Red Ants Pants – Sarah Cahoun at MSGA Convention

Red Ants Pants – Sarah Cahoun at MSGA Convention

Sarah Calhoun, Founder – Red Ants Pants

Montana Stockgrowers and Montana CattleWomen are excited to announce an entertaining and motivational speaker for the 129th Annual Convention and Trade Show, which takes place December 12-14 at Holiday Inn Grand MT in Billings. Sarah Colhoun, founder of Red Ants Pants, brings her experiences of starting and running a small business with some creative ways of marketing to the Opening General Session. Registration for the Convention is now available online at MTbeef.org.

Sarah Calhoun grew up on a farm in Connecticut and received her degree in Environmental Studies from Gettysburg College. After five years working outdoor education jobs, including instructing for Outward Bound and leading trail crews, she was rather fed up with wearing men’s work pants.

Sarah moved to Bozeman in 2004 where she purchased a copy of How to Start a Small Business for Dummies. Upon learning what a business plan was, she promptly wrote one, started designing pants, and Red Ants Pants was born.

Wanting to live in a rural Montana ranching town, in 2005 she moved to White Sulphur Springs and set up her office, storefront, and distribution center in an old historic saddle shop. In October 2006, she opened the doors to the first ever company dedicated to making work pants for women. Finally…workwear for women!

Red Ants Pants was founded in 2006 by Sarah Calhoun. Tired of wearing men’s work pants that didn’t fit, Calhoun designed pants that would fit, function and flatter working women. The pants are made in the USA and that will not change. Red Ants Pants is based out of White Sulphur Springs, Montana where the storefront, distribution center, and international headquarters all reside in a historic saddle shop. Known for their grass-roots marketing efforts, including ‘Tour de Pants’, the direct sales business model is proving effective, even in tough economic times.

In 2011 Red Ants Pants put on the first annual Red Ants Pants Music Festival, where 6,000 fans came to dance their pants off in a cow pasture listening to some top bands including Lyle Lovett. The Red Ants Pants Foundation was formed as the non-profit branch of the project, in support of women’s leadership, working family farms and ranches, and rural communities. The festival continues its success into the third year with Merle Haggard headlining the 2013 event.

With a recent trip to the White House and keynoting at several national speaking events, Calhoun continues to be amazed how this company has become so much more than just a pair of pants. “It’s neat to show that we can do big things in small towns,” she reflects. A new Red Ants Pants ad campaign that profiles kickass women of history uses a tagline that resonates with the culture of the company: “Step into these pants and see what you can do.”

Learn more about Sarah on her website, RedAntsPants.com, read the Red Ants Pants blog, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

**Material from RedAntsPants.com contributed to this post.

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