Skydiving from 10,000 feet. Doing 10 different skateboard tricks. Finishing 10 ski runs at Big Bear. Surfing 10 waves.
Those are some of the many activities that La Jolla Country Day School alumni Julian Davis, Jack Macfarlane, Rostam Reifschneider and Jacob Church did in less than 24 hours last month to promote Davis’ Avala Clothing brand. They called the ambitious stunt “The San Diego 10s.”
“It was a surprisingly smooth day for how hectic it was,” Davis said. He added that doing the challenge with his friends made the experience particularly fun and memorable.
The four started their day Feb. 15 at 3:30 a.m. with a 10-mile run in Oceanside and ended by bowling 10 strikes. They took breaks to eat 10 tacos and drink 10 beers.
The final 10 in the challenge was raising $10,000 in advance orders on Kickstarter to launch Avala’s newest product, DREAM Shorts, which the participants wore throughout.
“Once we hit that, we could go into production,” Davis said.
Distribution is expected in October.
The $10,000 goal was shattered in a few hours, and as of March 13, the project has raised more than $41,800. The Kickstarter listing remains open through Thursday, March 27, at bit.ly/3DFg1s5.
Avala was established in March 2024 after Davis encountered merino wool — a fine, soft wool from desert sheep that can live in extremely hot and cold conditions — on a trip to New Zealand in 2023.
The name of the new shorts, DREAM, stands for Durable, Regulating, Eco-friendly, Anti-bacterial Merino.
Davis said the material is far superior to polyester in breathability, moisture management and odor resistance. Avala claims it can absorb and release up to 30 times more sweat vapor than synthetic materials.
Davis said he “was blown away by its potential” and felt it also could enhance athletic performance.
The trip yielded a partnership with New Zealand-based Nuyarn for fabric and spinning technology.
Avala also hopes to help curb climate change by investing in solar energy projects with Energea and funding Pachama to evaluate forest carbon projects, Davis said.
“The biggest change that companies in general need to make is taking the responsibility of climate action onto themselves and saying ‘We’re actually going to be cleaning up the planet instead of net polluting it,’” he said.
Avala shirts were worn by participants in the “San Diego 9s” challenge last year, which included a nine-minute ice bath and sauna, nine holes of golf and nine innings at a Padres game. Video of the event drew more than 100,000 views on social media.
Beyond drawing attention to Avala, the challenge events served as litmus tests for the material.
“It was really the perfect combination of activities [this year] to highlight what you can do with these shorts,” Davis said. “They’re designed to do anything from an ultra-long run … [to] things like skydive from 10,000 feet … or even skiing in shorts for part of it.”
The four who participated this year all have La Jolla ties. Davis said he has known Macfarlane and Church since first grade and Reifschneider since eighth grade. They all graduated together from La Jolla Country Day.
“La Jolla Country Day and the La Jolla community in general, growing up there, has always been a big part of our life,” Davis said. “And most of my close friends are still from there, so it’s great that we can continue doing fun stuff like we did with the 10s challenge.”
He called the Kickstarter campaign “a platform for creators and brands like me to launch their product and collect preorders. It’s just a large preorder site, but it has this amazing community of backers who love new, innovative technologies and products, which is exactly what our shorts are.” ♦
