In search of wisdom.

I was at a little coffee place I frequent in the mornings today. Every Monday through Friday a group of retired gentleman gather there to talk about just about everything. One man in particular who is in his 80's is becoming quite an interesting man in conversation. He is always asking me what I am typing on my laptop, and no matter what I say, he seems to know about it. In fact, he said he had thought awhile about getting on facebook, but he realized most of his friends were dead. I laughed at his joke. But realized, he wasn't kidding, he is as alive and interesting as any man I have met.

Well, we were talking about Teddy Roosevelt today, and he said, you know he is a progressive right. Well, kind of I said. And he went on to tell me about the movement, and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR. I was kind of interested in learning about it and I said, "I need to look more of that up." And he just stared at me and said, "Well, I lived through it."

And it just kind of hit me staring at him. That I hadn't even thought of saying, tell me more. Or what was that like. Or did I even connect that there are people alive, and men alive sitting at coffee shops right next to me that know these stories of the past. I was going to google it. He was it.

I love technology. I really would love one of those ipads. But I wonder how man screens we are getting our information from, instead of seeing who is right before us. Or who we could talk to. I need to practice the art of asking and listening. and sitting. versus all the knowledge at my finger tips get the quick facts gathering life. I am sitting on my laptop in a coffee shop full of googles with real stories within them.

Honor your Wild

At Buffalo and Company, we have tried to make our company "authentic." It is an interesting descriptor, as some have said, "So my clothes are inauthentic?" Well, good point. What we mean is that we want our company to live out the lifestyle we are promoting. Both in adventures, and in character. We want to run an honest company, we want to serve people, understand the impact of our manufacturing on the land and people. We hope to grow into these things. We are learning as we go.

When it comes to marketing and promotion, while we would love to pay $100 million to Tiger Woods or Lebron James, we just don't have it. I mean, if we did, surely our company would become great, right? With a powerhouse behind it?

But since our company is about taking back clothes for men, we also think it should be giving our sponsors, into the hands of those out there living this out as well. We believe in empowering men to step out into something adventurous, take a trip somewhere they have never been before. It is not as much about proving yourself amongst other men, but for yourself. We believe a man needs a bit more wild in him, with all this suburban and urban landscape. He needs to get out, challenge himself, and be tested. Not for others, but for himself.

We have created "Honor your Wild" website where we encourage people to tell their stories of how they have done just that. While we would love any stories, we would love you to bring along one of our banners to take a picture while doing it. For a limited time, we are giving them away free from here.... FREE HONOR YOUR WILD BANNER

It is a big reason why we started this company. It is about much more than just clothes. We want it to get into the sinews of a man, into his thinking, into his journey as a man, to grow into more than what our culture is showing him these days. We hope our slogan, "Honor your Wild" and this site, helps to promote that. Authentic stories of men living this out.

Our new shirts, and the quote inside them.

I was talking on the phone with a man named Vance the other day. He is about twenty years older, and a veteran business man. I have been given the gift of receiving a few of his thoughts and insights in business and life to me at various times over the last few months, and one of his comments has really stuck with me. It was about when you receive wisdom, don’t envy the wisdom for the man who brought it. Because that wisdom came at a cost. A price was paid to understand it. It was told to him by a mentor, the late Brent Curtis who co-wrote a book that changed my life back in ’01, called The Sacred Romance. Wisdom is not free for the man who birthed it.

Isn’t it true? Wisdom comes at a cost. There is insight or “knowledge,” we can learn that from books. And it can be obtained in the head, but wisdom, that is a much different beast. It comes through experience. Much of that being through hardship and pain. Wisdom comes with age, and experience, and a life well lived.
All that to say, it gives some backdrop to think of when you read what Theodore Roosevelt shared in a speech through these words…

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

I get the sense, to pen those words, and to give this to a speech of onlookers, it wasn’t just crafty ideas. Or great academic though. It came from a much deeper place, because Teddy had lived this out. This wisdom came out of his own story, stepping through adversity, and struggles, and failures, deaths in his family, from his new wife, and mother. He had overcame health issues as a child. The words came at a personal cost. And yet, that is why they are here today. They are worth their weight in gold.

We have put this quote in all of our new shirts coming out. So, why do we think they should inspire us, and why Buffalo and Company is putting inside all of our t-shirts, polos, and henley’s?

Because we don’t need a yacht symbol to inspire us anymore. Not some sunset on a beach. Or a pink shirt. We don’t need some symbol or company that takes us away from all of life’s problems, or by their models, promises to remove all the difficult. What we need is inspiration to step into them. From our fears, our entitled lives, our privileged upbringing, to risk, and to love, and to be willing to go through it, not around it. To step into the sweat, and the tears. And risk daringly.
So, we are proud of Mr. Roosevelt. We honor his life that lived this quote out. And inspire those to consider that lifestyle for their own. May Roosevelt inspire you. May he take you to a river. Maybe even out west.

For every man.

Our tagline is "Honor your wild."

It came out one day at my other job, www.trainingground.com with my buddy who helped co-found the organization, Cory Smith. We started the organization 4 years ago to invite young men into the masculine journey in work, wilderness, and worship. Not because we think specific guys need the wild, or testing, but because we believe every man needs it.

It is why I think when Cory threw out the idea, "what about "honor your wild.'" It was truely a brilliant moment. Not because it was just some tagline, but because for the last 4 years of our lives, we have dedicated our lives to bringing guys out into our program for 11 weeks to explore and experience God, their own souls, and some of the most beautiful places out west, from the Grand Tetons, to the Snowy Range, in Wyoming, to fly fishing in Estes Park.

Our company believes that every man needs this. Not just for a select few. Not for just the ones who want adventure. We believe in every man, there is a deep desire for it. And often it is only because of lack of invitation, he has never been. It was true for me, and so many of my friends. I wasn't around it, or I didn't have men to lead and guide me in those places.

Honor your wild. what it means. is calling out every man. wild places in the sea. wild places in the mountains. wild places, even in the city. we need it. our culture has killed that place in a man's heart. and it is time to break out, invite men again.

Our new shirts are coming out this week, and some of them have the tagline, "honor your wild." The "your" is that every man has it. And I hope as we grow, that our company will continue to explore and open doors for every man, young and old, city slicker, and mountain man to find a place in it.

The Gathering of Men

Occasionally on a saturday, or weekday morning, I will stop by a little breakfast place that has been around for many years in a shopping center near my house. When you walk in, you find around 10-12 men, in there 60's, 70's, and 80's together. They gather, what seems like every morning for a few hours. They talk about Obama, jobs, the economy, and they laugh a lot. Just overheard someone saying about flying over France, back in the day. They tell war stories too.

How does that relate to Buffalo & Company? Well, I just know, that one day, I hope to be at a table like that, with friends, and living in that type of friendship. Sharing the old stories. And talking about the current events of the day. And yet, I feel like what they are doing is fading away... we aren't gathering anymore. We are too busy. Chasing money, success, ambition. It's easy for me to do that. But at the end of the day, we need a place to go, and be with friends.

I hope as a company we can continue to re-claim what has been lost along the way, to trends, and be inspired by a bunch of men in a breakfastshop. We need their stories. We need to listen to their wisdom, as we grow as men. As a company, we honor the men of our past, and are inspired by their character, their courage, and what I see today, their friendship.

We all will become old men one day, and we should wear that with pride.

Our reps words...

As part of our belief in Buffalo and Company, we have the ideals that we are joining with others out there, to reform and change clothes for men. To recultivate masculinity, and reform clothes as a whole. It can't just come from a person, or through a good business model. It comes from guys like us. Regular joes. Because to be honest, we ain't fashionistas or amazing business men anyways. We are typical men. So are the guys who are buying our products.

We got this in one of our rep application questions, and I wanted to share it. He offered his permission to put it up here...

I've never really been one to care about what I wear or how I look, I've always been the kind of guy that wakes up, puts on whatevers in reach and heads out. Now, after being in college for almost two semesters I've started to realize that I'm growing up and that how I present myself does really matter. So I decided to make a change. At first I decided to look outward and see what the older guys in my fraternity and other guys around campus were wearing.

What came to my attention was all the bright colored collared shirts, shorts cut well above the knee, flip flops that just looked and sounded ridicilous when walking and basically just a bunch of crap that I really didn't think looked any better or more mature then the rags I was wearing at the time. The term metrosexual, which ya'll used in your "about us" page, described a lot of it perfectly. So basically what I am trying to say is that I feel like a lot of guys my age dress like women and the products ya'll are advertising are in my mind, exactly what any guy with any love for the outdoors should be wearing.

A mission of HOPE.

We had one of our reps write us last week and mention one of the reasons he believes in our clothing company is that we aren't only interested in making money.

Man, did that mean something to us. Sure, we are a company. We have a bottom line. A need to produce revenue, but I felt honored that in the midst of his experience of us, and what we are doing, he saw beyond a dollar figure. I really hope we are a company founded insomething beyond just selling clothes, "an image." But about social change. And spiritual change. In men. In our culture. And even in serving those around us.

This summer Campbell and I spoke about the idea of all getting together in a place wild. We thought, if this is true, if we believe every man needs to be invited into these experiences in adventure, out west, and in streams and land. Then we need to be about that. Living it out. Joining with other guys in that experience. So we talked about Grand Teton National Park. We would meet up for a few days, do some fly-fishing, backpacking, canoeing, and spend a few days if we are allowed at Wind River Indian Reservation serving the needs of the communities there. Adventure with some community service.

There is a lady right outside of town there I met a few years back named Sharky. She is from the Shoeshone tribe there. I am hoping she gives us some entrance into their world, and how we might serve the needs of their community. Some small way.

We are about to release our new shirts in the next two weeks, the symbol of the buffalo on the shirt, as our new embroider, and I am thinking that a portion of the proceeds we will use to give back to that community. Part of the beginning of the Native Voice Foundation, I hope we can start with a percentage of the proceeds. I would like to see us find a tangible way to serve people. Not just by a check. But through the faces and hands of those who are part of Buffalo and Company.

I love our reps enthusiasm, their willingness to take a risk on our company, and rep our brand, and believe in our mission. They stand with us in our values. And I would love to see us gather for a few days, to "Honor our wild" along with our land, and our history of America.

I hope this company can be about these ideals. I hope we can finally be a brand and a logo, that could honor what their values are, and their image. I'd love to be a symbol that is seen with respect, and honor.

Why are we starting a clothing company?

It is interesting to think about the question of why am I doing this? And maybe ultimately the question, with our reps, and guys involved, are we doing this?

As I work on the business plan, there is the obvious questions, the bottom line. But one of the things I must confess is I am not a big fashion guy. I really dont spend a ton of money on clothes, and my wife has to remind me to put gel in my hair at times, or remind me, I need to dress up, or pick out some good clothes.

So why start a clothing company? It doesn't seem to be a great fit. Considering that. Didn't get schooled in fashion design, don't have the latest trends, or shop at the mall that much. I really am not up on all the clothes.

But I think that is why I like stepping in this role. As I research, and explore other clothing companies, I feel like they are a bit vain, a bit selfish, a bit into themselves. They wear the coolest, and newest, and they know what to bring to market.

I think the best people to be involved in Buffalo & Company are not all these fashion people. But men. Men who want a good product, want classic looks, and want to feel like a man and be proud. Men who really dont spend hours looking at men's fashion catalogs, or care about the next trend in 6 months. I think that is what ties us together. We are dudes. Men with a pair of balls. We aren't supposed to know the latest trend, or forecast what styles will be in, or feel that comfortable putting on a pink shirt. We are supposed to care, but not to that degree.

I think that is the beauty of our developing product lines. We don't have to look to the future. But step into the past. Of men, of our heritage. we dont need to reinvent clothes. just bring guys back to the roots of it all. I would much rather be Teddy Roosevelt, Jefferson, Shackleton, Lewis & Clark, then the majority of the men in this culture today.

Into The Woods

A group of us at Training Ground are heading down south, and west into the mountains near the Sangre de Christo Range.

I think there are about 22 of us total. Young and old. Experience and unexperienced. A few men who have been hunting for 30 years at this one spot, that we have the great opportunity of being invited into. 6 days of hunting elk, campfires, chopping wood, huge canvas tents, and the brotherhood and community of it all. There is something beautiful about the old canvas tents that have seen many years of wear and tear.




Nothing pre-faded, or dirtied for a look. The stove is not a new stainless steel grill, it was made by Richard and Earl a long time ago from a stove top. So was the custom fireplace grill that hoists down onto the fire with a pulley system invented by Richard himself. Not a big deal to him. that is just what you do. what you make of what you got.

I love being around these men. something fresh. authentic. male, and honest.

Napkin Inspiration

I had a small musing last night in my sleep. I wrote it down here on this napkin. Its rather blurry, but I think its readable.

It seems for the last many years, we have thought that clothes and fashion for men was the smaller circle. All the companies competed for that version of the market. They made symbols and designed images that all kind of fit in the same circle while trying to be a little diverse and unique, separating themselves from the others.

But if you take a wide view, they all seem to speak to the same thing. I wonder if one of the problems is they are in to small a circle? What if the range of a man is larger in scope than they expected?

I feel as if Buffalo & Company is breaking away from the norms of icons, symbols, and traditions to re-think what a man needs in his clothes. We are in the exploring stages. But I have to ask, do we need more doileys on our jeans? One more tight shirt? Or another logo with a symbol of a boat? I think people are getting tired of being so cramped in a small circle of what a man is supposed to wear and be today.

I want to think the world of a man, like the world of clothes, needs to open up and catch some wide open air again. Take a breather. Or maybe a long walk somewhere in the outdoors. Not near a mall. Or a cramped city street.

More than clothes.

It is an odd thing to be starting an apparel company, when months ago, that wasn't any great ambition or dream. It wasn't a 10 year goal. But what I have always been passionate about is with helping guys grow, spiritually, emotionally, and to help them become the men they are to be.

I needed that help in college, and beyond. I have had the fortunate experience of being around some great men, and had the experience of men teaching me in areas from business to the wilderness, and from that, have grown in a desire to build, and re-think ideas like clothes. Clothes for men. Clothes that represent something much beyond their colors or symbols. But we need that too.

I spent the evening branding buffalo leather on hang tags, and punching the holes for the leather string for the shirts with my wife watching the Yankees and now the Rockies. There is something honest about doing the ground work, and I am excited about these tags getting onto the clothes that I hope will make people think about what they wear. Maybe I can bless it like the pope does with some baptismal masculinity water or something. It is fun to anticipate what these shirts and this company and the young men that join in its vision, can help grow and do.