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Meet Elise Holmes of Vela Apparel in Vail

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Elise Holmes.

Elise, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been an artist, even as a little kid. I drew and painted all throughout grade school and majored in photography in college. I started working as a graphic designer right out of college, and worked at some great companies and got a lot of experience over the next ten years. I moved to Boulder to work at Warren Miller Entertainment for five years, before moving to the Vail area with my now husband, Matt. Throughout this time, I was always still creating for myself, keeping a notebook of sketches and drawings.

Vela Apparel came about from wanting to do something with all the art I love making when I’m not designing for someone else. I’ve always been a little entrepreneurial, but once I started dating Matt, I started to dream a lot bigger. Together we are constantly coming up with business ideas. We started our first company, Mtns Co, to make map products. While we were getting started and struggling to take off, I was drawing a lot, and sharing the designs with my friends and followers on Instagram. Eventually, enough people were asking to get my designs printed, we started to experiment a little bit more selling my art. We eventually settled on screen printing some shirts and making some hats. Over the next couple of years, the clothing and my art were taking off, and we decided to start a new brand of apparel and lifestyle products featuring my art.

The plans to start the company were all done while traveling in Italy one summer. We were having an amazing trip, but it was raining a lot, so I had plenty of time to draw and work out the details of the business plan. We came up with so much of what Vela is during that trip, even the name. The name Vela is a constellation in the southern hemisphere. It’s the sail of a ship, which is part of a larger constellation called Argo Navis. In the summer, the ancient Greeks and Romans would look south across the Mediterranean Sea, where Argo Navis would sit just above the horizon, and looked like it was sailing across the sea during the night. So Vela, or the sails, really stuck as an important metaphor for helping carry us through our lives.

Since the start, we have come a really long way in creating new products, expanding into different markets, and building a really great community of customers. We are still based in the Vail area and have just opened our first brick and mortar shop. You can find us at events all over Colorado, and we will be selling our line in a few select shops in the Front Range this upcoming year.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. There’s never honestly been a smooth moment, except for when I have the time just to draw and create.

The biggest struggle is probably learning to run a business when at heart, I just want to create. It’s hard to go back and forth between my creative space, and figuring out how to pay business taxes, dealing with IP lawyers, and running an ecommerce store. I’m very lucky that my business partner and husband Matt has a lot more patience for logistics than I do. We are always running into issues and obstacles, and having to problem solve.

We also have never had an easy time raising money to grow. There’s not a huge pool of VCs that want to invest in artists, and banks are very hesitant to work out loans with us. We’ve had to finance this whole venture on our own, and have put off any hopes of buying a home or build any kind of savings.

Let’s talk about business. Tell us about Vela Apparel – what should we know?
We are a lifestyle brand selling graphic apparel, fashion accessories, and home goods. Everything we make is designed by me and features my artwork. We are mostly known for my t-shirts and tank tops with screen prints of my art and our hats with my watercolors.

What sets us apart from other fashion brands in our space, is that I think we have really distilled the active, Colorado, mountain lifestyle into a vibe that can be appreciated universally. Even if you don’t really get to spend time in the Colorado mountains, there’s something about the way we live up here that almost anyone can connect to. And we love connecting people to our home and the amazing experience of waking up in these mountains, and exploring the wilderness and interacting with the wildlife.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
If I didn’t love creating as much as I do, I think we would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. My passion for creating is what keeps us going through all the hard times, for longer than I think most people would be interested in.

I also have a great husband and business partner. We have great complementary traits, and we always are able to lift each other up when one of us needs it.

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