The ANTecdote
Red Ants Pants hosts Cycle the Rockies Bike Tour
Last week, 10 weary and very wet bikers pedaled into White Sulphur Springs. They were the 8 students and 2 instructors of the Cycle the Rockies course. This course is part of the Wild Rockies Field Institute. Based in Missoula, WRFI; www.wrfi.net, is an independent, nonprofit educational organization that offers affordable, high quality, academically rigorous field courses in some of the most beautiful and interesting landscapes in North America. Cycle the Rockies consists of 28 days of biking across Montana studying energy issues and climate change. The students began their journey in Billings and will complete the adventure in Glacier National Park. Along the way they meet with local ranchers, oilmen, venture capitalists, Hutterites, and lots of various folks who specialize in energy in one form or another. Red Ants Pants was excited to welcome them in for the night, stuff them with elk burgers, asparagus, and roasted potatoes, and hear their stories. Check out their blog at http://wrfi.net/CycleTheRockies/. Pedal safely friends and keep expanding those minds! WRFI Bikers at Red Ants Pants
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You Can Take the Girls Out of Red Ants Pants but...
Maggie & Sarah with Nick from Hatchopedia Last Thursday night Sarah and Maggie ventured to the big city of Bozeman for a night on the town and to show our support for a very worthy cause, the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council. Our dear friends at Hatchopedia hosted their second annual Ol’ Blue & Big Fish Contest and although we were busy on Tour de Pants and couldn’t enter the big fish contest (our talents not only lie in pants!) we could help the effort in protecting southwest Montana’s unbelievable beautiful waterways as an event sponsor. Red Ants Pants is certainly proud to help organizations that are dedicated to keeping Montana’s great lands and rivers protected, clean, and accessible. Sarah & Mike England, founder of Outside Bozeman Magazine, at the Hatchopedia party Not only was the event as a good celebration of the biggest catch and the excitement of winning a drift boat or old Jeep (which, sadly, neither one of us came away as the big winner) but a wonderful night spent with many of our Red Ants Pants friends and supporters. If you’ve already checked out RAP’s first commercial that aired in 2008 on YouTube then you might be familiar with one of our very talented model/actresses, Sam. Sam lives in Bozeman and is one of Sarah’s oldest and dearest Montana friends. And since Sam calls Bozeman home, we got to meet up with her at the event and check in to see how she’s fairing after her RAP video debut. Rest assured that this woman, who’s line from the commercial will be forever famous: “You got a chain?” has not allowed RAP fame to go to her head. In fact, Sam just graduated from Montana State University with a Master’s in Nutrition. Congrats to her! Sarah and Sam enjoying a good laugh You can try to take the girls out of Red Ants Pants, but you can’t take the Red Ants Pants out of the girls…despite casting aside our trademark pants for the evening and dressing up a bit in sun-dresses and our matching jean jackets. Nothing says spring in Montana like pale white legs out on the town with snow still high up in the mountains! Although we were at a fishing party, brown paper bags containing a new pair of RAPs were spotted and stickers were seen everywhere at the event! Congratulations to our friend Nick and his crew at Hatchopedia for hosting a successful fundraiser. Now we’re all itching for our rainy weather to clear so we can get out and enjoy the rivers and mountains this spring!
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Where Good Friends Gather
In one week, we covered 2, 850 miles (well, give or take a few miles here and there) across Oregon, northern California and the Seattle area. And in all of those miles traveled, we were greeted with sunshine, lush spring blossoms, the cool smell of the ocean, and most importantly, welcomed by our friends and made new RAP connections. Here are the legs to your favorite pants! Our last stop on Tour de Pants was in Seattle. We first had a quick and fun visit to the factory where your RAPs are made in Kent, WA. The factory is operated by a mother daughter team, Cheryl Evans and Sheila Brush. And this just wasn’t your typical business stop–both Sheila and Cheryl care very deeply for Red Ants Pants and for Sarah. Although business was discussed, the conversation eased into personal life, asking about family and friends. And Sarah received a very fun miniature beaded red ant from the floor manager, Terry. If you wear a pair of Red Ants Pants you should be quite proud that the men and women who make your pants are truly wonderful people! After our visit at the factory, we headed a bit east of Seattle to Sammamish (it’s a very fun name to pronounce) to catch up with Sarah’s cohorts from her Student Conservation Association days. Sarah worked as a trail crew leader for SCA and still manages to find time in her busy RAP schedule to cook for their Work Skills week–a week dedicated to crew leader training. Our party host was Sarah’s longtime friend through SCA, Sarah Hanson. We found Sarah’s cozy home nestled deeply in the northwest woods. She’s been busy all winter renovating her parent’s home. And her well worn RAPs show her efforts! Before the party, we made a quick stop to the SCA camp to say hi to friends and show off our RAPs to incoming crew leaders. Sarah holding up her old pants, and modeling her new pair! For our last night on the road, we couldn’t have asked for any more–we were surrounded by Sarah’s old friends, friends spanning her life through her journies with Outward Bound and the SCA. We all curled up on futons and chairs in Sarah Hanson’s home and laughed our way through the RAP slideshow as many of the photos were of friends at the party. After traveling so many miles, there’s no place quite like where your good friends gather. Good friends Heidi and Emily. What beautiful women! With yawns punctuating the night, we said our goodbyes with promises to make summer visits to Montana. Many of our friends are beginning trail crew work on the Pacific Crest Trail, beginning their new job Seattle to practice medicine, and our dear friend Emily is busy planning her wedding this July! So many great things to look forward to! And we loaded up the truck early Wednesday morning and hit I-90 for the long drive through Washington to White Sulphur Springs. We’re so very thankful to all our party hosts and their guests for truly welcoming us into their communities! And we’re very grateful to all our RAP supporters across the west coast. Tour de Pants is at a stopping point for the spring. Sarah’s travels haven’t quite ended yet. She’s off to her home in Connecticut to celebrate her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary! Maggie will watch over the shop and the pets while Sarah’s away and then she’ll return home to Whitefish for the summer. Stay tuned for more adventures with Red Ants Pants as we slide, happily, into summer.
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Planting good ants in Ashland
Beautiful Ashland River on our stroll through town Our beautiful drive took us north from the Bay Area through the rolling hills of northern California, past a cloud-camouflaged Mt. Shasta and into the lush small town of Ashland, Oregon. Ashland has made its mark as playing host to the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival and we feel quite strongly that if the Bard himself checked out these pants, there would certainly be a sonnet or two dedicated to the wonderfulness of Red Ants Pants. We didn’t have enough time to take in a play, sadly, but instead connected with farming women at a house party. We were so lucky to have two hosts in Ashland and great thanks to Melina and Aiyana for the pants party! And for making room in their busy harvesting schedules for us! Our party fell on the eve before the huge Tuesday morning farmers market. These pants can't wait to get some dirt on 'em! Our intimate party was made quite lively due to Melina’s adorable three year old son and his excitement during the RAP slideshow and his dance moves! We laughed and snacked on homemade cornbread while Elin swayed to Dolly Parton’s “Working 9 to 5”. Two of our party guests have a very special relationship–a mother daughter duo who now have the Red Ants Pants! Leslie, the mom, runs the farm where Aiyana and her fiancée (who also wears RAPs) live and work. And check out just how great they both look in their RAPs. lRAPs for you and your mom! As rain began to fall on the truck, we left our new Ashland friends and headed north to get a few miles under our belts (did you know that we have Red Ants Pants belts?) before our long drive to Seattle. Our Tuesday Seattle stop includes a visit to the factory where your most favorite pants are made and a house party with Student Conservation Association crew leaders and alumni!
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Women Are Building California
Cari all smiles with her new pants! We just wrapped up a busy weekend in Oakland, attending the 9th Annual Women Building California conference. It was a whirlwind weekend in the Bay Area–between the conference and our stints at playing tourists in the big city. We were so happy to connect with some pretty darn tough, hardworking (and, we might add, very fun-loving) women. This was our second appearance at the conference. Last year we made the trek all the way down to Los Angeles (and yes, in case you were wondering, it was a shock to us Montana gals!) to attend the conference and meet with all different tradeswomen. This statewide conference is unique in that it brings together all the different types of trades–from pile drivers to electricians–under one roof to celebrate, educate and inspire working women. In the trades, women only make up 2% of the workforce. And last year, we were so thrilled to show these women that finally there’s a company that makes workwear just for them! And by women too! We had so many wonderful supporters, so at this year’s conference, it was incredible to reconnect with familiar faces and also meet new women working in the Bay Area. But, it was a true eye-opener on the status of our economy and job front. So many of these women are not working. They’ve been laid off in the last year. Quite a different one year makes. And, of course, these women are determined to not allow the recession to knock them down. So, these women are looking at other ways to stay engaged–they’re attending classes on green building and their positive outlook on the job front is guiding them into leadership positions with their unions. These women are smart, and talented and they know that in order to ride out this difficult time, they have to stay positive and stick together. Fun times and friends at the reception And we were more than impressed with the support they’ve shown Red Ants Pants for the past two years. As much as we hear on the news or read in the newspapers about the millions who’ve lost their jobs, sometimes it’s overwhelming to hear the tough news, but after a weekend spent around these women who’ve faced adversity in so many ways, and now to have lost their jobs, we’re confident it’s their attitude and strength that will rebuild the economy and most certainly with these women, rebuild California. The conference took place during the day so at night, we took full advantage of exploring the city. And luckily, the conference ended early on Sunday, so our dear new friends Rachel and Robin played tour guide and showed us San Fransisco. We first met Rachel, an electrician, at least year’s conference. And not only is Rachel one hell of a fun lady to be a round, she’s also made a RAP first. Have you heard about our ‘Where’s Your Ant Challenge’? The ‘Where’s Your Ant Challenge’ refers to the single ant label sewn on each pair of pants. And the ant is sewn in a different location on every pair and if you find your matching ant on a women (or man) wearing their RAPs, then you get a free RAP t-shirt. As much as we love getting to know our customers, we also think it’s important that our customers get to know each other too. Connect, it’s a good thing. Rachel showing off her matching ant Well, Rachel found a matching ant. Just not with another person. But herself. Rachel loved Red Ants Pants so much that she bought a second pair and guess what? Yep, matching ant with her second pair. Matching ants aside, Rachel and Robin were quite possibly the best tour guides and we ate and walked around the city, thankful that RAP has taken us to so many wonderful places around the country and introduced us to so many wonderful and beautiful people too! For two women who really, really enjoy small towns, we did manage to have a good bit of fun in Oakland and San Francisco! And now, Tour de Pants rolls on north to Ashland, Oregon to meet with local farmers. See, work–either working with your hands in the dirt or pounding nails is a good, good thing.
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Hold my beer and watch this split!
Tour de Pants made its first stop on Wednesday in Portland. For this tour, since it involves us traveling to urban areas, we made a decision to travel a bit lighter. No AntHill. And no Nellie. Nellie, Sarah’s beloved cattle dog and occasional ant eater needed a bit of a break from the road. So she’s home with the cat, Magpie, and the new chickens, Parsley, Sage and Rosemary. And why not the trailer? Well, the wonderfully aging Airstream is not the easiest rig to navigate through multi-lane highways and busy, city traffic. Remember: we live in rural Montana. The only traffic is when there are cattle drives through town. So we decided that for just this once, and just this week, we’d ride a bit easier without our trademark trailer and home on wheels. Our host and her friends showing off all those side pockets! We drove (a lot faster now without towing the Anthill) across Idaho and into the beautiful Columbia River Gorge to Portland. Our first party of this OR/CA/WA tour was a huge success with new friends–great women of the Portland area who will use their RAPs in the building trades and working trail crew on the Pacific Crest Trail. Our delightful host, Marenda, invited an incredible group of women to her colorful home for a beautiful spring evening house party. Many of the guests are recent graduates of the Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. programs. And we were happy to hear that one woman was thrilled to find that our RAPs don’t have annoying rivets or a waistband that will slip off her hips with her tool belt. Not only were our new Portland friends excited to wear their pants at their job sites or in the woods, but one guest demonstrated her gymnastic ability and the range of motion from the gusseted crotch by performing the splits in her Red Ants Pants in Marenda’s living room. This was a first. And most certainly impressive! The very flexible Sonja in her new RAPs And in the small world of the Red Ants Pants culture, one of the guests was good friends with our Arcata party host, Greta, from last spring’s coastal tour. Greta, who also had a RAP first by milking her goats during her party, raved to her friend, Kira, about Red Ants Pants, so when Kira moved from California to Portland, she was shocked to learn that her friend Marenda was hosting a pants party. Again, Red Ants Pants is honored to connect women from all over the country with each other. Our Portland experience was so wonderful–we stayed with Sarah’s aunt who toured us around the city, including important stops to Powell’s Books and a long hike though the stunning and lush Forest Park. For two girls who’ve endured a long, cold and snowy spring in Montana, the bright greens and blooming flowers only adds, beautifully, to our visit. Thank you to our new Portland friends! With great thanks to Marenda and her friends for their support and for hosting such a fun party, we left Portland and headed south to Eugene to catch up with another member of Sarah’s family. From Eugene we make the descent into California to Oakland where we’ll be attending, for the second year, the Women Building California conference. We can’t wait to reconnect with our supporters from last year and see how their pants have faired after a year of hard work in the trades.
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A Beer Sponsor for Workpants?
And the answer, proudly, is yes! And we are beyond thrilled that Big Sky Brewery, out of Missoula, is our beer sponsor. In the spring of 2008, they caught wind of our RAP YouTube commercial and called up Sarah wanting to partner with Red Ants Pants. The perfect partnership? We do travel around the country with Tour de Pants so what would be better than also bring women good beer from Montana as well?! Thus the combination of Red Ants Pants and Big Brewing Company was born. Not only can we deliver the goods on workwear for women, but we can also bring our party guests some very wonderful beer out of our very wonderful home state. So for those of you who haven’t yet had the luxury of attending a Red Ants Pants house party, be sure you do because not only do you connect with us but you also get to drink good beer as you try on pants and meet new folks in your community. We like to keep it rather simple: find a good pair of pants that fit that allow you to get your job done, and then after a long, hard days work, you owe it to yourself to sip on a cold, tasty refreshment. “I was really excited to work with other liked-minded Montana businesses. We might not be directly related–workpants and beer–but we have the opportunity to connect and partner it’s not only a strong business practice but we also have a ton of fun too. That’s what we do best here in Montana. Work hard. Play hard. Thank you Trinda and the crew at Big Sky for their support,” commented Sarah. Party guests in Idaho enjoying their Big Sky brews We’ve been lucky to introduce folks all over the country to Big Sky’s most famous and iconic beer, Moose Drool, and we never hesitate when our lovely contact at Big Sky, Trinda, asks if we need more beer for the road. We think you probably know the answer to that one. Big Sky’s been brewing beer in Missoula since the mid-1990s and in 2006 they were ranked near the top 50 largest breweries in the United States. They also employ around 40 folks, so we like that this Montana operation not only provides our beer nourishment but provides great people with great jobs! Sarah really likes the classic Moose Drool. Maggie prefers their Scapegoat Pale and when winter rolls around for this ski bum, she’s most certainly sippin’ on their Powder Hound Winter Ale. And sadly in Montana there’s an extreme lack of glass recycling so we’re both thrilled when Big Sky began putting Moose Drool and Trout Slayer in cans. Perfect for the river and other summer adventures but also recyclable! So as the second edition of the spring tour begins, we’re heading to Missoula to pick up our beer and head west along the stunning Columbia River to Portland! We look forward to once again gettin’ ladies in our pants and also giving them a cold Big Sky brew too.
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RAP and Two Other Montana businesses highlighted in the Billings Gazette
We’re honored that we were one of three Montana businesses featured in “Thinking Outside the Big Box” from the Billings Gazette. The article takes a look at three different Montana entrepreneurs who’ve avoided the distribution trap and stayed true to their customers by not taking their products to chain stores like Walmart, but instead, controlled the distribution and sales on their own. The article was prompted by the release of a Montana State University-Billings professor’s new book, The Distribution Trap, that aims to teach entrepreneurs how to succeed without giant retailers. The piece not only discusses the successes of Red Ants Pants but also of Billings based company, Red Oxx Manufacturing and Natural Baby Co from Bozeman. The great news is that all three of us have instinctively taken this advice in our businesses practices. And most certainly with Red Ants Pants, our direct customer experience will not change. We want you to come visit us in White Sulphur Springs and spend time in our historic shop. And don’t even think for one minute that we’d pass up an opportunity to hitch up AntHill (our Airstream trailer) and tour across the country to connect with all of our supporters and friends! So, like the different types of women’s bodies we’ve aimed to fit in our workpants, there are many different ways to run a business. We like being a small company. We like that you can’t find our pants in any retail store, small or large. We like that you can meet us, drink some good beer with us, and connect over a campfire in the cool November air of Wisconsin or dance all night to your friend’s band in their living room. And we’re are most, most grateful that you’ve allowed us into your homes and lives and shown us that this grassroots approach to sellin’ pants works! And we’re quite proud that this professor chose us and two other impressive Montana businesses to set as an example for his new book! Once again, good stuff comin’ out of this Big Sky state.
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Earthships and Blacksmiths
The "mudders" filling in the tires. Check out those pants! Pounding tires and drinkin’ beer is what we had in store for us on Tuesday in Stevensville. Our first agenda item for our Stevensville stop was to meet with Gretchen Langton, a local massage therapist and women with an incredible home building dream. Gretchen grew up in the Bitterroot Valley and left Montana for a bit, her travels leading her to teach at the University of Oregon and then returning home to the Bitterroot to build on her family’s land. Her home is no ordinary home. She’s constructing an Earthship, a home that’s build from re-used materials. Re-used materials are different from recycled materials. Recycling of goods requires processing. Gretchen’s using old tires, soda cans and glass bottles in their retired states to build her home. We lent a hand with the smashing tire process. This is not an easy nor speedy process. Gretchen has no set timeline for the completion for her house, and after an hour of work, we began to understand the depth of her dream and also admire her patience. So, smashing tires? The walls of the house are formed by tires that are filled with dirt. Our job? Stack and fill the tires with dirt and then with a sledgehammer, pound the tire until it’s rock-hard and full of dirt. And to line the bottom of the tires, Gretchen uses the empty grain bags from the local brewery, Blacksmith Brewing Company. We were fortunate to have Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen on-hand to write a story about the partnership. Check out the front page story here. It’s a well-written piece on Sarah and Red Ants Pants and Gretchen’s huge and important undertaking. Gretchen (r) and her cousin, Julie (l) at the brewery. And when we first arrived to Gretchen’s land, which has been in her family since 1887, we were so excited to see a woman working in her Red Ants Pants! We connected with Gretchen through her friend Kimmi who thought it’d be a perfect partnership with RAP. Kimmi and her husband, Rob, met Sarah a few months ago when they stopped in White Sulphur for a job interview at a local ranch. With several friends and workers at the job site, we spent a few hours alongside the “mudders”–this is not a technical term but more of a description of the task. Take mud and slap it between the tires and then add pop cans to fill up any space in between the layers. It’s a dirty job but a fun one. Or so thought Maggie after sledging away for an hour on one tire… Although we would have liked to stay longer to finish more tires and graduate to the “mudder” position, Kimmi escorted us to the Blacksmith Brewing Company so we could set up for our party. We knew we’d see a tired Gretchen and friends at the brewery later for some post-work refreshments. Our Blacksmith Brewing Company host was the brewery’s manager, Trisha. Trisha welcomed us wholeheartedly into the stunning brewery. Many of you in Montana and elsewhere may not have heard of this damn fine brewery yet, but you should know about it. And taste their excellent, excellent beers. Kimmi treated all the patrons to a baked potato bar and we set up our racks of pants and goodies. The event was open to the public so we had a great mix of folks who came just to see RAP and others who came to their local hangout but ended up buying pants for their wives at home. Our friend, local EMT, ski patroller and fly fishing guide, Eddie. Perhaps it was the beer or perhaps we had some bold men on hand, but we had several men drop their drawers right in the middle of the bar to try on Red Ants Pants. With beers named Pulaski Porter, anything can happen when the Red Ants Pants gals come to town! We had a great mix of new friends at the brewery and we were overjoyed when longtime friends from Missoula surprised us by making the drive down. Our three great hosts: Gretchen, Kimmi and Trisha organized a great day for us and we were most grateful for their hospitality. And a huge thank you to all the folks at the brewery for all of their support and help! Stevensville was the last stop on our MT/ID/WY tour and it was fabulous night to end the tour on. We believe Montana’s called The Last Best Place not only for the open spaces, the big sky, the stunning mountain ranges, glaciers, wilderness, and free-flowing rivers but also for the people. And we’re just so touched by their goodness. Sarah and friends from Missoula & Stevensville
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