Tessa Clogs - NOW Made in COLORADO - factory is being built in Minturn (next door to Vail)

 

loaded semi

So you want to buy a clog factory?  Or maybe I should just say, do you want to buy some specialized machines, shoe lasts and leather to produce your own clogs?  YES we do!
For years, we have been talking about making our Tessa Clogs here in the mountain of Colorado.  Tessa has been painting our clogs here since day one but we have worked with many manufacturers in Sweden who have built them to our specifications. 



unloading the 2000lb press

We have decided to open a new chapter in Tessa Clogs / Swedish Clog Cabin with ourselves manufacturing our own clogs. 
Setting up a factory - we truly thought would be moderate hard maybe not exactly like buying a new refrigerator and plugging it in but hoping it to be close to that.  NOPE - our challenges have been everything from mitigating noise, getting permission to run iron pipe for our compressor, getting 3 phase electric machines to work in a single phase environment, transporting thousands of pounds of machines to the mountains, etc.  Everyone understands stress and we are dealing with a bit trying to get ourselves to understand that getting a factory up and running is NOT an overnight thing.  It takes time.  As our landlord for our warehouse space said - if it was easy, everybody would be doing it. 


the press set up

Part of our problem here in the mountains is that rent is not affordable close to all of our ski areas.  Plus, we did not want to have to drive an hour or more to get to our factory where the rent would be reasonable.  We are lucky and blessed, we found a warehouse space that is a fair price, the perfect size and it is between our house and store.  One issue, we share an adjoining wall with a friend of ours whose office (Vail Mountain Coffee and Tea) is next door.  The last thing we want to be is bad neighbors so we have been working hard to work on ways to control noise.  One of our biggest concerns for noise is our industrial 80 gallon 2 stage, 3 phase electric LOUD compressor.  With the work of our other neighbor, Masked Man Services, we will share his compressor that is in a separate building, run iron pipe over to our building (20+ feet) so we can then run all of our machines with out a compressor making noise in our space. 


unloading semi

We are up and running but do not have some of our high power 3 phase machines working yet.  We will have these machines running and in production at the beginning of July.  Our biggest challenge now (or I should just say decision) is getting power to run these big machines.  Long story short - we either need to run new service (which we are lucky being that it is at the building but not wired) or purchase a converter.  Price is the same for both so just need to make a decision.  We are going to run 3 phase to our space.  Another hurdle jumped over and decision made and a full night of sleep coming soon. 

We are making Tessa Clogs locally.  How COOL IS THAT!  Stayed Tuned - because we are making clogs locally, we will have new styles all of the time.  Keep checking back OR let us know what you need and we will make the custom Tessa Clog just for you.

items on porch being transitioned to factory

ps -
This is a big shout out to everybody that helped the day the semi arrived - Kyla & George Sink (Vail Power Cars - the best way to get to Vail) , Spencer, Craig and Chris at Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea (Fuel Your Adventure), David Meyers (a Superman in welding, can build, weld anything, he currently is making adaptive cycles for Reactive Adaptation), and Buck (he is the worlds best handy man - he can fix anything!).  Lou at Thank You Masked Man Services - thank you for letting us share your compressor to keep the noise down and the village happy. 

heavy duty sewing machine

The saying "it takes a village" is the true sense of all the businesses that are located in the same area we are renting our warehouse space - the Meadow Mountain Business Park in Minturn - all of you are wonderful and we truly appreciate all the help that everyone has given us.

lasting machine to make clog shape

Clogs on the Floor - Live Like Logan

Today with the weather being a bit more friendly, I see that my family all wore clogs in today to Swedish Clog Cabin as they made there way to go skiing.

 

Kids being kids, gently tossed their clogs to the floor as they put on their ski boots to head out the store to make some ski turns up on Vail Moutain (how cool is it that our kids come to work, change and head up the mountain to make some fun - I remind them daily how lucky they are).  As I picked up their clogs to put them on the bench, I see that we all wore our "Live Like Logan" clogs.

We all know life is just too damn short and our friend, Logan Jauernigg, passed away last May at the age of 20 in a kayaking accident.  He was more then the most gifted talented athlete but also a kind and caring soul that loved to have fun.  Logan climbed 5.14 (which is crazy hard climbing), kayaked class V rivers and was a telemark skier extraordinaire.  On Facebook or Google if you search for either Logan Jauernigg or the Live Like Logan Memorial Scholarship Fund you will find more information.

Being that our kids wore there Live Like Logan clogs to Vail today, we ask that you may "Live Like Logan".  Get up early to watch the sun rise with your kids, walk to work, just do ANYTHING outside and share the memories and moments with someone.

All dollars and cents made on the sales of our "Live Like Logan" Tessa Clogs will be given directly to the Live Like Logan Memorial Scholarship Fund  - helping disadvantaged kids learn non traditional sports.

Thanks for reading and PLEASE GET OUTSIDE and LIVE LIKE LOGAN!

I just got a smart phone, well in November 2015

My flip phone still works but I finally broke down and purchased a smart phone, an Iphone 5s - not even the newest but it works fine for me. 

Yes - my trusty flip phone has been currently stashed in my bed side drawer.  I purchased a smart phone being that I wanted to have a camera handy at all moments and was tired of bringing a phone and music player with on any adventure.

I surely do not need to tell all of our readers about the pros and cons of a smart phone - you already have them - but WOW, it truly is a little computer in your hand.  I do miss my small flip phone but that is about it.

taken with my IPHONE, look at my SELFIE

I can see how it would be tough to go back to my flip phone (hated texting on it).  I now have a better understanding why at this point in time we have such a fasination with the selfie posts.  It is so easy to do and why not share with the world our new Tessa Clogs, what I had for dinner or my child's achievements.

This selfie, facebook, blogger, social media posts is a bit difficult for the inner hiding humble Benedictine soul surfer that I try to be but needing to be the more outgoing, salesman, business promoting, bragging person I sometimes come across as. 

I'm a child born in the late 60's - 1967 to be exact - I'm getting old but can still almost keep up with my kids.  My oldest is smarter (currently in Argentina participating in a Rotary Youth Exchange that we FaceTime on THE phone), my middle is a better climber (and brings math home that I am searching for answers on THE phone)and my youngest has more out going personality now then I will ever have (and shows me how to use THE phone).  It is a bit strange for me having this new technology but I love being able to document our families life with the camera that is always handy. 

I want to remind myself that my new smart phone is that - a phone - it is not a toy for me to ignore family, friends and the world.  It is my tool to get out in the world, use it to phone (message) and answer those that need be, take photos of our adventures and then be put away.

One of my top 5 movies - Ferris Bueller's Day Off - "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Now with my new smart phone - I will have photos to show that it was my family singing "Danke Schoen" on that float :-)

thanks for reading my ramblings.

Clog Pricing and Direct to Customer

Hello from Tessa Clogs Global Headquarters located here in Vail, Colorado.



We are 21 days now into 2016.  Snow continues to fall in our little town, life is good.  

Back in the mid 90's, we were one of the first companies to have a presence on line for clogs.  We would appear on every search engine on the first page.  Now when you use a search engine to find information out about clogs, we sometimes do not even appear but that of course depends on how you are trying to find us.  "Clogs" on google, I am not even sure if we show up, I gave up looking after page 5.  "Hand Painted Clogs" on google we appear on the 4 page but typing "Handpainted" we show up on page 1.

What I am getting around to saying is that there are a lot of places to get clogs on the internet.  Bad for us but good for all customers looking for some wonderful clogs.  As I say this, I am amazed at the prices that are charged from a lot of our competitors.  Don't take my word for it but let the search engines tell you.  We have always wanted you, our family of Tessa Clog wearers, to be able to purchase a hand made clog (that may or may not be hand painted) that is affordable.  We would love to say that our Tessa Clogs are available at every fine shoe store around but unfortunately that is not the case.  We do have a few retailers that carry our Tessa Clogs - thank you to them - but generally we are selling direct to you the customer.

What does this mean - you get a great Tessa Clogs at a wonderful price.  We do not need to mark our prices up to work out the extra distribution step that other companies have.  When you are shopping do not think that higher price means better - all it means is that the other companies have overcharged you.  Believe us - we have been making clogs for 25 years - we know what it costs to manufacture a clog.

I do thank all of you for your current and future support.  Wear your Tessa Clogs hard - we can always make more.

Hugs and Live Life

Tessa Clogs