- Heddels
- Posts
- H+ Test Feed
H+ Test Feed
Posts from Heddels for 11/30/2023
Heddels
Heddels is the leading destination for those seeking to understand and find well-made, enduring denim, footwear, and other clothing that improves with wear.
By William Reynolds on Nov 30, 2023 12:01 am
Nestled in the heart of Columbia, Tennessee, is a man whose laid-back demeanor might deceive you at first glance. Tyler Axtell is an unassuming guy, but behind the California beach hair and well-groomed mustache is a small business mogul and a passionate advocate dedicated to preserving the traditional artisanal craftsmanship methods of yesteryear.
He’s the founder of Bradley Mountain, a US-based lifestyle brand dedicated to making hardwearing, aesthetically pleasing goods from backpacks to candles. We sat down to chat with him as he settled into his new home in Tennessee with his wife and co-owner of Bradley Mountain, as well as his adorable daughter who made a few impromptu cameos during the interview.
From bear attack-proof bags and Swedish Boy Scouts to coffee, candles, and Bradley Mountain RV parks, we caught up with the man behind the [Bradley] mountain to chat all things leather and canvas.
William Reynolds: Tyler, great to meet you. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Perhaps you could start by walking us through Bradley Mountain; where it started and the inspiration behind it.
Tyler Axtell: I started Bradley Mountain in 2012 out of a passion for handcrafted goods. I started leatherworking just as a hobby, and then I wanted to make bags for myself for travel. I was actually taking a trip to Switzerland with my brother, and I wanted to just take one bag for the entire trip. It was a two-week trip. Instead of buying one, I just decided to make it, which is how I designed the Wilder. It’s kinda what we’re most known for. It has an old-world feel to it and it’s modular, so you can add things to it, strap your boots to the outside, and your jacket to the side of it. The idea is that it has an old backpacking “feel”, but it’s urban and modern as well.
I just fell in love with the textures of leather and waxed canvas. I didn’t really see much of it as a kid growing up in Southern California, you know. I fell in love with working with the materials. As I made more things, co-workers and college friends wanted more. They were like, “Where can we buy it?”, so I started an online store. Fast-forward and it’s grown from there.
WR: So, is Bradley Mountain a real place, or?
TA: Bradley Mountain is just a place I made up. It’s basically there to inspire people to travel and go somewhere, rather than the name revolving around us and what we make. The whole point is the adventure is in yourself; we’re just giving you tools to express that adventure. So the whole idea is like, “Go to Bradley Mountain,” whether it’s a country on your bucket list or a totally undiscovered place.
Bradford is a family name, so I kind of just pulled from that. But that’s what that means.
WR: You make starting your own brand and business sound easy. Walk me through the specifics—how did you do it?
TA: So growing the project, you know, from a hobby into a business was extremely difficult. I didn’t have any business experience when I started. I didn’t have any mentors in the space, either. But, I did have my family. My dad runs a small business making handmade puppets, which I worked for growing up. That’s the business I grew up around. So, the thought of taking something from, you know, like a bolt of fabric to a consumer product wasn’t a foreign concept. That piece made sense to me. But really, the fact that I have no formal training in sewing, patternmaking, or leatherworking, I think really helped me because I was able to come from a really naive and raw perspective.
I use a lot of rectangular patterns, very simple patterns that produce pretty much zero waste in terms of canvas. And they’re fairly easy to train and teach. And so basically, I started grabbing friends of mine to come on board and we eventually figured it out together. That’s sort of how I began to scale the shop, adding one friend at a time, and then slowly adding guys onto that.
WR: What advice would current Tyler give to past Tyler if you had to do it all again?
TA: If I were to give advice to myself starting out, I think it would be to learn as much as possible on the finance side; the business side. Also, pay close attention to what’s working. Stay true to your genuine place of inspiration. Most of our most popular designs were the first designs we ever made, whether it was the first jacket I designed, the first bag I designed; or even the first candle. Almost every single one of our firsts are our best sellers. I think that just speaks to accessing this point of inspiration and trying to create it from my mind, rather than looking at blogs and trying to figure out what other people are doing. It’s just come from a genuine idea that’s been put on paper.
As I’ve grown, I’ve tried to harness that, that kind of precious point of inspiration, because it’s so easy to look at your competition or, you know, what’s going on around you to influence your designs.
WR: You touched on inspiration—where do you get your inspiration from for Bradley Mountain?
TA: Yeah, I actually didn’t know much about the old outdoor hunting world I find myself a part of now. You know, brands like Filson and British brands like Barbour weren’t on my radar back when I started. I didn’t grow up around that. But when I came into contact with wax canvas for the first time, it felt like this totally undiscovered thing, at least in my common world. And so it felt like a lot of these ideas were coming from myself. Obviously, everything comes from somewhere. I think there’s a kind of throwback to old Boy Scout, World War II inspiration. I love old military gear mixed with Swiss and Swedish backpacker style, which, I guess crosses over into the whole bushwhacker EDC world. But, at the time, I really didn’t know all the nuances of it. And it’s really cool to create something that you just love and then find yourself, kind of. You know, connecting with different communities and people that really believe in it.
Ad WallJoin Heddels+ to keep reading This article is part of our paid membership program, Heddels+ that includes: Up to 20% discounts at select brands and retailers 2+ exclusive articles per week Keeping our mission at Heddels alive$1 a week trial, $10/month after.Try a week for just $1 mashsb_timestamp: memberful_acl: a:2:{s:7:"product";a:0:{}s:12:"subscription";a:0:{}}memberful_available_to_any_registered_user: memberful_available_to_anybody_subscribed_to_a_plan: memberful_marketing_content: This marketing content will be shown in place of your protected content to anyone who is not allowed to read the post...mashsb_position: disable
