The Melly is amazing.

For a great number of outdoor explorers, this will be old news. For developers and other people – this could be revolutionary. In a town called Leadville, located in Colorado, there is a shop called Melanzana. It used to be called Eggplant Mountain Gear a long time ago. Anyway, they make this micro grid hoodie which is all the rage. So much so that they stopped selling it online, and the only way to procure them is to go to the physical store and wait in a potentially very long line to see what they have in stock for that day. Or enter their email lottery where each day they draw two lucky winners who can tell Melanzana which two products they would like to purchase from what they have available.

The introduction.

There are some channels I subscribe to through YouTube. One such channel is Kara & Nate who are travel vloggers. Every now and then during the colder months of their travel, Nate would wear this kick-ass looking hoodie. I became obsessed with the color, the cowl neck, everything. I asked people in comments what it was. Nothing. I asked Nate via emails, nothing. People were either far too busy to answer me – or it was some kind of ancient and clandestine secret that only the powerful acolytes had sufficient knowledge of.

The search.

So I took to online shops – left and right. I came close to finding things that looked almost right that I knew weren’t correct. Months of this activity consumed me. So I stopped looking for a while – content with my failure in tracking down this mythical item of clothing. Then one day I stumbled into some Reddit rabbit hole reading about something Kara and Nate – and someone had asked my question. That question was answered and thus I found out about the hoodie. Seeing the situation, I took to eBay and was astounded.

The acquisition.

What normally sells for $73 was going for upwards of $225 there. Ridiculous! I looked for Buy It Now links and didn’t see many for colors I liked. Bidding was simply insane. So I saved a search, looking for anything with Thyme in it. Weeks passed and an Ochre and Thyme Large went on sale. I tried bidding and I ended up getting it for around $110 which astounds me because most are going for well over that.

When it arrived, it felt like I was putting on a thin, but yet extremely warm pillow of cloud. The colors are divine. The texture amazing. The feel is so soft. Comfortable. The cowl neck is interesting and very welcome if you hood it. The drawstring very cool. The big kangaroo pocket is just a bonus to this already amazing article of kit. It’s worth every penny of what I paid for it. I’ve taken it out into the woods where it’s kept me comfortable, even in a light shower.

I am looking to get it in another color. I am wearing it right now inside my home and it’s June 14th. It’s that nice.

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