Just a quick glance through the website for Verillas and you immediately feel like you are transported into the world of somewhere fantastical such as Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. Truthfully, you would not be wrong as the line is partially inspired by the pastime of LARPing and cosplay.
Founded by Alice Greenbrier, Verillas is an online retailer based in Central Virginia that specializes in kilts, boots and a style known as ModRen, which means effectively what it sounds like – a clothing style that not only can you wear to your next ren fair, or down to the Lombardy Kroger to pick up a fresh rotisserie chicken.
The name, Verillas, and the shop itself were born during a brainstorming session while Greenbrier was running one of the country’s largest musical instrument shops. As a side project, she had a few different clothing brands that admittedly she never intended to do much with aside from getting to sketch out designs and make small batch things for her, friends, and the occasional rock star who needed stage wear. Greenbrier has always been into fashion to some degree, although she shares that she went to business school and swears her artistic talents are limited.
However, between this love and her love of ren fairs, it’s not a surprise that the roads ultimately led her to opening up Verillas.
“While I was doing some like burning man stuff, some everyday like fantasy and meets regular clothes kind of stuff, I just got really into blending things. [Because] if I was gonna put all this money out, even for myself or to sell to a friend, I thought, ‘Man, it could be hundreds of dollars for a garment. Why can’t you wear it?” said Greenbrier. “Your Friday night date night look, in addition to being able to blend it into your pirate costume on the weekend or what have you. ModRen just came from the idea of modern stuff that blends with renaissance era fantasy stuff. And that’s kind of what Verillas has been about the whole time.”
While Verillas is absolutely hitting it out of the park with functional and sustainable fashion, they are certainly not alone in their thought process. The idea of getting multi-functional wears out of your garments is something that is staying on the public’s mind even more these days, especially as inflation and the economy continue to butt heads in an ongoing battle to the death. So the idea of being able to wear your favorite fit to both the Maryland Ren Faire and then to lunch with friends on a Tuesday isn’t this smart idea, anymore. It’s survival.
“I definitely think it has left the barn of niche and is now very mainstream to blend medieval into fashion as well as post apocalyptic and a few other things we dabble in,” said Greenbrier. “It really kind of blew up on its own. I didn’t mean to make it a trend, I think just popular movies, TV, shows, Ren Fairs, Burning Man, like a lot of stuff together [along wit]h millennials getting old enough to be the primary people that are out doing things, whether we have a lot of money or not. We are the people spending money on things like being out where you’d wear your nice clothes and go do something cool or put on a costume. We like nostalgia. We like joy. We like escapism because we have had a really tough time as a generation so far, myself included. So I love to go into the woods and dress up like a fairy barbarian and forget about my problems for a week as my vacation.”
Verillas isn’t just your next stop for cool gear that you can wear out and about, or as part of your next cosplay (I may or may not have the very Trigun-esque coat bookmarked as we speak), but they are a proudly LGBTQ owned business, and they not only have this marked throughout their website, but also with a section marked, Transcend Gender, which describes itself as “A shopping experience without gender boundaries.”
With the world growing ever more scary and uncomfortable in varying ways, Greenbrier acknowledges herself the power of fashion and how it can affect your mind set, even with something as simple as an outfit that makes you feel like a powerhouse when you walk out the door. Whether it is a pair of sturdy combat boots, or a worn graphic t-shirt, sometimes the right outfit really can make you feel safe and confident. Her go to battle outfit?
“Oh, for me, it’s definitely like our havoc jeans that fit like jeggings,” said Greenbrier. “They’re a little stretchy. Knee high boots. some kind of like a fitted top. I either love a thigh holster or like shoulder holsters because I’ve always just got a lot of things on me for the day. From office stuff to tools to, you know, whatever makes me feel like whatever happens, I didn’t leave my important thing at home. I’m ready, and if I’m out at night too, especially as a trans woman married to a cis woman, we want to feel safe. Whatever else I’m bringing for personal protection and stuff. It’s kind of neat to feel locked and loaded wherever I’m going. A lot of the stuff that I make that’s kind of my thought process behind it. I feel like Tomb Raider. Equally ready to party or protect myself. Whatever needs to happen.”
For more information on Verillas you can visit their website HERE.
