Mike Davis (Elevant)

Mike Davis is the owner of Elevant, an apparel company based in the Twin Cities. 

When he was just a child, Davis’s mother struggled with substance addiction.

Consequently, he and his sister were adopted by a loving family in Hopkins that offered the brother-sister combo a chance at a better life. 

“My sister and I were lucky enough to have a solid support system, and that created a lot of opportunities for us,” says Davis, who while growing up wore Abercrombie and excelled on the baseball diamond. 

“I was definitely a jock,” he adds with a chuckle. 

In fact, Davis, an infielder with a potent bat, was so adept at baseball that after high school he was recruited to Iowa Central, a junior college. 

Davis anticipated his stint in Iowa to be a stopgap, after which he would then take his talents to a bigger school that could offer him an athletic scholarship. 

Like all good stories, Davis’s ambitions weren’t initially realized. 

His time in Iowa could best be described as tumultuous. 

When he wasn’t fielding ground balls, Davis was hanging out with his roommate, acclaimed UFC fighter, Jon Jones. 

Yes, that Jon Jones, who once upon a time was a national champion wrestler. 

“We got into a little trouble together,” Davis recalls with fondness. 

During Davis’s second year in Iowa, he had performed so well that Belmont University offered him a baseball scholarship, but Davis, still needing to mature, fumbled the opportunity when his extracurricular affairs interfered with his goals. 

“I crossed the line and failed a drug test,” the Hopkins native admits. 

“I ended up getting kicked off the junior college team and lost my scholarship to Belmont.”

Davis also then missed out on the chance to play in the Northwoods League, which each summer attracts MLB hopefuls looking to get extra at-bats once their college season ends. 

“With everything in disarray, I went back home, and I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life,” Davis remembers.

Luckily, soon after arriving back in the Twin Cities, a coach he had met previously intervened and offered him an athletic scholarship at a Division-II school in Memphis, Tennessee. 

This time, Davis would not whiff on the chance to play baseball and earn a degree. 

In his three seasons in Memphis, Davis was all-conference each year, and during his senior campaign he was named the conference’s most valuable player. 

“It was great to overcome the self-inflicted obstacles and find success,” he says. 

“I learned a lot not only about the game of baseball, but also about perseverance and never giving up on myself.”

After college, Davis, whose prowess at the plate caught the attention of pro scouts, assumed he would don the uniform of a minor league team, but life dealt him another curveball when his mom was diagnosed with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which effectively destroys motor neurons in the brain and the spinal cord. 

Considering that his father had passed away when he was just a teenager, Davis’s future suddenly didn’t seem as bright as it once was. 

Complicating matters, the St. Paul Saints, an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, reneged on their offer to have Davis join the team when they signed former Boston Red Sox player and now media personality Kevin Millar.  

“What do I do now?” Davis was forced to ask himself. 

Instead of completely walking away from the game of baseball, Davis, who also recruits software engineers for tech companies, continued competing on the amateur circuit for the next fifteen years. 

Five years ago, he also became a coach for Macalester College.

“Coaching has been a great opportunity to impart my wisdom onto the next generation of baseball players,” Davis says.

Still, there is something inside him that won’t allow him to turn his back on his dreams, and although his aspirations no longer include stepping onto a major league field, he still yearns for something grandiose. 

That perhaps explains why two years ago he bought Elevant, a clothing company that sells customized apparel to both men and women. 

For context, Elevant means “rise” in Latin.

“The brand symbolizes rising above obstacles,” assures Davis, who has weathered enough misfortune to appropriately assume the helm of Elevant. 

At the same time, Davis didn’t purchase a clothing brand because his story includes trials and tribulations. 

It was actually the popular book, Shoe Dog, written by former Nike CEO Phil Knight, that inspired him to make a quantum leap into entrepreneurship. 

“As I was reading this book, everything just clicked, and I decided to just do it,” Davis explains.

As the face of the brand, Davis is looking to sell high-quality clothing to those who are equally intentional about maximizing their potential. 

“When people see the Elevant logo, I want them to envision what their dreams and aspirations are, and then become inspired to go pursue them,” he says. 

“The people who wear our clothing typically are pursuing some form of excellence in their lives. Whether they want to become an entrepreneur, lose weight, or run a marathon, when people rep our brand, they’re embodying that mentality of being exemplary.”

Adds Davis:

“The challenges that I have overcome have made me a stronger and more resilient person, and so, if this clothing can inspire others to work through whatever is troubling them, then this brand becomes about more than just clothing. It becomes about changing people’s lives.”

Looking ahead, Davis is seeking to continue to expand Elevant as a lifestyle brand.

He’s also been diligently building his podcast in order to connect with high-performers whose own journeys are emblematic of what it means to rise and elevate. 

Still, establishing a clothing brand is no easy task.

Many have tried, and only few have etched their brands into the pantheon of the Americana. 

For his part, Davis is not proclaiming that Elevant will soon rival major brands who are endorsed by world-class athletes. 

“My focus is on setting and achieving realistic goals,” he emphasizes. 

“I’m not expecting to become Nike in the coming years, but I want to begin to establish a foundation and a brand that means something, so that when people see our logo, they know exactly what that represents.” QS

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