Mellivora – Colorado | Leggings & gear

Mellivora was formed on the basic principle of inspiration, finding true adventure in life, and connecting others to the wonders of nature. They make nature photography-inspired women’s leggings in Colorado.

Mellivora is not only about connecting with nature and adventure, but also to people’s everyday activities – and leggings sure do seem to be a “staple” in most wardrobes nowadays!

Company history

Beginning in 2016, Chris Gerardi took on a new life-challenge by leaving the corporate world where he felt like he was “dying” on the inside, to climbing some of Colorado’s Fourteeners, taking many amazing photos along the way. Within just a short period of time, to his amazement, he realized how he started to feel “alive” again. He wanted to be able to somehow share these beautiful photos, and the way nature had inspired him with others in hopes that they will find the same inspiration to “stop dying, start living”.

One day while working a part-time job at Whole Foods, he saw a pair of computer-generated pattern leggings, and immediately envisioned his photos on them and then realized they could become wearable art! This idea was the instrument to get the stories behind each pair out to the world. Chris realized that if he could sell leggings with his photos on them, he would be able to tell the stories of each of the adventures that inspired them through his website.

Where does the name “mellivora” come from?

The name Mellivora is the term for the African honey badger in Latin, which is a very relentless and persistent animal. Chris was given the nickname “honey badger” (long before the company was even an idea) because of his fierce resilience and persistence. When beginning a start-up business manufacturing a brand of apparel in the United States, there is no choice but to be resilient and strong to be able to make it through all the challenges that come with it. And many of the challenges seem to be bigger than mountains.

Popular products

In addition to using his photos of beautiful Colorado for the designs, each pair is made of 100% U.S. recycled materials, manufactured with a small-batch production team, and the best part is that they’re made entirely in Colorado! One of the things that Mellivora prides itself on is that they don’t want to just sell their leggings, they want to “sell” the inspiration and motivation for people to want to go explore the possibilities that life and the world have to offer!

Supporting Mellivora is not like supporting a large corporation that never “connects” with their consumers.

Truly made in Colorado

Mellivora is a Colorado-grown small business that started out with a small investment with the goal of showing others that manufacturing can be done locally, ethically, and sustainably. Local manufacturing means our product is made entirely in Colorado and is only touched by the people who are a part of our team.

We never import anything. We pay our team with exponentially higher wages than what companies overseas do. We don’t have huge profit margins on our products and we don’t just do this for money. We do this because we have a passion for it.

Their material also comes from a reliable and ethical source, REPREVE. REPREVE is a milled recycled material made only in the USA, which means they follow all EPA guidelines during the recycling process which is all milled into yarn in the United States. Every dollar you spend with Mellivora goes back into the local economy, so next time you’re looking to support your community or local economy, look into buying products that are Colorado made.

Mellivora is Colorado made from start to finish!