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.