Today, companies struggle with how to get the message out about their products. It seems that the result is less is being written about specific products. Big companies are relying on their brand logo, pricing power, and distribution. These are things that DeFeet doesn't list as 'qualities'.

Smart people still want to know what they're getting. It's hard for a company to talk about how great their stuff is, because consumers have been desensitized. The web has made us believe that others words are worth more than a companies own words. That's an ok thing, too. I like reading what real users have to say about a product before I buy some.

So, here's a review of the DeFeet UnD Lite by a mag in the UK. Read that, and I'll tell you more about this UnD Lite of ours.

In February of 2002, Shane Cooper and I began a coast-to-coast odyssey. We drove to nearly every one of these United State's, thanking DeFeet dealers for their business in the aftermath of the fire that burned us to a pile of ashes. DeFeet had no products to ship. We had to rebuild a factory. We had to purchase new equipment from other countries that took months to get here on boats. We drove for an entire year. It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.

During that adventure we decided we would expand on the successful UnD™ line. In the DeFeet tradition, this meant a new product, from scratch. All new ingredients. We wanted to create the thinnest, stretchiest base layer shirt in the World - that still pumped moisture faster than a roll of paper towels and dried like magic. Big talk for two guys in a rented PT Cruiser traversing Utah with a smoldering factory back home? We didn't know how big.

We couldn't find a fabric that would do what we needed. We pulled our hair out, threw notebooks at walls, and whimpered soft cries. We rubbed our bloodshot eyes so hard that one day, a genie actually appeared right in our head office. We met a family owned company named FayTex, and they listened to our wishes. They made shoe liners that breathed, and their innovations had turned the footwear industry on it's head years earlier. We told them we needed that, only in a shirt form. That was puzzling, but now we had some new partners on our project.

The fabric and garment that we came up over the next 18 months is nothing short of remarkable. We knew it was going to be special, but looking back, those efforts really did create a new class of base layers. Several years later, there is still nothing on the market that is quite like an UnD Lite. Not even from companies with multi-billion dollar market caps. The funniest part, is that review in the UK says "This year DeFeet have unleashed [the UnD Lite]". It has taken 4+ years for the UnD Lite to paddle to those shores. Good thing we can paddle, I guess.

DeFeet is a company that crafts performance products from scratch. Much like a small distillery creates some of the finest spirits in the World. Sometimes when you put something in the barrel, you don't realize how good it is until some time passes. Our small batches of UnD Lites, they are World Class. They will not be available at Big 5 or Dick's. You will only find them in the finest dealers, or right here (when we have them).

That's the short story of the UnD Lite and how it came to be. If you own one, you have already realized the difference.