You Need An Appointment To Shop At The Only Store Selling 'Colorado's Most Coveted' Clothing Line

It's not every day that you need to make an appointment to go shopping for outdoor gear, but at Melanzana in Leadville — considered "Colorado's most coveted clothing line," according to 5280 — it's standard practice. The small outdoor apparel store is praised by nature lovers for its Micro Grid hoodie, which can only be bought in person at the store. The high-quality fleece hoodie, perfect for outdoor adventures, will run shoppers back about $86 in stores, but online, some customers pay resellers $50 to $100 over the initial price on third-party websites such as eBay. The store began running out of its products so fast that now, customers are asked to make appointments to shop to ensure the items they want are in stock.

The appointment system first came about in 2021 to help with the store's limited inventory. All of the clothing is made in house at the Leadville factory, so having an appointment system gives management a better idea of how many of each product to make. To make an appointment, shoppers need to create an account on the Melanzana website and choose an available day and time that works best for them. Each customer is allowed two appointments per year; the second booking cannot be made until the first is completed. Note that, at the time of writing, appointments are booked out eight months in advance.

Melanzana, also called Melly, was first opened in 1994 by Fritz Howard and his friend Kevco. The New England native moved to Colorado to pursue his dream of living in an authentic hidden mountain town, away from the hustle and bustle of larger ski resort areas. When Howard moved to Leadville, he and Kevoc opened up Eggplant, now known as Melanzana. The duo changed the name to Melanzana, Italian for eggplant, in 1997 after battling trademark disputes.

The business grew slowly and steadily until the insanely popular Micro Grid hoodie was invented in 1999. Since then, Melanzana has become highly trusted in the outdoor community and has expanded its business into a bigger store twice since its first opening. "First, [the hoodie] was just a badge of honor that you lived in Leadville or had spent time here," Mike Bordogna, former Leadville Lake County Economic Development Corporation executive director, told 5280 in 2019. "Now it's become almost a status symbol for folks."

While Melanzana's Micro Grid hoodie can only be found in stores, shoppers can find similar hoodies on Amazon. The Mountain Hardwear Summit Grid Tunic Hoody on Amazon costs nearly the same as the Micro Grid hoodie and has an average rating of 4.7 stars from those who bought it. However, if you do visit the Melanzana shop in person, be sure to check out the nearby Interlaken Trail to a historic hotel.