Our Backstory

Welcome to Feral and Free!

We are a brand built to celebrate the kind of childhood where kids can just be kids, maximum sunshine, dirt, and running totally wild outdoors. 

Feral and Free was born out of sheer necessity (and a little bit of frustration!). For years, I hunted for fun, bold, bright, and comfy clothes that could keep up with my three wild boys. I wanted vibrant gear with fun adventure sayings, but finding it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. I would find a piece here or there, but never a single shop that carried exactly what I envisioned. After coming up empty-handed one too many times, I finally decided I just needed to create it myself!

Our blueprint is simple: bold styles for wild hearts. 

The ultimate inspiration behind our designs? My youngest son, Shep. He treats the great outdoors like his personal playground, tackling nature with a completely free and feral spirit. You can usually find him launching off boulders, hugging trees, getting an impressive amount of dirt in his hair, dragging giant branches down the trail, and running totally carefree through the forest. His contagious, wild-child energy is woven into every single thing we create.

But the heartbeat behind all those weekly adventures, and the foundation of this brand, started with a deeply personal journey.

Hi! I’m Mel, the founder of Feral and Free, an avid adventurer, a mom to three energetic boys, and someone who is always on the hunt for the next great trail to hike!

After moving outside of Boulder, Colorado and having my third son, Shep, I went through a series of health struggles that ultimately sparked a fierce, deep-rooted love for the outdoors. I made a promise to myself: if I lived through it, I would become the strongest I had ever been, conquer those 14,000-foot peaks, and haul Shep up the Colorado mountains on my back.

And guess what? I proved exactly that to myself.

I carried Shep on literally every hiking trail I could find. Hitting the dirt as many times a week as possible with him hitched to my back. He became my ultimate weekday adventure buddy, while my older boys joined the expeditions on weekends. We hiked thousands of miles together, spending countless hours in the woods and soaking up all the magic nature does for our brains and bodies. It was the absolute greatest healing and joy.

Eventually, he set loose from the hiking pack, and he started exploring on his own two feet. He was hooked, and it quickly became his absolute favorite thing. We made it our mission to keep hitting the dirt, sharing our trail days on Instagram, and cheering others on to get outside too. 

That wild journey brought us right here. Deciding to become the strongest version of myself was hands-down the best choice of my life. It got my kids outdoors, helped me heal, and sparked this entire creative adventure to build something as special and wild as Feral and Free!