Five minutes with: Pit Viper

BikeBiz speaks to Chris Garcin, co-founder and CEO of Pit Viper

This piece first appeared in the July edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here

Where did the inspiration come from to create a fun brand but balance that with performance products?

My co-founder, Chuck Mumford, and I actually went to college together at the University of Colorado. We were both huge fans of skiing and wound up moving to Salt Lake City after we graduated. When we reconnected there, we met up to ski all of the time. Throughout all of this, we always noticed how uniform most ski gear was – the same, muted colours that looked so serious. For us, skiing was fun and we wanted to be able to express that in our gear.

During a ski trip, Chuck’s sunglasses broke and he went to a military surplus store to get a new pair that he knew would be super durable. He loved the look of it, and in 2012 Chuck showed me a pair of these that he spray painted to a more expressive colour. I thought to myself, “that’s a product right there.” We got straight to work, hand-spray painting 1,000 pairs ourselves that represented the fun-loving culture of skiing, while also keeping the high-quality, durability features we needed for performance.

With these first 1,000 pairs, Chuck went out “briefcasing,” where he would go to events with a briefcase filled with Pit Vipers and sell them right from the case. It was all organic growth, and it took off. Our early customers were outdoor lovers who really wanted a more expressive aesthetic, but also needed something that was high-quality and functional. We always say Pit Viper is the joke we took too far, and try to inject that life doesn’t need to be taken so seriously in everything we do.

What was the first hero product to gain significant traction?

The Originals was our very first product. It came from the look of the military-grade sunglasses Chuck first spray painted. People were drawn to it because it was completely different from anything else out there, and also leaned into the nostalgia of ski-culture’s past. The uniqueness of Pit Viper also helped create a really strong community, going beyond just a product. To this day, we hear stories of people meeting each other on the trail, mountain, etc. just because they are each rocking Pit Vipers. Our style has created an inclusive environment for getting outside, where everyone is always invited to what we call Party Mountain.

Since The Originals, we’ve created a ton of different styles which has opened up our community to everyone from street-style enthusiasts, concert-goers, pro-athletes, and more – even Snoop Dogg himself. Every pair maintains the same high-quality performance features to where we even see pairs like The Admirers being rocked by runner Emkay Sullivan, or a cycling community favourite, The Try Hards, worn by pro mountain biker Hannah Awesome.

How has the brand performed in the UK and Ireland since being fully introduced?

We’re excited to see Party Mountain spreading around the world. Similar to the US, UK and Ireland consumers gravitate towards our colorways and unique shapes, along with the higher performing functionality of our eyewear. The most popular styles in these regions have been The Original, The 2000s, and The Flip Offs – each of these represent the classic, Pit Viper look people know and love.

We also have a lot of Key Players here, especially in the mountain biking space, including Jake Dixon (moto), Sam Hodgson (MTB), Fran Dawson (MTB), Georgie Mack (MTB), HillBilly Nation (stunt legend). All of them have a lot of fun on their socials rocking their Pit Vipers.

On the website, you have a section called: ‘How to spot fake Pit Vipers’. When did this become a major issue and how difficult/frustrating is this to handle?

They say imitation is a form of flattery… we say screw that. We think it’s great that we’re seeing a trend of people wanting more expressive, fun eyewear. The problem is a lot of fake Pit Vipers using our branding don’t measure up to our high-quality performance features. Other eyewear that is in the same league of our functionality is usually hundreds of dollars more than ours, so it’s a bummer when we see fakes out there that easily break with our name on it. We’d never create pairs that don’t hold up to performance needs.

We made this guide because a lot of people don’t even know when they are purchasing fake Pit Vipers, and we don’t want them to be disappointed with the quality. We actually have a patent on our style, so these pairs really shouldn’t even exist. Our overall tips are to check the serial code, and the horizontal bar placed at the top mid-point of the front of the lens. The best way to ensure your Pit Vipers are the real deal is to go directly to us.

What can we expect to see from Pit Viper in the coming months?

Next to winter, summer is another big moment in time for us.

Be sure to keep an eye out for our next dump of new styles. We’re always creating and expanding the looks we offer so there is something for everyone – from your kid to your grandparent, your city-slicker friend to your cycling enthusiast.