For the past 12 years, Oveja Negra has made bikepacking bags in its Salida, Colorado, factory. Beloved in the adventure cycling community for both their quality products and their brand vibe, it’s a bikepacking company created by bikepackers Lane Willson, her husband Monte, and business partner Stephanie Perko.
Oveja Negra has long sourced its sailcloth and 98 percent of bag components, including zippers, from other U.S. companies, Willson told Bike Magazine. Given this percentage, one might think that Oveja Negra is the perfect example of American manufacturing, and that it would be immune from tariff penalties and doing well in the current economic environment.
So why is Oveja Negra in a freefall, according to Willson, and forced to lay off seven skilled employees and move two others to contract, part-time positions?
“About 98 percent of everything we buy to make our bags comes from the U.S.,” Willson said. “But those U.S. companies have to get their materials from overseas, and they’re getting hit hard by the tariffs. They have to raise their prices, and we can’t keep up with those increases.”
Willson said Oveja Negra overall sales are down 30 percent, which is an unsustainable drop for a small business. Most of Oveja Negra products are sold through local bike shops in 40 states, she said. As bike shops feel the hit of bike prices increased by tariffs, they have to cut their wholesale purchases. That includes Oveja Negra.
“We’re a luxury brand,” Willson said. “Bike shops are already working on such thin margins. So when they have to pay $500, $1,000 more per bike, they have to cut costs somewhere. We’re it.”
Willson said that Oveja Negra’s international customer orders have also decreased drastically.
“Since we started in 2012, we’ve seen a consistent 10 to 15 percent annual growth, even during the pandemic.” Willson said. “Our international customers were 20 percent of that, and now it’s nothing. Australia was a huge customer of ours, and would keep us going during our winter. Now nothing.”
Willson said orders from dealers in Australia, Spain, Canada, France, the U.K., Germany and Singapore dramatically dropped off at the announcement of U.S. tariff increases and stock market uncertainty.
“People I’ve worked with for years straight up told me that they were cutting U.S. orders because of all of this sh**,” Willson said. “Everyone feels bad about it, but we’re all trying to stay in business. It’s crazy.”
Willson said she feels guilty for having to let so many employees go, and that paying out their unused vacation time, benefits, and health insurance was yet another immediate strain on Oveja Negra's books. Currently the company is staffed by the three owners and three employees, plus the two former full-time employees who are now part-time contractors.
“This was a career for people,” she said. “These are friends. And we had to do this because there just isn’t any money coming in. We're having strings of zero-income days. At least this way they can get unemployment.”
Willson has been a seamstress for nearly 30 years. When her now-husband Monte asked her to make a bike bag, she jumped at the opportunity. Friends told friends, and from there Oveja Negra, which means "black sheep" in Spanish, was born. Starting in Leadville, the Willson's eventually moved their operation to Salida where they have a workshop and small storefront. Some of Oveja Negra's most popular bags are the Snack Pack top-tube bag and the Lunchbox handlebar bag.
"You know, we're an American company that buys materials from other American companies," Willson said. "We've always been doing that. And then all of this tariff stuff starts, and now we're struggling to stay in business along with a lot of other small businesses. It's just crazy."
Visit Oveja Negra's website at
www.ovejanegrabikepacking.com, and check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
By Steve Lares