What Jared Pobre learned from dry mountain air

Caldera + Lab started in 2015 with tight skin in Jackson Hole and a borrowed serum from a shelf. Jared Pobre kept that tactile clue, spent time with botanists, learned how Teton plants hold water through winter, and shaped a brief routine for men around steeping time and careful dosing. This piece follows feel, form and daily handling.

Drugstore shelves tell men to move fast, while skin in dry air asks for something slower. That contrast shapes Caldera + Lab. The label talks in short steps for men who want a clear face without fuss, while the work rests on cold hardy plants, oil left to rest for weeks, and amounts chosen to register rather than to decorate a label.

Jared Pobre arrived without a beauty background. He had built a self financed company in ad tech, married in 2015, welcomed a child and traded Los Angeles for Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has described how life at high elevation left his skin very dry, and how men who had skied there for years showed the lack of moisture in their faces. Formulas sold to men made the tightness worse, so he tried his wife’s serum and felt his skin calm.

Reading the interviews and the shop pages, the through line is touch. Work began in 2017 with consultants, laboratories, scientists and biologists. The 2019 debut was a single oil serum made with 27 botanicals, wild harvested stock from the Teton range, and no repurposed base. The steps stayed few. The sourcing stayed patient.

Between 2015 and 2017 a clean prestige wave grew for women while the men’s aisle stayed thin, and you saw rugged men in Jackson Hole buying 185 dollar serum made for women. What did that tell you about the gap you could fill.

I reached for my wife’s products because the men’s ones I was using were only making my skin worse. Inside a week the irritation settled. That surprise stayed with me. It all began with borrowing my wife’s serum in Jackson. I never planned to start a skincare company. I only wanted my face to feel normal again.

Then I wondered why nothing of that sort existed for men. From 2015 to 2017 independent women’s brands were doing thoughtful clean prestige work, and nothing of equal care sat in the men’s aisle. I met other men in Jackson Hole buying 185 dollar serum meant for women, just as I had. And these were tough mountain guys, hardly the shoppers one might link to costly serums. That showed me the need was wider than my own bathroom. Men wanted something effective, pleasant to use, and free of a twelve step manual.

The Good suits dry to normal skin in cold air while The Great is a water based and fragrance free serum for oily or combination skin in warm air. How should someone place one of them inside a Clean Slate to serum to moisturizer order.

Start with climate and skin feel. The Good is our first oil serum to feel. If your skin leans dry to normal, if winter air or indoor heat leaves you tight, if you are often over fifty and feel pull by mid afternoon, choose that one. Place it as the serum stage after Clean Slate, then add moisturizer. Warmth from the palms helps it press in evenly.

The Great is the water based parallel. It was formulated for oily or combination skin and warm climates, and it carries no added scent for sensitive skin. It holds our patent pending plant based exosome technology. Keep it in the same slot in the order, serum after cleansing, then a light moisturizer such as The Hydro Layer. Move Daily. Eat Right. Apply Skincare. That is the cadence. Cleanse, treat, seal against moisture loss. Nothing extra.

You sat with botanists and ethnobotanists to learn how local plants endure freezing winters, then chose fireweed, yarrow and nettle from the Teton range. What did those survivor plants teach you that a standard supplier catalog missed.

Spending a winter at elevation teaches regard for what remains alive. I met with botanists and ethnobotanists and asked how native people had worked with these plants, and how the plants managed strain on their own. Fireweed returns after fire. Yarrow persists in thin soil. Nettle rises through cold springs. To live up there a plant must guard itself with antioxidants and retain water well. That reasoning translated well to skin facing wind, sun and dry air.

A catalog hands you a powder plus a data sheet. A landscape hands you reasons. We sought botanicals wild harvested from the Teton range because we could trace why they suited a blend for dry, older skin. Born from nature and lifted by biotech with clinical proof you can feel That line steers us. The plant proposes, the lab verifies, and the finish must read on skin.

You began development in 2017 and launched in 2019 with one product, The Good, after placing a smallest run of 10,000 units. Why open with a single oil serum of 27 botanicals for dry skin, and what made you reorder before year one closed.

Across each company I have built, I have seen that shortcuts fail to reward. We refused menu based manufacturing and a recycled formula. We joined with consultants, founding team members, labs, scientists and biologists to create something bespoke. One serum, aimed largely at dry skin, with honest amounts. We added the upper range for efficacy, at clinical levels.

The Good is an oil serum holding 27 botanicals and four weeks of maceration to pull out nutrients. It fits dry to normal skin in colder or harsh climates. It grew into a national bestseller. Our assurance came when guys began requesting the next pieces. They asked for a cleanser, a moisturizer, an SPF for the hand and the shelf. That showed me this reached past my own case. When men in their forties, fifties and sixties study the figures and then return for the routine, you place another order. A short routine holds only when the contents are serious.

That mix of Jackson ruggedness and city polish is what you wanted the brand to hold. How does that mix land in scent, texture and packaging, beyond language.

That mix of Jackson ruggedness and city polish is what we aimed to hold. A man might ski in the morning and appear on a video call at noon. He seeks no shine and no heavy scent in a small office. He seeks skin that appears rested and feels at ease.

So feel must absorb and sit cleanly. The Good has richness because it is an oil serum, yet it is designed to press in and leave skin appearing smooth, without grease. The Great has a lighter touch and stacks neatly under moisturizer. Scent remains low. Packs must endure a gym bag and still sit well on a counter. Below that sits method. EFFICACY. DISCIPLINE. RESULTS. We prefer to compose custom formulas and place each ingredient at a studied amount rather than purchase a base and attach a story.

Move Daily. Eat Right. Apply Skincare.

Jared Pobre

You prefer to place ingredients at clinical levels instead of minimum dose amounts, and you reject menu based co-manufacturing. What does that decision demand in time and money, and where does a user notice it.

It demands early time and steady patience. Bespoke work calls for added testing, smaller first runs, and vendors willing to meet the bar. Our smallest first batch was 10,000 units, which seemed big for one serum and modest for the trade. We produce in the U.S., obtain many ingredients globally, and obtain packaging from Europe. That blend needs oversight.

Users notice it in steadiness and in the appearance of skin with continued use. The first study of The Good ran eight weeks in 2018 with 53 men aged 37 to 64, using instruments, expert grading and self reports, with 96 percent reporting healthier looking skin. Figures never stand in for a mirror, yet they hold us accountable. Skincare should think as far ahead as the men who reach for it We support that with a guarantee. Loved on skin and noticed by others or your money back

Made Safe, Leaping Bunny and plastic neutral approvals sit beside U.S. manufacturing and global sourcing. What do those marks actually review, and where do compromises persist.

Made Safe sees past one ingredient list. It assesses the product, the process and the supply chain for known toxic inputs, which reaches past a plain organic claim. Leaping Bunny verifies that products and ingredients avoid animal testing, with supplier oversight behind it. Plastic neutral means we tally plastic used and support recovery of a matching amount. We also choose recyclable packaging where possible.

Compromises persist. When many ingredients come from global sources and packaging comes from Europe while production stays in the U.S., freight and complexity follow. When animal testing is refused, vendors must record the same standard. When minimum dose claims are avoided, pricier inputs are bought in larger share. We accept those terms. We prefer to join uncompromising craftsmanship with an audited supply chain and recyclable packaging rather than choose shortcuts.

The recent launches, The Great and The Hydro Layer, use a patent pending plant based exosome technology with refreshed packaging and site. What is a plant based exosome in simple terms, and why match a water serum to a weightless moisturizer.

In simple terms, picture small plant derived carriers that help a blend spread and rest well on skin so the routine stays even and light. We present The Great and The Hydro Layer as built upon that patent pending plant based exosome technology. For the wearer, the value is feel and fit. Oily or combination skin still calls for water plus a shield against moisture loss, yet dense cream can turn uncomfortable by midday.

So we matched them. The Great as the water based treatment stage, The Hydro Layer as the weightless moisturizer that helps hydrate and improves the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Paired they anchor the oily skin routine, just as The Good anchors the richer routine for dry skin. The same principle guides both: brief stages, distinct roles, amounts selected for the look of firmness, smoothness and tone with steady use.

Your buyer is often 35 to 65, attentive to nutrition, fitness, wellness and longevity, and shopping for himself. How do you coach a three step ritual for a man who doubts hype and scans ingredient lists.

We hold the routine brief and the proof in view. Cleanse with Clean Slate. Smooth on The Good or The Great as treatment Moisturize to keep hydration. Plain terms, same sequence each day, morning and night. Men in this set already monitor food, sleep and training. They grasp amount and repeat use. So we disclose what sits inside, why each plant earned a place, and what the study tracked.

We also heed requests. Early on, guys sought the rest of the shelf. Cleanser, moisturizer, SPF, eye serum. That feedback formed The Regimen and later sets such as The Power Pair for dry skin and the lighter pair for oily skin. Reported revenue hit 40 million dollars in 2025 beside Nordstrom expansion, after a 6 million dollar Series A in 2024 to fund research, hiring, marketing and retail Scale helps, yet instruction remains constant. A steady routine you maintain beats a long one you abandon.

Closing note from the desk

What remains is the logic of touch. Pobre never used alpine words as ornament. He began with plants that withstand cold and drought, let them rest in oil at length, and placed the amounts high enough to count. The ask stays small: cleanse, serum, moisturize. The craft behind it stays large: custom blends, U.S. production, reviewed inputs.

Caldera + Lab meant to offer men a compact ritual with the care women’s prestige lines had already secured. Felt slowly, it reads as soil and forbearance meeting a bathroom shelf. The mountain gives the measure. The lab holds it.

Product spotlight

The Good feels luxe at 110 dollars for 1 fl. oz. A botanical oil serum with antioxidant richness and 27 botanicals, created for dry to normal skin and colder or harsh climates. Place after cleansing as the serum stage, warming a few drops between palms and pressing over face and neck, then add moisturizer to support soft looking, smooth skin.

The Great, 110 dollars. A light water based serum without added scent for oily or combination skin and warmer climates, made with plant based exosome technology. Place after cleansing instead of an oil serum, then add a light moisturizer to help skin appear balanced and smooth with steady use.