Artists. Athletes. One thrives on creativity and unexpected inspiration. The other builds their passion on discipline and control. Is it even possible to combine the artist with the athlete? We think so. And we've found many of these remarkable individuals out on the trails, striking a balance between the yin and yang of these ways of being.
Max Nerurkar, a.k.a. 3dumb, is one of the most inspiring artist/athletes we've come across. His artistic expression takes the form of paintings, photography, and videography. And it seamlessly melds with his creative riding style that's earned him a place on the legendary 50to01 freeride MTB crew.
Ripton has been incredibly fortunate to collaborate with Max over the last year to produce a limited edition product that fuses the worlds of artists and athletes. The Ripton x 3dumb Trouser is a wearable piece of art. It's also designed to handle the most progressive freeride mountain bike tracks in the world with lightweight, stretchy Performance Denim and a silhouette cut for riding.
He produced five brilliantly colorful paintings centered on the classic smiley face icon. Then, our designer, Erica Cahn took different elements from the paintings and started creating designs. We ended up with a unique garment that embodies Max's identity: Artistic, jaw-droppingly fast mountain biker, and someone who's always smiling.
