sitka spring 2014

Spring/Summer 14

To test your limits and push towards once-distant possibilities can be a humbling experience. But it can be an empowering one too. Lost on a windy shore and trying to build a sturdy shelter between the squalls—or learning to live closer to the land by tending your first food garden—you’re likely to find both constraints and capabilities that surprise you. Sitka’s Spring 2014 collection examines these scenarios at a time when

we’re exploring our own boundaries and discovering new ways of doing business.

A good life is an examined life, and through the last year we’ve been unraveling some of Sitka’s own presuppositions to take a deeper look at where we’ve been and where we’re going. Spending time wrapped in the solitude of the wilds—or simply digging into the necessities of life in the soil—will inevitably change one’s perspectives. And being honest with ourselves about what we want and what we can do has shown us that we can leave

behind some of what we’ve learned and stick true to our own path.

But what does that mean?

For a start, we’re breaking out of the seasonal cycle, replacing our paper trail with a digital one and working to bring our production home to Canada. There are a lot of exciting options out there, and we’re embracing the freedom we have to choose. The

company mantra we’ve been working with is ‘do less better.’

And you can do the same. We’re inviting you to join us on our journey to an alternative future that nourishes the community and cultivates individual needs. We’re aiming to ‘do less better’ by putting more effort into fewer products—we have less items this season, but we’re focusing on the details to make sure each piece is flawless. We’re also bringing production closer to Sitka HQ so we can support local manufacturing, work more closely with our suppliers, and make Sitka products that our customers know will last a lifetime.

Further, we’re providing the flexibility to have product arrive when you need it throughout the year, not just during the seasonal push. And we’re helping to keep the trees around by moving the majority of our ordering system online. All these adjustments are part of us learning to embrace both boundaries and possibilities while we live out the freedom of choosing our own direction. We’re getting closer to what we always dreamed Sitka

would be. And we like it.

Happy trails,

Sitka

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jacket Chicory | vest Borage | t-shirt Quadrant

dress Marigold

Living off the Land spring delivery

photographer

Alana Paterson

fashion editor

Mel Greene

models

Brittany Simpson John Burgess

Alana Paterson pendulums enviably between city and country and has the portfolio to prove it. Though not based anywhere in particular, Paterson spends most of her time farming a substantial acreage on the ever-so idyllic Gabriola Island. When her hands aren’t in the dirt, they’re busy taking fair and graceful photos of whatever seems to be out there. Paterson is light on her feet and not faint of heart and her eyes search for a natural light that can make even decaying top soil and dilapidated toolsheds look beckoning and sublime. – Julia Kidder

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sweater Nataliya | skirt Nightshade

jacket Chicory | vest Borage | t-shirt Quadrant | jeans Crown Denim

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henley Loadstone | jeans Crown Denim shirt Acorn | tank Lilac

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shirt Acorn | trousers Barn

trousers Barn

dress Euphoric

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sweater Urchin | shirt Acorn | trousers Barn

cardigan Meadow | dress Chamomile

dress Chamomile

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dress Marigold

tank Honeysuckle | shorts DIY

leggings Milkweed | sweater Urchin

Danica Lundy Floral Printwww.danicalundy.com

I grew up in the forest. My sister and I used to make homes under the trees: beds of cedar leaves, walls of twigs and old brick. There is a stream that runs through our childhood property, edged by fern cliffs, wildflowers, and a tree line that seemed to watch over us. There was a scattering of moss-covered stones that interrupted the stream’s trickle; they became thrones sometimes, or the head-tops of giants. We were queens there. We were forest warriors, creatures of the dirt and the flowers. Our little limbs were slivered and scraped by the end of the day, but each wound was a badge we wore proudly, reminding us of the wild and our time there. I sat and painted this tangle of blossoms and thought about how lucky I was to grow up in such an untamed space, surrounded by the wonders of the forest.

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Hey Chris.

Hi Ben. You got a bunch of questions?

I’m glad you asked that because, yes. First off, I have been wondering where you’re from because I thought you said Singapore?

Niagara Falls, Ontario. I’d like to say born and raised but that would be a lie. I was just born there then moved to Singapore with my parents.

You started skating there, ya?

Ya there was a bit of a scene there. I wanted to come back to Canada because I was in a Canadian school and we had always planned on moving back. Eventually I decided I needed to be where the skating was good and there was more opportunity. I ended up in Vancouver.

Is that when you shaved your head and rocked baggy-ass pants?

You bet. You’ve got to understand I was listening to a lot of punk music and I just dressed weird for a punk rock kid. It was like skate punk? Skate rock? Skate something? I don’t know, one of those bands. I never was into hip-hop or anything. I just would get free clothes from my parents and my dad was bigger than me. Once I started getting sponsors and free clothing it was just like t-shirts and cargos and shit.

Who was your first sponsor?

My first actual American sponsor was Deca, but my first Canadian sponsor was a shop in Vancouver called the Boarding House. I also got like Axion flow from Ultimate and World Industries from Centre.

The Deca days were sick. Watched your part in ‘2nd To None’ yesterday hence the question about your shaved head days.

Yea Deca must have been around for 4 years maybe? Coop (Cooper Wilt) and I got in at the tail end right when Deca was winding down so we didn’t get to do any of the tours with those dudes. Some of that warehouse footage in the film was from when I first met Daewon. Can’t remember the tricks but it was over a flat gap. Think I did tailslide heelflip on some ledge. Then the next day I met Rodney cause I think Daewon told him to come meet this weird Canadian dude with a shaved head haha.

How do you feel about the skateboarding right now?

Man, I have no idea. Honestly, I’ve been finding it hard to become motivated and inspired at the moment. It seems so watered down right now. Everyone is doing the most insane tricks but they all look identical. It’s like everyone can do everything so I guess it’s not what you can do, it’s how you do it. But I feel like I’d rather watch someone who’s got a unique style opposed to a million guys who do a trick and they all look the same. I don’t know where it’s going to go.

Where do you think your skating fits into that?

I don’t know, I just want to do stuff that makes an impact and that lasts. No matter who, they’re gonna film a part and it’s forgotten in like a week, you know? So that’s already going to happen, but I just want to make something that shows my best and hopefully people will remember it longer than a week. I guess that’s the least I can ask for.

I think you’re doing a great job.

Thanks buddy.

Your doing such a great job that you’ve been invited to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History?

Haha that’s right. I was invited through Rodney Mullen because he’s involved in an exhibit called ‘ Innoskate’. It’s a look at the invention and creativity behind skateboarding and the skateboard culture. There will be discussions on how board shapes have changed over the years as well as skateboard footwear and how skateboarding affects communities. People

like Tony Hawk, Rodney (Mullen) and Paul Schmitt will be there. There’s going to be a big display of stuff and they’re auctioning off some of Tony and Rodney’s stuff. We’re going to have a big demo on Go Skate Day. Should be really rad, I’m excited.

That’s incredible. You lucky dog. What other plans do you have for the summer?

Well we’ve got a trip to Whitehorse planned in July with the Sitka team and that should offer up some great times I’m sure. Going to be Brett Stobbart, Colin Nogue, Zach Barton, Fabian Merino, Shelden (Meleshinski) and Dane Pryds. So, pretty talented group of skaters. Excited to see what happens.

Yeah I guess you’re the veteran in that group. Do you ever feel pressure from the younger guys?

Not really, it just inspires me - skating with other upcoming dudes and seeing what they create.

Being such a well-known skater, do you feel pressure from the international audience?

Not really, it’s more just like my own work ethic that makes me feel pressure. I mean, I really just want to perform the best I can like everyone else but it’s just exhausting because I gotta have no life at home in order to do that. I’ve gotten myself into this routine of just travelling everywhere. The mental pressures of really just knowing I’m working hard at my job.

I appreciate that it’s more about your own personal work ethic more so than being popular.

You know it’s awesome having people like your stuff and being popular with people because of your skating, but after skating that means nothing. It’s your life and you gotta have fun with it and do the best you can and if people like you, they like you and if they don’t, they don’t. That’s going to come and go, but as long as you know that you did your damndest to make the best quality thing you can, they can’t take that away from you. Skating changes a lot too though, people might hate you one day and think you’re the best thing the next. You never know.

Interview – Chris Haslaminterviewer

Ben Gulliver

photographer

Dylan Doubt

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Sitka is honoured to feature the work of the recently passed, Bryan Nash Gill. His relief print titled, ‘Leader’, is our Artist Edition

t-shirt graphic for the S/S 2014 Collection. Bryan’s legacy lives on through his work and those that have been touched by his presence. Sitka deeply appreciates the opportunity to showcase Bryan’s art.

www.bryannashgill.com

Leader, 2009Ash, 30 ½ x 21 ½ Inches

In this oblong section, the leader, or trunk, is dividing into two. The cores, surrounded by rings, create a topographical feel. A rotted branch, which was healed over in the final years of growth, is encapsulated in the lower right of the print, and at the center, remnants of bark can be found in the space between the leaders.

Bryan Nash Gill’s prints remind us that every biological form possesses a unique footprint. It’s our instinct now to attribute it to the details of the genetic code. But the distinctiveness of these woody footprints –– face-prints, fingerprints, spinal-prints, whatever you choose to call them –– is shaped by history, by event. In each Gill print of a natural tree-face –– the surface sanded and the grain raised –– you can see a tendency toward abstraction, the emerging of pure pattern. In their almost natural, blank-and-white state, you can read these prints as Rorschach blots or as topographic reliefs of very steep terrain.

Gill’s art –– his ability to capture the individuality of these trees –– is a reminder that there is something generic or platonic in the mere working out of the life force in each organism. What separates each organism and gives it its distinctive living shape is experience.

Gill is the medium that wood has chosen to express itself.

Words by Verlyn Klinkenborg from Bryan Nash Gill’s book ‘Woodcut.’

Bryan Nash Gill (1961 – 2013)

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LOST IN THE WOODS summer delivery

photographer

René Gauthier

fashion editor

Mel Greene

models

Brittany Simpson John Burgess

assistantsJoel Hibbard

Malou Strikwerda

jacket Out Trip | shorts Marmot | socks Woolies | pack Duluth Collaboration shirt Hunting | jeans Elm Denim | t-shirt Capillaris

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shirt Burdock | trousers Marmot | tank Eagle

swimsuit Ivy

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swimsuit Raquel tunic Lavender | hat Dirty Mountain

“Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.” – Ernest Hemingway

FISHING

Sitka is proud and honoured to collaborate with Peetz and other local Vancouver Island tackle companies who share Sitka’s philosophy: that when it comes to producing goods, quality trumps quantity. The Sitka Fishing Collection is full of gear designed to last and get people out of the supermarket and back to nature.

photographer

Dean Azim

PEETz

Peetz has connected generations of anglers across North America since 1925. Boris C. Peetz, a Russian-born silversmith, arrived in Victoria, BC, in 1911 and built his first reels a decade later. By 1935, the BC Peetz Manufacturing Company had fishing reels and swivels as it’s main line of business. The company diversified into tackle and whole-cane rods, but it was it’s handmade wood and brass fishing reels that became North American classics. With an attention to detail, quality materials and a simple, proven design, a

Peetz reel is made to stand the test of time.

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PACIFIC SALMON

Pacific Salmon are the life-blood of the West Coast of North America. Transporting nutrients from the open ocean and carrying them deep inland, they reproduce and provide food for the people, animals and forests; connecting ocean to land. A parallel connection exists with the annual ritual of people gathering on the coast to harvest food for their family as the salmon return.

Salmon fishing is a past time shared by generations that instills a lifelong respect for salmon and all the life that it supports. Anglers and others engage in salmon enhancement and protection programs to insure that future generations will be blessed by the offerings of the sea, and in turn

gain the same appreciation for what it provides.

ANDREW PAINE

co-founder of Sitka

“My first Peetz reel was given to me by my father, who received it from my grandfather. This one reel has put plenty of food on our family’s table and I hope it does the same for my son when it is time to pass on

the family heirloom.”

fishing rod Golden Spruce | moocher reel Westcoast Waterman | filet knife Chinook

fishing vest Mustang Floater | shirt Current | filet knife Chinook | fishing rod Golden Spruce | moocher reel Westcoast Waterman | glow plug Nite Bite

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SITkA570 Yates StreetVictoria, BC CanadaV8W 1K8T. +1 250 385 7873F. +1 250 920 [email protected]

CANADAWestern CanadaBrendan BennettT. +1 250 385 7873C. +1 250 882 [email protected]

ONTARIOSpearmint Pelican SalesT. +1 416 545 6724C. +1 416 571 [email protected]

QUEBEC & ATLANTICAgence JGJon H. GenierT. +1 450 656 5454C. +1 450 542 [email protected]

USAPacific Northwest MGA Sales Mike GreeneT. +1 425 775 [email protected]

USA EastThe SandboxMetropolis Agency Charlie KiesaC. +1 315 415 [email protected]

NEW zEALAND AUSTRALIASitkaAndrew HowsonT. +64 21 358 [email protected]

AUSTRIA

GERMANyDistribution of AwesomenessChris MangoldT. +43 (0) 676 682 [email protected]

BENELUXVista Mar FashionSteven SandbergT. +31 (0) 624 095 [email protected]

JAPANHemisphere CargoMakoto MizutaniT. +81 (0) 46 877 4708

SWITzERLANDRoots DistributionLukas BergerT. +41 (0) 34 424 06 [email protected]

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sitka spring 2014

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