Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
When I saw the mountaineering backpack that had been my adventure companion for more than 30 years needed some repair — if it could be repaired, that is — my heart sank.
That classic blue and red Lowe Alpine pack was filled to overflowing with memories of moonlit high-altitude bivouacs, magical backcountry hut ski trips, and more than two months on Mount Everest in the 1980s. It wasn’t merely a piece of utilitarian gear, it carried deep sentimental value.
A piece of plastic had broken, so the shoulder strap harness couldn’t be anchored properly to the pack. Given its age, finding a replacement part seemed highly unlikely. Desperate for a solution, I tried two mountaineering shops. The first one seemed more interested in selling me a new pack. The second one, Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, didn’t have a solution but suggested I try a shop in Old Town Lafayette called Bare Boulder Design & Repair.
“If anyone can fix it,” the man at Neptune said, “they can.”
I went straight to Bare Boulder, at 409 S. Public Road, where owner Eli Shirzadian assured me he knew just how to fix it. He calmly explained how he would remove the broken plastic piece and stitch the shoulder straps directly to the pack with reinforcing material. I was overwhelmed with a sense of relief. He fixed it for $100 — probably less than a third of what it would have cost to replace it — and since then I’ve brought him two ski parkas that needed repair.
Not only does he do great work, he’s also a great story. Shirzadian immigrated from Armenia in the 1990s with his mother, a brother and a sister following the death of his father due to a heart attack at age 40. Shirzadian was 18. They settled in Boulder, where he had an uncle.
“It was scary,” Shirzadian of moving 6,500 miles as a teenager and having to learn a new language. “But it’s exciting at the same time. It’s been a blessing. I call this home. I love the people here. They’re very supportive.”
He went to Front Range Community College to learn how to design and develop products that required expertise in sewing, but following his dream wasn’t easy. He’d get up at 3 a.m., borrow his uncle’s car and deliver the Boulder Daily Camera newspaper before going to morning classes. Then he’d work full-time at King Soopers from 1 p.m. until midnight, get a couple hours of sleep and do it all over again.
Owner Eli Shirzadian waits on a customer at Bare Boulder in Lafayette, where he repairs outdoors gear and leather goods. He also makes prototypes of outdoor gear and other products for companies to test designs before they hire large-scale manufacturers for mass production. (John Meyer/The Denver Post)
He learned graphic and prototype design, then went to work for a local company that makes soft tops for Jeeps and cars, becoming an expert at sewing. Later he started his own business designing and developing products — backpacks, tents, sleeping bags, handbags — for major companies and startups.
“You will not learn much in school about this type of trade,” Shirzadian said. “First of all, you have to like it, which I do. I love creating products for other companies. I know how to design and I know how to sew. That makes my job much easier than the person who only does design or sewing. If you know how things are supposed to go together as a designer, and you know how to sew, it just makes your job much much easier designing a product.”
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That’s still a big part of what Bare Boulder does.
“They have the idea of the product, they come to us, we create the patterns, we give them the entire package so they can start manufacturing,” Shirzadian said. “We create a mockup, which is a simpler version of the actual prototype. Once they test that, based on their feedback, we create the actual prototype. Once they have the prototype, they can go to any manufacturing company (for mass production), anywhere on the globe.”
About 10 years ago he expanded into repairs: fixing zippers, backpacks, camping and technical gear, ski gear and leather goods including handbags, purses and footwear. He employs two seamstresses, one full-time, one part-time. His business has thrived, but not without some scary times during the COVID lockdown.
“We had to close the shop for a while, and I thought I was going to lose the business because we had no income for months,” Shirzadian said as a seamstress worked on sewing a tent nearby. “I got creative, I started making masks, that was the only reason we could survive. Everyone stopped coming, we had no customers. At first we were making masks just to give out for free to people because there were shortages of masks.
“People started talking, and suddenly we had 20-30 people lined up on the street, asking for masks. The business picked up and I had to hire a couple of people,” Shirzadian said. “Only in this country, people can succeed like this. No other place on the planet you can do this, go as an immigrant and be successful.”