Posted: June 01, 2009
Colorado Cool Stuff: Char Bloom fishing vests
Fashionable fishing vests target women
By Eric PetersonAfter she got into fly-fishing in the mid-1990s, Char Bloom found that the gear wasn’t designed with a woman in mind. “They lacked color and style,” she recalls. “Since I was living in mine, I also found they lacked organization.”
Before long, Bloom was teaching and guiding, and decided to fill the void for a woman’s vest herself. In 2004, she perfected her design, found a manufacturer and began selling her vests online. Bloom’s stylish and orderly vests are not khaki or green; rather, they’re pink or spruce. While she runs her fishing-vest business for profit, Bloom donates her income from guiding and teaching to her former CU footballer son Jeremy Bloom’s Wish of a Lifetime charity. Vests: $85 retail.
Made by Char Bloom LLC, Keystone, (970) 262-2427 [CHAR], www.charbloom.com.
{pagebreak:Page 1}
Denver-based writer Eric Peterson is the author of Frommer's Colorado, Frommer's Montana & Wyoming, Frommer's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks and the Ramble series of guidebooks, featuring first-person travelogues covering everything from atomic landmarks in New Mexico to celebrity gone wrong in Hollywood. Peterson has also recently written about backpacking in Yosemite, cross-country skiing in Yellowstone and downhill skiing in Colorado for such publications as Denver's Westword and The New York Daily News. He can be reached at Eptcb126@msn.com