Reno Envy

Before the Reno eNVy idea got started I worked as a sales rep in the action sports industry. My friend and coworker Vince and I were having a conversation when he asked me for my address. I told him what it was and when I got to the NV part of it, the letters just came out a little differently, sort of drawn out, so it sounded like en-vy. He repeated back, envy? I repeated back to him, envy! At that moment we both realized the connection between the state abbreviation of Nevada, NV and eNVy. From that conversation we coined the term Reno eNVy and it became a running joke between friends.

In the spring of 2005 we set up a booth at the Reno River Festival, which is a celebration of kayaking and the white water park in the Truckee River in downtown Reno. We designed one shirt and a few hats and after the weekend was over we had sold over 60 pieces and it was at that time that I realized that people connected with Reno eNVy and that there was a possibility that we could turn this idea into something bigger.

The summer of 2005 was spent doing every outdoor event that we could, trying to gauge whether or not this idea had any legs and if I was willing to walk away from my profession to start my own business. Based on the positive feedback that we got from our customers we decied to go for it and by early Fall I had teamed up with two other guys and we started a screen printing company called Fuel. With the manufacturing side of the business in place, we began to work on Reno eNVy full time.

What’s the deal with the trailer?

It was never our intention for the trailer to become the symbol of the brand. It was just one design that we did to parody the John Deere logo. We thought it would be fitting to use a trailer instead of the deer and when we introduced the style to our customers, they fell in love with it. We realized that there is a mass of people who identify with trailers. There are collectors, travelers, burners, dwellers and enthusiasts. When asked what the trailer means, there is no real answer to that. It is truly open to interpretation. One thing we have noticed is that it transcends our region, which gives us hope that one day we will be able to expand the brand beyond the borders of this state.