In the winter of 2011 we had a few hunters that were wearing our Heat Tech base layers while hunting and scouting the summer months and our Cold Tech base layers while hunting the winter months. During their visits to the factory, based in Salt lake City, UT, there were short conversations about a hunting line of apparel and why Game Gear has not yet designed and offered a hunting line due to the knowledge of fabrics and athletic functionality. Conversations soon turned into emails and introductions to staff at Game Gear while scheduling frequent visits to collaborate on an idea of creating a new line of apparel that would have its own pattern, combined with the knowledge of our athletics background and the background of hunters with over 60+ years in the field. This is where friendships were created and a relationship with Ron Elmer and his team of hunters blossomed into an idea that was called Game Gear Hunting. 

Game Gear Hunting is now known as MARCO and that change has brought with it improvements to the designs and performance of the hunting line. As well as new ownership. Now owned and operated by Ron Elmer, Michael Labrum and Richard France. Our vision of a company and hunting apparel line was not shared with our last partnership. With that in mind Ron Elmer approached new partners and has reinvented the company with people who share the same vision and have the equivalent drive to bring a new cutting edge product to the hunting industry. We have the capability and knowledge to search out the highest end fabrics and textiles and turn them into an extremely high end hunting apparel that the working man can afford.    

The basic idea behind our "look" was to develop a camouflage pattern that would be a combination of light colors that would brake up the human outline. After a considerable amount of research (1 year) with wildlife biologists and a few college professors, we made the move to develop the pattern without any black in it at all. We were amazed to see how much the color black effects a pattern at just over 50 yards. Based on how the common animal eye perceives most colors even the slightest black blotches bleed into other colors and make for a very dark human figure at minimal distances. After many, many variations and field testing we landed on the pattern you see now and have had great success with it. We are very pleased with how effective the pattern has been not just for us but for many of our customers as well.

Probably the most difficult part of our journey into hunting was selecting fabrics that have performance technology, quietness, and tough enough to withstand what a mountain hunter could throw at it. As you could imagine this was far from easy and kept most of us from sleeping at night trying to get it right. Finding fabrics with performance tech was easy due to our athletic background and knowledge of sports like football and soccer. The challenge was finding these fabrics that were also strong enough to hunt in. This became a balance of quietness versus toughness. If we chose a fabric to quiet it was easily shredded on a highcountry mule deer hunt. If we chose a fabric that was really tough it was way to noisy to stalk in. So became the balance to benefit the hunter and provide fabrics able to withstand more than one season to keep hunters from having to purchase new apparel every season. We spent the next 2 years testing fabrics all over the west from summer temps in the desert to -30 hunting late season elk in the Rockies. If it didn't function correctly or perform to our standards we searched on until the right balance was found. After very extensive testing we completed our first two lines of MARCO. Our early season Catori line and our mid-late season Tala line. Both of these lines are 100% made of materials with performance capabilities like, moisture management, UV protection, anti-microbial, thermo-regulation and wind/water resistance. A list of all our fabrics are in the tab- OUR FABRICS.

These days hunters are morphing into a breed of athlete that demands functionality in there apparel. The old cotton camo or cheap polyester pant just don't cut it any more, for almost any level of hunter. So having our extensive background in athletic performance made it fairly simple when Ron Elmer and his team explained what they needed in a base layer, pant, shirt, jacket and other apparel, to be successful on a 9-12 day hunt in the remote back country of Colorado or Wyoming. All of our hunting lines are equipped with features like gusseted crotches, articulated knees, ergonomically designed pockets, longer inseams, re-positioned seams, reinforced belt loops/pocket corners and full movement of your arms and legs to be as efficient as possible while exerting maximum effort. For two years we tested all these features in every scenario we could possibly get the apparel in. Everything from being in a saddle for hours on end ridding into the western back country to hunting sheep and putting 30+ miles on our legs for days on end in horrible environments. If you ask, did we tested our gear, the answer is YES!

We want to be able to share to our customers the process of building our product from start to finish and provide a hunting line of apparel that not only works and is built on hunting roots but is built for hunters by hunters. We have spent the majority of the last 5 years working on an apparel line that a hunter can be proud to wear and rest assured that their gear will hold up and be used as a tool to for success. We are proud to be hunters working for hunters which guarantees you will get customer service that is second to none. And be able to follow along as MARCO grows in the hunting industry. We want our customers to know they can trust us and at any time make suggestions on our media outlets of what is or isn't working for them and know we are listening. We have nothing to hide and are proud we can offer a product at this level with a price a working man can afford. This is gear developed, built, tested, and sold by the hunters who wear it and can back all that MARCO is built on. We thank you for your business and welcome you to MARCO.