At the heart of VELA is beautiful design inspired by life without walls. We create our products with mountain air in our lungs. WHERE WE CAME FROM We founded VELA in 2016 with the goal of creating comfortable, stylish clothing for people who love travel, the outdoors and artisanship. Vela operates in the Vail Valley, Colorado, but but began during our travels in the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains of Italy. Inspired by the natural beauty of the landscape, Elise started sketching daily to reflect and record the journey. The sketches resonated with our friends and followers on Instagram, and we knew we had tapped into a need: to express a love for the natural world through art. We decided to make the designs wearable and portable so people could share their enjoyment of Elise’s designs with the rest of the world. THE VELA CONSTELLATION Our name comes from the constellation Vela, which in Latin means “the sails.” Vela would appear above the Mediterranean Sea in spring and appear to sail across the sky through the summer. A love of exploration and travel is one of our company’s core values, and a constellation in the shape of a sailing ship wandering the night sky encapsulates the spirit of our designs and our customers. IT’S ABOUT BEAUTY + COMFORT More than anything, our designs are meant for people to simply enjoy. We chose to print on sustainably made clothing and accessories with a local screen printer in Vail to reach people who find themselves most at home on a mountain, in the ocean or by a campfire. Our products are for explorers and dreamers, adventurers and artists. We hope our gallery of products brings you as much joy as it brings us.