Soul

Soul: some got it, some don’t.  How do you get it?  Can you get it?  Chrissie Hynde’s got it, Lady Gaga – not so much.  Bob Dylan’s always had it, Justin Bieber never will.  Companies can have soul; Pigoretti bicycles, they got soul, but Trek, whatever soul they once had is long gone.



Close up of a Pigoretti

Trek makes some of the finest bicycles on the planet, but they don’t turn my head the way that a heavier, less performance orientated Pigoretti does.  What does the Pigoretti have that the Trek doesn’t.  I think it can be summed up in one word: aesthetic.  Dario Pigoretti knows that the bicycle is more than a mere machine, that it is an extension of the rider; this knowledge enables him to make highly functional yet beautiful machines.  The engineers at Trek, on the other hand, distill out any and all beauty.  The result is a cold, sterile, highly functional, yet soulless machine.

I want my Greenlite products to be both functional and beautiful, but still that isn’t enough.  I want my products to have soul.  I know the guys who make my products, they work with a lot of skill and a lot of heart.  Are my products as good as what comes out of an Asian factory?  Yes.  Are they better?  No.  Those technically perfect garments that fill shipping containers are crisp, clean and unblemished, but they have no soul.  No heart was put into them.  When I design something I use equally my heart and my head.  I think this makes all the difference.