Mike Graham, a Stonemaster with a keen eye for design, set about creating the first true climbing shorts from his small garage in Oxnard, Ventura. In 1982, after a few years of selling his hand-made wares to his friends, Gramicci was born.
Mike and friends had attempted the first all-Italian ascent of Yosemite’s notorious Half-Dome, despite none of them being Italian. Nicknames started flying about and Graham became Gramicci. This made-up, Italian-sounding name stuck and is still in full swing today. You have to love a good nickname origin story!
For over 30 years they’ve been producing climbing apparel which is as simple as it is effective. When you’re halfway up a cliff face, you don’t want too many bells and whistles hanging off your body.
I remember when we first took delivery of Gramicci. ‘They’re just trousers’ I thought to myself. How wrong was I? I think as it stands, I currently have 6 (six) pairs of Gramicci pants in full rotation in the legwear department. When it comes to pants, flexibility, durability and fit come to mind. For me, Gramicci ticks all the boxes and then some.
Over the seasons, we’ve seen the brand’s collection grow into a wide variety of colours and styles, making Gramicci one of the most versatile brands on offer.
As ever, we loaded the van with our favourite pieces from SS24 and headed into the lakes for a wander. We found some cows too, which was nice.
The first look consisted of a new style for us at WCH; the Canvas Double Knee Pant in Micro Bark. As ever, this style features the built-in clip belt but with updates such as a double knee, a 7-pocket design and an all-over pattern. This was teamed up with the Carabiner T Shirt in Sand Pigment, the Canyon Jacket in Black and finally a WCH Twill Cap in Stone.
We’ve also started stocking women’s, so we opted for a pair of Voyager Pants in Faded Olive. These trousers have a relaxed, slightly tapered ‘balloon’ fit and are nice and casual with loads of room for motion. Again, this style features a built-in clip belt and the brand’s renowned diamond crotch gusset. This style was worn with a WCH Pullover Fleece in Oatmeal Khaki and a WCH Fishermans Pike Beanie in Black.
