Directory of “Cottage Industry” Backpacking Gear Companies
Some of the best ultralight backpacking gear on the market is not made by the big gear companies (and it isn’t even available in most stores).
It comes from small, hiker-owned businesses who design, manufacture and sell their own gear on the internet and at small shows and hiker gatherings.
These “cottage industry” gear smiths are responsible for most of the innovative new ideas that have fueled the ultralight backpacking revolution (from tarp-tents to one-pound packs and more).
Here is where you can find the latest cutting edge “cottage industry” ultralight backpacking gear:
Cottage Backpacking Gear Companies:
AntiGravityGear
www.antigravitygear.com – Lightweight shelters, cook systems, accessories and more.
Bear Paw Wilderness Designs
www.bearpawwd.com – Lightweight shelters and accessories.
Big Sky International
www.bigskyinternational.com – Ultralight freestanding shelters.
Black Rock Gear
www.blackrockgear.com – Ultralight down hats, vests, gloves and apparel.
Brasslite Backpacking Stoves
www.brasslite.com – Lightweight alcohol stoves.
Bushbuddy
www.bushbuddy.ca – Ultralight wood burning stoves.
Dirty Girl Gaiters
www.dirtygirlgaiters.com – Colorful lightweight gaiters.
DIY Gear Supply
www.diygearsupply.com – Materials and fabrics for building your own lightweight gear.
Elemental Horizons
www.elementalhorizons.com – Lightweight backpacks and accessories.
Enlightened Equipment
www.enlightenedequipment.com – Ultralight sleeping quilts.
Equinox LTD
www.equinoxltd.com – Ultralight packs, shelters, accessories and more.
Feathered Friends
www.featheredfriends.com – Ultralight down sleeping bags and clothing.
Four Dog Stoves
www.fourdog.com – Ultralight multi-fuel stoves and cookware.
Gossamer Gear
www.gossamergear.com – Ultralight backpacks, shelters, sleep systems & more.
Goosefeet Gear
www.goosefeetgear.com – Down booties and apparel.
Hammock Gear
www.hammockgear.com – Lightweight hammock tarps, quilts and accessories.
Hennessy Hammock
www.hennessyhammock.com – Lightweight hammock shelters.
Hyperlight Mountain Gear
www.hyperlitemountaingear.com – Ultralight cuben fiber backpacks, shelters and accessories.
Integral Designs
www.integraldesigns.com – Lightweight shelters, bivys and accessories.
Jacks R Better
www.jacksrbetter.com – Ultralight sleeping quilts, shelters and accessories.
Katabatic Gear
www.katabaticgear.com – Ultralight sleeping quits and bivys.
Lawson Outdoor Equipment
www.lawsonequipment.com – Lightweight shelter kits, fabrics and accessories.
LightHeart Gear
www.lightheartgear.com – Ultralight double-wall shelters, fabrics and accessories.
LW Gear
www.lwgear.com – Lightweight backpacks, DVDs, books and videos.
McHale Alpine Packs
www.mchalepacks.com – Custom fitted ultralight backpacks.
Moonbow Gear
www.moonbowgear.com – Modular pack systems, shelters and other unique gear.
Nunatak
www.nunatakusa.com – Ultralight sleeping quilts and down apparel.
Mountain Laurel Designs
www.mountainlaureldesigns.com – Ultralight backpacks, shelters, sleep systems and more.
Outdoor Equipment Supplier LLC
www.outdoorequipmentsupplier.com – Lightweight tarps, shelters and accessories.
Oware
www.owareusa.com – Ultralight shelters, sleep systems and accessories.
Packafeather
http://packafeather.com – Lightweight alcohol stoves and accessories.
Ray Jardine
www.rayjardine.com – The godfather of UL backpacking’s books and sew-your-own gear kits.
Ruta Locura
www.rutalocura.com – Trekking poles, tent poles, cookware and accessories.
Simblissity
www.simblissity.net – Lightweight gaiters, storage sacks and accessories.
Six Moon Designs
www.sixmoondesigns.com – Ultralight backpacks, shelters and accessories.
Solo Stove
www.solostove.com – Lightweight wood-burning stoves.
Suluk 46
www.suluk46.com – Ultralight backpacking tools and accessories.
Tarptent
www.tarptent.com – The original ightweight single-wall shelters (and now double wall shelters)
Titanium Goat
www.titaniumgoat.com – Lightweight conical shelters, cook systems and more.
Trail Designs
www.traildesigns.com – Lightweight stoves, cookware and accessories.
Ultralight Adventure Equipment
www.ula-equipment.com – The best lightweight backpacks in the biz.
Warbonnet Outdoors
www.warbonnetoutdoors.com – Lightweight hammock tarps, quilts and accessories.
Western Mountaineering
www.westernmountaineering.com – Ultralight down sleeping bags and apparel.
White Box Stoves
www.whiteboxstoves.com – Ultralight alcohol stoves.
ZPacks
www.zpacks.com – Ultralight cuben fiber shelters, backpacks and accessories.
This list is still a work in progress. If you have a question or would like to suggest a company that is not mentioned here, please post your comments below…
I would recommend adding hammockgear.com and warbonnetoutdoors.com. More geared towards hammocking, but some of the finest cottage manufacturers out there.
I recommend you add Suluk46 — I have a 3 oz bivy from them I love.
http://www.suluk46.com/products.html
I also recommend Feathered Friends. I think they have the warmest, lightest down vests made for the dollar.
http://featheredfriends.com/Picasso/Garments/Lt/HyperionHeliosVest.html
They also make sleeping bags, etc. They make the lightest sleeping bags suitable for pairing up for couples.
I would add Enlightened Equipment — a great place for ultralight, reasonably priced quilts:
http://www.enlightenedequipment.com/
and GooseFeet Gear — great source for anything down-filled:
http://goosefeetgear.com/
Excellent list! Great work. A few additional ones that come to mind:
Simblissity — http://www.simblissity.net/
Dirty Girl Gaiters — http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com/
Feathered Friends — http://featheredfriends.com/
Simblissity is currently closed, but may re-open, so I think it is still worth adding.
I also recommend Black Rock Gear who makes the warmest, lightest beanie made for hikers. Plus the lightest cuben fiber over (rain) mitts. Also ultralight 900 goose down vests, only 4 oz.
http://www.blackrockgear.com/
Being a ‘hanger’, I second Mike’s suggestions, especially HammockGear – great quilts and they now also offer Cuben fiber tarps…
All the additional suggested ‘cottage’ folks mentioned have good gear, decent pricing, and excellent service – same goes for Erik’s original list…
Support the “cottage industry” vendors giving us the gear we want (and ‘need’) to ‘lighten up’ our loads for long treks!
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. Keep em coming…
Added: Moonbow Gear, Hammock Gear, Warbonnet Outdoors, Suluk46, Feathered Friends, Enlightened Equipment, Goosefeet Gear, Simblissity, Dirty Girl Gaiters, Black Rock Gear
Erik, maybe the guy has changed his ways or the company is under new ownership but I sure wouldn’t recommend Big Sky to anyone. The owner was always able to supply Backpackinglight with test samples but couldn’t fill orders. A few years ago I gave the guy an essentially interest free loan after a glowing review…months later after haggling, pestering, and being given empty promises, I finally got my money back. Never DID get a tent…
Oh, I almost forgot, don’t forget to add the grand-daddy of all the cottage guys and a real innovator…Dan McHale of McHale packs…top notch packs, service, attention to detail, and a good guy.
http://www.mchalepacks.com
I recommend Brasslite.com. Nicely made Ultralight stoves
Erik, et. al.,
Please note that the adjustable Goat Poles (now Yana poles), formerly sold by Titanium Goat, is now made (along with tent stakes,Tent Poles,Tenkara Rods, Pack Rifle Kits, Bivy, Head Lamp, Water bladders,Crampons,Titanium Pots,Titanium Grills) by Ruta Locura (www.rutalocura.com). Josh left Titanium Goat and has his own business now.
A few more suggestions for your list:
Packafeather (http://packafeather.com/). Their FeatherFire stove is an alcohol stove with a clever design that actually allows it to simmer.
Brasslite (http://www.brasslite.com/). High quality brass alcohol stoves with a built-in pot stand and a simmer ring. They’re heavier than the Packafeather stoves, but also sturdier.
Great that you included ZPacks, one of the best-kept UL secrets around. I got my pack, tarp-tent, sleeping bag/quilt & other accessories from them, and am very satisfied and impressed with the quality. Founder Joe Valesko is great to work with.
We’ve bought tents a couple of times from Big Sky. Love their products. It’s a small operation, so I understand some people have had problems. We never have, and in fact, have had items sent to us super fast when we’ve needed them.
Added McHale Packs, Brasslite, Ruta Locura and Packafeather. Thanks for the suggestions.
simply awesome! Thanks E the B!!
a very interesting UL backpack (hukePACK, made in Germany), still not available, but comming up soon:
http://www.laufbursche-gear.de
some pictures and info:
http://laufbursche.blogspot.com/
Great list
I recommend you to add this site as well
http://warbonnetoutdoors.com
BackWoodsDayDreamer.com is a fabulous place to find DIY material and guides. The store is diygearsupply.com
Thanks for the list, Erik. Just a quick note about Tarptent, though we certainly started with only single-wall shelters, half our product line is now double-wall. Everything is still 100% made in USA.
Thanks again.
Henry
@Lothar Rees: Thanks for the link. Will add Laufbursche to the list when they get some products finished.
@James Brown: Added Warbonnet Outdoors.
@Chunky Monkey: Added DIY Gear Supply
@Henry Shires: Thanks for the note. Updated the description and heading over to your site to check out some of the new models.
Hey–I just saw a company called Kifaru advertising in the PCT Communicator. They make ultralight pack systems, sleep systems, and stove and shelter systems.
http://www.kifaru.net/ultralight.html
http://lukesultralite.com/
fast shipping, quality stuff.
Hi Erik
While I’ve been reading your blog for some time, this is my first comment, so thanks are in order for the great content you provide.
Thanks for this great collection of cottage industry firms. If you’d like to extend this list (or add a section to it) to include three cottage industry companies from Europe that I love, I could recommend:
PHD (Peter Hutchinsons Designs) in the UK – http://phdesigns.co.uk/ who make great down clothing and sleeping bags (custom ones too with a sleeping bag designer tool on the site)
gococo in Sweden – http://gococo.se/ who make Cocona based clothing, the majority of the selection being socks
Laufbursche in Germany – http://laufbursche-gear.de who make ultralight packs and accessories but are looking to expand to shelters once they have more support. This site is in German with Google Translate facility until they fix something in their web-shop engine.
Happy trails!