The Crutch Buddies Story

Crutch Buddies was established during the spring of 2007. Founder James Healy is a seamster for Melanzana, an outdoor clothing manufacturer in Leadville, CO. Melanzana makes the most original, functional, and super sweet clothing from Polartec fleece which is only sold in Leadville and on Melanzana's website. The micro-grid hoodies are a "must have!" item to be sure. (Check it out here.) 

Anyway, James' good friend Nancy broke her leg skiing at Arapahoe Basin in Colorado (last day of the season, of course). Knowing that James had access to plenty of fleece, Nancy asked James to sew up some crutch covers to alleviate the pain caused by the rubber underarm rests on her crutches. After a few tries, James perfected the design, simple but comfortable and stylish being Nancy's requests.

Soon, James was sewing her another pair. Nancy likes to garden (even while on crutches) and her Crutch Buddies were getting dirty. She needed a pair to put on her crutches while the other pair was in the wash. Nancy was also having trouble carrying her stuff around. She claimed to be wearing a hoodie every day just so she had a pocket in which to put her keys, wallet, glasses, etc. So James designed a side pocket to attach to her crutch and the Pal was born.

It wasn't long before Nancy was meeting people (at the doctor's office, at the physical therapist's, at the grocery store, everywhere) who were curious about her crutch pads. Soon James had requests for more and more crutch covers and side pouches. Now Nancy is recovered (yeah!), but she still misses her Crutch Buddies, and especially her Pal.

James was already manufacturing lightweight camping tarps in his small Mountain Sew shop in Leadville, CO (10,154' above sea level!) and soon the Crutch Buddies line of products was added. A veteran of several skiing and mountain biking accidents, James can certainly appreciate the comfort and relief Crutch Buddies and Pals bring to a difficult situation.

In fact, soon after production of Crutch Buddies was initiated, James crashed on his mountain bike, down a steep slope, and had his chain ring on his bike "bite" his leg. After some backcountry first aid, ten more miles of trail riding, a trip to the ER, and ten stiches in his calf, James was appreciating the Crutch Buddies as well. (We won't put up the pictures here, they're kinda gross.)

Anyway, we hope you feel better soon!