into a passion for excellence in design and manufacturing clothes of exceptional construction.
Kühl® uses not only innovative style and features such as the thumb-loop cuff, a feature you will actually find yourself using and benefiting from, but exclusive fabrics with their unique weaves and vintage washes that create authentic character. Our articulated, gusseted, precise designs as well as the utmost craftsmanship provide a fit that is pure comfort. Wearing Kühl® not only represents the freedom of movement but also free will.
“Original, unique and refreshingly different”™
Our focus is on the product and only the product. This rebellious approach to question everything defies and opposes the logo driven norm. At Kühl® we set out to demonstrate what an original idea leads to in creating the finest clothes we know how to design and manufacture.
“Born in the Mountains”®
The predecessor to Kühl®, Alfwear, began in 1983 with the Alf hat, a Peruvian inspired hat design that many ski bums began to wear in the middle of the 1980’s. Updated and advanced by the use of polar fleece, John "Alf" Engwall used his skills to design the pattern for the hat that would become the choice for serious skiers of deep powder in the Rocky Mountains of North America. Alf Engwall, Conrad Anker (the now legendary mountaineer), and brothers Jay and Kevin Boyle set out to introduce this effective hat design to the skiing and mountaineering world. The four co-founders consisted of three skiers and an accomplished and focused rock climber all of whom aspired to the summit of actualization both in business and in the attempt to build a lifestyle that involved outdoor sport.
After a tragic car accident resulted in the death of Alf Engwall, the three remaining partners built the business for several years before setting out on their individual passions. The Alfwear partnership dissolved in the late summer of 1989. The fledgling company had lost its two biggest accounts. Conrad Anker received an offer to become a sponsored professional climber. Jay Boyle moved to Arizona and attended graduate school at Thunderbird in Phoenix. At the time the partnership dissolved, Alfwear consisted of eight or nine plastic bags full of the original Alf Hat.
Conrad Anker reached the goal of becoming a world-class rock climber and mountaineer, traveling the world ascending the major summits, and famously finding the body of Mallory on Everest. His accomplishments speak well of setting and realizing difficult dreams.
Jay Boyle began to study Tai Chi, earned his MBA and moved to Shanghai, China. He speaks Chinese and is involved in production overseas for Kühl®. His company, EXPAT-CFO, does business consultancy for companies seeking to do business in China.
Kevin Boyle set out to transform Alfwear into something more than just a hat company. With his passion for skiing, living in the mountains, and his artistic background, Kevin Boyle began to design garments made from performance fabrics for the outdoor lifestyle he lived in the skiing world. Kevin Boyle turned Alfwear into today’s outdoor lifestyle clothing company known as Kühl®.
In 1990 Kühl® introduced the Jacquard jacket, our signature Euro-styled Polartec® fleece top that featured the first, the original, innovative built-in thumb-loop cuff system, and lightweight underarm gussets for comfort, achieving an optimal climate control. This top gained cult status in the outdoor community and went on to win editors choice for the first Malden Mills Apex Award. To this day, Kühl ® has remained one of the few organically grown, independent outdoor brands. Kühl® is independently owned and financed and generates its own ideas from living the lifestyle people who buy Kühl® products aspire to live. Kühl® currently designs and manufactures the top selling pants and shirts found in outdoor retailers of national renown.
“Mountain Grown”®
Each person who contributes to Kühl® comes to the company with extensive experience of living the outdoor lifestyle ranging from skiing, mountain and road biking, backpacking, camping, mountaineering and extensive traveling to alpine destinations around the world. Kevin Boyle began skiing over a hundred days a year in the epic snowfall year of 1982, and Evan Shapiro, the company’s first full-time employee, moved to Utah in 1984 to do the same. After many years of deep powder skiing seasons in arguably one of the world’s great ski areas, they now not only ski the best powder days of each season but take those experiences and apply them to building Kühl® into a unique, independent company that answers to the needs of people who yearn for the freedom found in skiing, biking, living and playing in touch with the great outdoors. Kühl® has continued to provide them with opportunities to contribute to the lifestyle of mountain culture in their efforts to construct what many believe to be the finest quality clothing for men and women in the outdoor industry.
At Kühl® the passion remains to get out and stay outdoors and have fun. Kühl® is what it means to be comfortable and relaxed in the challenging environment of life and sport. Kühl® means creating the best environment for yourself and that means knowing the importance of following your own choices, beliefs and desires in every moment of life. For Kühl® dedication to original thinking translates into a passion for excellence in design and manufacturing clothes of exceptional construction.
Kühl® uses not only innovative style and features such as the thumb-loop cuff, a feature you will actually find yourself using and benefiting from, but exclusive fabrics with their unique weaves and vintage washes that create authentic character. Our articulated, gusseted, precise designs as well as the utmost craftsmanship provide a fit that is pure comfort. Wearing Kühl® not only represents the freedom of movement but also free will.
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