FROM ITS INCEPTION, Fate has been a company infused with the passion, creativity and the commitment to making clothing that allows us to do what we love in gear that we love to wear doing it.
Fate Clothing, Inc. was founded in 1993 in Steamboat, Colorado by Cooper Schell, personal coach of Jonny Moseley, 1998 Olympic gold medalist. In 1995, Cooper started Fate with the simple goal of making the best pants for competitive mogul skiers that could be found. Fate’s enduring popularity with prominent, non-money sponsored competitive winter sports athletes emanates from its beginnings serving and responding to the needs of the best of the best with groundbreaking designs that have come to define ‘functional fashion.’
In 1995 Alan Ortiz, a creative, passionate outdoorsman fed up with the corporate grind joined Cooper and the two put their design and marketing talents to work to increase the popularity of the Fate brand beyond the tight-knit competitive freestyle skiing community. Responding to the popularity of Fate mogul pants, and recognizing the burgeoning trend of big mountain freeride, over time, the Company expanded its product offering to include jackets, vests, fleece garments and specific freeride performance apparel..
In 1998 Pat McDonald, the ultimate freestyle dad, teamed up with Fate to take production to the next level. The company soon expanded beyond its 'grassroots' direct sales beginnings and began to advertise nationally and distribute its products through retail channels.
Throughout its history, Fate has been at the cutting edge of functional urban influenced fashion with innovations such as the competition mogul pant, combination sleep sack/down jacket, moto jacket, and the introduction of progressive branding imagery ala “the dice", to name a few.
FROM BOULDER TO BROOKLYN. In order to satisfy the rapidly growing demand for Fate gear, Fate began producing the Company's products with an outdoor apparel industry veteran based in Brooklyn, New York. This business decision allowed the Fate Team, keen observers of urban fashion, music and cultural trends to merge Fate's mountain roots in Boulder, Colorado with the concrete caverns of urban NYC.
The bridge between Boulder and Brooklyn became even more tangible in Fate's culture when Vincent Bowen, a Brooklyn based Wall Street veteran and former Harvard Ski Team racer joined the Company. Born and raised in the South Bronx and attracted by Fate's groundbreaking designs and philosophy, Bowen decided to pursue his passion for the outdoors and bringing it to a broader audience and joined Fate in 2005.
OUTDOORS FOR ALL. This year marks an exciting new phase in the evolution of Fate. Vincent Bowen and Pat McDonald have teamed up with David Perry, an award winning NBA, NFL and skiing and active outdoor marketing executive and University of Colorado and Aspen Ski School alumnus raised in the Bay Area. Together, they are dedicated to continuing to build on the authentic Fate pedigree and sharing the transformative impact outdoor experiences have had on their lives by bringing Fate to an ever broader audience.
By continuing to appeal to the traditional core enthusiast while connecting the adventurous outdoor lifestyle of that core with a broader audience, Fate will create a community of outdoor enthusiasts who not only do great things in cool clothes but are also stewards of the environment we enjoy. As we embark on this journey Fate will seek to have an ever diminishing environmental impact. Some of our first efforts in that direction include using recycled bamboo fibers in our clothing and shipping our products using primarily recycled boxes. Stay tuned here for much more to come.
Click into the Lifestyle section above and let us know who you are and what you’re interested in and we’ll keep you up on what’s happening at Fate and how you can get involved and become a member of the Fate Family.
We are excited about this new phase in the evolution of Fate and look forward to you joining us on the journey!