Our Story

Owen Zorgdrager started reselling sneakers and streetwear at 14, chasing the look of the influencers he followed. He ran that business for seven years with one goal in the back of his mind: stop reselling other people's products and start making his own.

He taught himself design in the margins Adobe Creative Suite, Procreate, YouTube tutorials, sketching clothes and sneakers through college lectures instead of taking notes. He graduated with a finance degree, then spent a year trying to break into the industry. An eight-month interview process with a Denver bank ended in rejection at the final round.

That's when he built an app instead, just to have something to work on. It didn't take off, but it reminded him how much he missed design. More rejections followed. At the twelve-month mark, working part-time and done waiting on a job market that wasn't going to find room for him, he started Bergdraagt.

The name took the longest to land. It came together on a drive back from the airport — his family's history as Dutch immigrants who sold carpet in Holland, Michigan, his own months studying Dutch, and his last name split into its roots: berg (mountain) and draagt (carries, wears). Mountain wear. Built for the outdoors he grew up in.