How to find gear made in somebody’s garage
The question answers itself: Why would gear crafted by hand be better than gear mass-produced in a Chinese sweatshop?
Over at my hiking blog, I amassed a nice list of links to folks who make packs, tents, gaiters, stoves and a host of other cool outdoor gadgetry. Most of it is price-competitive to high-end gear, though you can always buy a $19 tent at Wal-Mart (till 1 billion Chinese realize communism is supposed to help working people; then all bets are off).
Here’s my list of links (not all of these are specifically garage/basement/backyard built, but they are home-built businesses:)
- Anti-Gravity Gear: Tarptents, stoves and cooksets.
- Big Sky International: Tents, cozy clothing
- Bozeman Mountain Works: Apparel, tarps, bivys, quilts, pads
- Brasslight: Ultra-light backpacking stoves
- Broken Bone Art: Groovy hand-carved hiking poles
- Dirty Girl Gaiters: Wacky crud killers
- Empire Canvas Works: Winter apparel, handwear, mukluks
- Fanatic Fringe: Packs, quilts
- Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple
- Gossamer Gear: Packs, tarps, poles, pads
- Ion Stove: “World’s lightest alcohol stove” from Sgt. Rock at Hiking HQ
- Jacks ‘R Better: Quilts, hammocks, tarps
- Mogo Gear: Stoves
- Mountain Laurel Designs: Packs, tarps, quilts, bivys
- Mystery Ranch: Packs by Dana Gleason of Dana Desigs fame
- Nunatak: Apparel, quilts
- Oware: Tarps, bivys
- Six Moon Designs: Tarps, tents, packs
- Stuffitts: Dries out and deodorizes wet shoes
- Tarptent: Henry Shires’ Tarptents
- Titanium Goat: Tents, tarps, bivys, poles, stoves
- Tom Harrison Maps: Waterproof topo maps, Bay Area based
- Trail Designs: Caldera Cone Stove inventors
- Trek Light Gear: Rocky Mountain Hammocks
- ULA Equipment: Packs, trowels
Click away and support home-grown entrepreneurism.
Tom,
That is when I go hiking!
Permalink | Posted August 25th, 2008, at 9:38 pmThere are times I feel like my office is a sweat shop while sewing my freezer bag cozies….about the time it hits 80* and above
Thanks for this. I will certainly be using it (college students are known for being cheap).
Permalink | Posted August 27th, 2008, at 8:41 pmHow about http://www.zenstoves.com? They seem to fit this category.
Permalink | Posted August 28th, 2008, at 8:49 amFred: that site is one of my all-time favorite stove-info resources… I forgot they actually made their own stoves.
Permalink | Posted August 28th, 2008, at 8:51 am