Draft:Kühl (apparel)

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KÜHL is a privately held American company that specializes in outdoor and lifestyle apparel. Founded in 1983 under the original name Alfwear, the company rebranded as KÜHL in 1994.

Alfwear, Inc. was created in 1983 by John Alf Engwall.

A trademark filed later lists the first usage of the word mark "ALF" as 1984^[2]. Old clothing made by Alfwear bears the mark "älf".

In 1986, three other co-founders bought in for $2000 per person: Conrad Anker, Jay Boyle, and Kevin Joseph Boyle. Jay and Conrad are brothers. Jay Boyle met Anker while working at the Holubar mountaineering shop. About the $2000 investment, Kevin said "I had $2,300 to my name; it was basically everything I had"^[3].

Initially, the company originally offered the "Alf" hat, in the style of the Peruvian Chullo^[4].

In the late 80s, the company leadership would transition from the four co-founders down to just Kevin Boyle.

At 8:40pm on Friday, October 31, 1986, Engwall was killed near Prince, Utah, when his car "ran off a winding state road and into a 15-foot deep culvert"^[5].

A few years later, Jay Boyle and Anker also left the company. Jay went off to the "Thunderbird School of Global Management" in Phoenix, Arizona, where he got his MBA between the years of 1992 and 1993. Jay would later return to KÜHL.^[6] Anker went off to other mountaineering pursuits.

Alfwear, Inc. was incorporated in 1989^[7].

On August 15, 1994, Kevin Boyle filed for the trademark KÜHL^[8]. That same year, at the Outdoor Retailer show, the company publicly re-branded itself as Kühl^[9].

In 2016, KÜHL had 60 employees^[3].

On January 3rd, 2019, the company Skythe, Inc. was registered in Utah to Kevin Boyle^[10]. While the public brand is KÜHL, the legal name appears to be Skythe, Inc.^[11].

As of 2024, there are at least 14 patents (plus 4 publications) assigned to "Alf Wear"^[12]