Spring Festival Chic Outerwear
The sun poked out of the clouds yesterday, reminding me I haven’t bought tickets to any festivals this year. I live for spring festivals; the fresh greenery, and everyone is ecstatic to get outside into the open air to reunite with their favorite artists and venues. Symbiosis is around the corner, dreaming of Coachella, Paradiso, and Burning Man. It’s going to be another fun-fueled season!
One major pet peeve of mine is being cold at a festival, especially if I’m stoned. When I’m that high and cold, all I want to do is go to my tent and crawl in my sleeping bag. However, I discovered a crucial festival life hack a few years ago which helps solve that problem; a unique company called SpiritHoods. They pride themselves in creating superior quality, handmade faux fur necessities to express your inner animal in a chic, innovative, and comfortable way.
The standalone hoods come in many styles and forms. Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of the hoods is that the ears are attached. There are foxes, bears, leopards, bunnies, wolves, lions, tigers, birds, butterflies, and many more. Their classic SpiritHood designs cost around $99 on average. The hood has long draping sides that can act as a scarf, pockets to keep your hands warm, and secret little “pawkets” built in elsewhere.
My personal favorite is the mid-length coats. Being wrapped in a stylish, heavy (yet soft) fur coat feels classy, but also gives you the feeling you’re walking around with a blanket around you. Pure comfort! They have anything and everything faux fur imaginable, including throws, shawls, vests, crop jackets, and more.
The company was founded by Marley Marotta, Latif Hamilton, and Alexander Mendeluk in 2009. The idea derived from their crew making faux fur monster hoods with their good friend Zoe. Every time they would be out sporting the hoods, they’d get huge reactions and massive interest from people everywhere. People wanted to know where they could get one.
“People would freak out! We took that as a sign we had something, ran with the idea, and here we are today,” said Marotta. By 2013 they had grossed over nine million dollars in sales and landed a feature on Shark Tank. They’ve had their hoods worn by Ke$ha, the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, and even in Snoop Dogg videos. But their focus lies in their loyal customers and in the community they’ve built.
“The first hoods we created were for Burning Man, but that was long before we even had the name SpiritHoods. Some of our first gorilla marketing was smuggling our newly made SpiritHoods into Coachella. We tried to throw these big bags full of SpiritHoods over the fence when we got turned away at the gate and were almost arrested when we got caught retrieving them on the other side. We fibbed a bit in the moment and told them we were bringing in costumes for a band. Somehow it worked. Inside we were slanging them left and right. We sold everything we had, including the last one right off my head,” said Marotta.
The founders of the company have kept their focus on the consumer while always keeping charity in mind. From its beginning, SpiritHoods has made a tremendous effort to raise awareness for endangered species. In 2011 and 2012, SpiritHoods received the PETA2 Libby Award for Best Animal-Friendly Clothing Company.
“We pull all our inspiration from these animals, which is why we feel it is so important to give back to them. It’s been our mission from day one to raise money and awareness supporting animals that don’t have a voice. That’s why we give ten percent of net profits towards boots-on-the-ground charities that fight for their wellbeing,” said Marotta.
SpiritHoods has evolved over the years, and so have their designs. The hoods speak for themselves, and their newest expansion into home goods showcases that same creativity: faux fur blankets, throws, pillows, and even rugs with a twist. This means you can fill your home with animal-friendly faux fur decor and feel good about it!
Go to SpiritHoods.com, embrace your inner animal, and join the pack.
