Founded in Aptos, California in 2025.
I’m an artist/designer and a lifelong wilderness athlete. Throughout my life those two aspects have often been like strangers riding opposite ends of the same train.
For a long time I tried to figure out how to combine my love for being in the outdoors with my love of design and turn it into a career. My opportunity arrived when my employer downsized and closed its local office, ending 50 years of Santa Cruz-borne innovation in the bike industry. But when large trees fall, small ones take their place.
Aptos Ranch™ was born to celebrate and support wilderness. Whether you are scrambling up to a mountain ridge to scope, freediving down to peep a coral reef or railing berms on your favorite trail, wearing Aptos Ranch designs means you support protecting North America’s public wildlands.
Respectfully,
R.Cardona
Founder & Creative Director
We source recycled and organic materials, produced close to home as much as possible…but not nearly as much as we’d like to.
…Because the apparel supply chain is far more restrictive and fragmented than we realized when starting this venture. However, we are constantly working to improve what goes into our products and where they get made. Our long term goal is for fully recycled and organic North American made apparel to dominate our portfolio - and we won’t stop trying until we achieve it.