How it Started

Hi! I’m Barbie — founder of Sun Mountain Threads and the creator behind Mountleisure.

Sun Mountain Threads began in the summer of 2021 during maternity leave after I had my second baby. Living in Woodland Park, Colorado, I noticed something funny — whenever friends or family visited, they always wanted a Woodland Park t-shirt to take home… and there really weren’t many options. So I decided to make one myself.

With a background in Fashion Merchandising and a lifelong love for apparel, I started sketching a few designs and partnered with a local screen-print shop. My goal was simple: create high-quality, comfortable shirts that people would actually want to wear — not just souvenirs that sit in a drawer.

I began selling at our local Woodland Park farmers market that summer, and what started as a small maternity-leave project quickly turned into something much bigger. The response from our community was incredible. People weren’t just buying a shirt — they connected with the idea behind it.

After returning to my corporate job, the business stayed in the back of my mind. With a very supportive husband and a lot of encouragement, I made the leap in April 2024 to leave the corporate world and pursue this dream full-time.

As the brand grew, I realized I wasn’t just making t-shirts.

I was creating clothing people reached for every day — whether they were hiking a trail, grabbing coffee in town, road-tripping through the mountains, or chasing kids around the park. Our customers kept telling me the same thing: “This is the shirt I always wear.”

That’s when the word Mountleisure came to life.

Mountleisure represents the balance of mountain adventure and everyday comfort — apparel made for real life in Colorado. Not technical outdoor gear, and not just casualwear either… but something in between. Clothing you can explore in, relax in, travel in, and live in.

It became the heart of our brand.

We are still a small, family-run business based in Woodland Park.

We still focus on high-quality garments, long-lasting prints, and thoughtful designs inspired by the places we live and explore.

And most importantly, we design apparel meant to be worn — not saved for special occasions, but lived in.