Dan and Kaila Kelleher photograph by Jamie West McGiver
Ever give in to a “great deal” for clothes online and, when you open the package, you’re hit with a face full of eau de chemical? It’s the price of fast fashion—throwaway pieces that sacrifice quality, workers’ rights and the environment for rock-bottom price tags.
Dan Kelleher, an Albany native, noticed that smell when he worked summer jobs at Cape Cod surfing shops, and he realized that the products he stocked didn’t always back up the sustainability philosophy of surfing culture.
It was a lesson that stuck with him. In 2011, when he accepted a job at the Adirondack Park Agency and fell in love with the local landscape—and its hiking, paddling and skiing—he decided that he could do something different here.
But slow fashion takes its time. It wasn’t until 2020, after his wife, Kaila—also from Albany—joined the team, that Adirondack Field became a reality. They started small, with a high-end menswear line of made-in-America flannel shirts, graphic T-shirts and hats, but have since expanded to leather goods, warm-weather Oxford shirts and New York–made wax cotton jackets and parkas. Their latest addition is a line of wool/alpaca blend sweaters knit in New York, with three-quarters of the fiber sourced from New York farms.
There were hiccups. Manufacturing clothing in America is one thing; sourcing all of the material is another. Starting out, the Kellehers found that there were no mills left in the country that produce flannel cotton fabric. The solution? They import the cloth for their flannels from Japan, which has equally strong labor and environmental standards. “We’re very conscientious about what we buy, things that will help the people we’re buying from and help the environment,” says Kaila. “Our products are quality over quantity, ethically made, without all the chemicals.”
When it comes to design, Kaila says the choices are a team effort—but capturing the local vibe remains a top priority. “We want to keep the Adirondack culture alive and present in all of our products.”
