We’re not sure if anyone has ever actually crunched the numbers on this, but the percentage of San Franciscans who have a fleece jacket in their closet could be upwards of 80 percent, per our unscientific analysis.
Given how foggy San Francisco can get, it’s not surprising. Fleece is warm and soft and gets better with age, so having a beloved fleece jacket makes plenty of sense. What doesn’t make sense is: How come fleece pants aren't more of a thing?
Well, Lower Haighters, you can rest easy knowing that your neighbor, Micah Stone, is working to build a business around such a thing. Stone’s company is called Bearpants, and he runs it entirely out of his Lower Haight apartment.
The idea came to him when he was a freshman at Harvard University.
“I was cold all of the time and my sweatpants were too worn and thin and got damp and uncomfortable when it was snowing or raining,” Stone tells Hoodline. “Lots of people on campus would wear those fleece jackets, and I wondered if they made pants with that material. I thought the material looked like bear fur, so I called the coats bear jackets (it's actually a material called 'Sherpa Fleece'—no bears were harmed in the making). I looked around online everywhere and in a bunch of malls and couldn't find them in pants.”
Everyone Stone told the idea to seemed to love it, so a little over a year ago, shortly after he moved from Massachusetts to San Francisco, he found a manufacturer in China to make Bearpants a reality.
The moment the Bearpants idea hit him, presumably. (Micah Stone/Facebook)
“I had absolutely no idea how to design them or what I was doing, but after a couple of samples and lots of back and forth I finally had a finished product,” Stone says. “My full order (of about 300) arrived in January, and I've been selling, mostly to friends and family, ever since.”
Now, Stone has several boxes of inventory in his apartment, and says that he hasn't had use of his couch since they arrived. His closet has been taken over as well.
Stone says that he insisted on top-quality materials and stitching because he knew he would initially be selling to friends. “I wanted a product that I could stand behind and would be proud of.” The pants have a drawstring and pockets and come in three colors: Polar Bear, Black Bear, and Grizzly Bear.
For now, Stone is just hoping to sell his current inventory so he can place another order, this time with a manufacturer and supplier in the US. Longer term, he hopes to have a Bearpants brick-and-mortar some day, and has dreams of ushering in a fleecey future for the rest of your body, too.
“I hope to expand beyond just pants, to other products like socks, slippers, hats and maybe even jackets. I want to build a strong, high quality brand for 'athleisure' style clothing that is sporty, outdoorsy, but also perfect for lazy days in the house.”
For more on Bearpants or to get a pair for yourself, visit BuyBearpants.com.
