Wisconsin Company Named One of Country’s Fastest Growers
Mt.Borah Outdoor Cycling Apparel Named to Prestigious Inc. 5000 List
Coon Valley, Wis., September 6, 2007 – A Wisconsin based cycling apparel manufacturer this month receives national acclaim as one of the fastest growing small companies in the country.
Based in Coon Valley, Wisconsin, Mt. Borah which designs and manufactures both active outdoor cycling apparel and high quality custom race gear received the recognition for business growth from Inc. magazine. Inc. named the ten-year old business to its 2007 Inc. 5000 list, now widely considered one of the national benchmarks for innovation and companies to watch.
“We’re thrilled with the honor,” says Chris Jackson, CEO Mt. Borah. “We look around and instinctively know that we’ve come a long way in the ten years since I started the company. But when you receive this kind of recognition, it’s a real vote of confidence and a validation that we’ve been on the right track.”
After working for a number of years in cycling apparel product sales, Jackson started Mt. Borah in 1996 with a single design for a pair of baggy, casual mountain bike shorts, which he showed to industry contacts. The business grew rapidly from 300 sales of the one item in the company’s first year to thousands of apparel items across mountain biking, pro cycling and skiing product lines.
Today the company employs more than 20 people in the design, manufacture and hand finishing of all products.
“Inc. looked at a lot of criteria including financial growth and business performance,” says Jackson, “but the real measure of success to us has been how we’ve been able to build a national brand and business in a competitive industry from the part of the country that we love most. We made a commitment to Coon Valley almost from day one and it hasn’t let us down.”
Jackson says his company could find less expensive production partners and reduced operational costs in China where many competitor products are manufactured, but a commitment to being USA-made and the highest quality standards won’t let him do that. Instead he remains committed to the supportive Wisconsin business community and the large pool of local, talented workers and seamstresses that help give Mt. Borah’s products a competitive edge.
“The local and Wisconsin business communities have been very good to us,” he says. “We’re not leaving anytime soon. But we do have big plans and we will definitely be looking for more expansion space before the next ten years is anywhere close to being up,”
Mt. Borah will be honored as part of the Inc 5000 Conference this week in Chicago, Illinois, September 6-8.
