Roots

Born on the steep and rugged mountains of Vancouver BC’s North Shore, Sombrio is an independent clothing company that’s grown up living the good life. In this part of the world living well means railing loamy single track, shredding waist-deep powder, paddling out in heavy West Coast swell or rolling downtown on your skate for a coffee – all in a single 24-hour period. Now that’s living.

Sombrio clothing was launched in 1998 by 21 year-old professional mountain biker Dave Watson, a visionary and pioneer of freeride mountain biking. Back then, riders either wore full spandex and toe-clip pedals, or jeans, skate shoes and a full-face helmet and hit big jumps to flat landings; bike parks hadn’t been invented, Monica Lewinsky was on her knees and choices for cool technical riding apparel simply did not exist.

As the sport evolved, Watson, a self-professed wave hunter, would roll into the office on Monday morning with sand between his toes after a weekend session in Tofino. His staff, meanwhile, would emerge muddy from the North Shore forest on DH bikes and collectively they’d hit the drawing board. “It was a natural evolution,” he says, in regards to the eventual melding of all things West Coast into Sombrio, “we wanted to create clothing that fit into our lifestyles and that means being able to do it all, all the time – in style.”

In the following years Watson kept the throttle down as a rider while developing Sombrio; he travelled the world with his bike, competing in big mountain and slopestyle contests, filming movie segments and surfing when he could. All the while he anchored the brand with core mountain bikers, from downhill World Champions to bike park fiends and urban jibbers. Then in 2004 he literally jumped the Tour de France peloton, a stunt that landed him in international magazines and further solidified Sombrio’s gutsy position in the cycling world.

A decade later, Sombrio has evolved into a custom brand that blends art, sport, street and lifestyle while maintaining its deep mountain bike roots.

After all, who knows what you might encounter when you walk out the door? At least you know that with Sombrio, you’ll be prepared.