Colorado cool stuff.

• Author: Peterson, Eric
• Position: Dohm Icebox USA - FlyLow Gear

DOHM HEADWEAR/ICEBOX KNITTING:

"We're carrying on a 40-year knitting tradition," said Dohm-Icebox PR Director Lori Baker. The company grew out of the late Richard Krueger's Alpine Knitting Mill and still uses the same antique machines Alpine used in the 1960s.

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The company has a number of lines, including Dohm Mountain Classics and Dohm Village, winter-oriented hats made from fine Italian Merino wool, and Xob (box spelled backwards), more "boutiquey" hats made from recycled wool sweaters. Baker says the Xob line has been a hit since its 2006 debut, driving 15 percent sales growth in the last year.

The company just relocated from Boulder to a larger factory in Longmont, where a 12-person staff makes about 95 percent of the company's hats on hand-powered mills. Stuffed primate lovers, take note: They also make a monkey out of scraps accumulated over the years. Hats: $20 to $40 retail.

Made by Dohm-Icebox LLC, Longmont, www.dohmhats.com or www.iceboxknitting.com. A store locator is on the website.

FLYLOW GEAR

When Dan Abrams and Greg Steen founded FlyLow Gear in 2003, "We saw a niche to fill in the ski industry: backcountry apparel," Abrams said. Thus the tagline, "backcountry utility with big mountain style."

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The company has since expanded it catalog to include not only jackets and pants, but also hoodies, hats, gloves and T-shirts. New this winter is a hard-shell series: the Lab Coat and the Chemical Pants, the latter of which was nominated as "Gear of the Year" by Skiing magazine.

"It's built to be a superior mountaineering pant, but it has style," Abrams said.

The market likes the gear, too: FlyLow's sales have doubled every year since the company was founded, Abrams said. Jackets: $100 to $350 retail. Pants: $100 to $275 retail.

Made by FlyLow Gear LLC, Denver, www.flylowgear.com. A store locator is on the website.

ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES:

After motocross racer Kenny LaComb was partially paralyzed in an accident in the mid-1980s, his sponsor, Denver wheelsmith Woody Witte, was there to lend a hand raising money for his medical bills.

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Soon thereafter, "Kenny wanted to get back to doing some of the things he was doing before, and one of those things was...