A Hammock Created By Seth Haber, CEO And Founder Of Trek Light Gear, And Is Meant To Bring Relaxation On Outdoor Adventures
When most people think of hammocks they usually think of the ‘traditional’ knotted-rope style hammock– sort of like a cargo net with a big wooden spreader bar at each end. That style of hammock has long been a symbol of relaxation and even backyard laziness throughout the U.S., but it turns out that the design is actually a long way from where hammocks began, said Seth Haber, CEO and Founder of Trek Light Gear in boulder, CO.
“A more traditional hammock design actually has a lot of advantages that somehow got lost along the way,” Haber said. “First, you should never end up with a ‘rope tattoo’ after spending a few minutes in a hammock. That means it’s digging into your skin and having a negative effect on your circulation. And secondly, hammocking was never intended to be a balancing act, you shouldn’t have to fear getting flipped on the ground if you get too close to the edge or someone else climbs in to join you.”
Haber didn’t intend to design hammocks. He came out of college with a Computer Science degree and quickly went into a tech job in Boulder. Trek Light Gear was established shortly after he moved there in 2001. He fell in love with the West and immediately became a crazy weekend warrior, camping every chance he got and driving all over from Arizona to Montana. The more he camped the more he started getting frustrated with how poorly he was sleeping.
He eventually modeled his hammock on a much more traditional design, eliminating the spreader bar and all the knots and uses a solid piece of material which is gathered at each end. He brought the design into modern times by using a lightweight and durable parachute-style nylon.
“When you’re camping at altitude, most of the year it still gets pretty cold at night. So, I’d be bundling up at night, tossing and turning on the hard ground throughout the night - whiskey sometimes helped with that- and then as soon as the sun starts to rise the tent would turn into an oven and I’d be up at 6am tearing off layers of clothes and grumbling unhappily about not being able to sleep.”
Haber knew something had to change – he was going into the wilderness to recharge and relax yet he was coming back exhausted and couldn’t wait to sleep in his bed. That’s when he stumbled across the idea of sleeping in a hammock and thought it could be the answer to his problems.
“I had never slept overnight in a hammock before so I had all the same reservations most people have. I had no intentions on starting a business, but when I saw how difficult it was to find or buy a hammock that was ideal for camping - lightweight, comfortable and durable- I began to do some research into it and that’s when I fell down the rabbit hole.”
Haber created a hammock that will never spin or flip a person out on the ground so it’s much safer, which also means easier to relax in, and the silk-like material conforms to your body and is extremely breathable. Unlike all other cotton, cloth or woven hammocks, the material Haber uses doesn’t rot or mildew and dries out incredibly fast if it gets wet. The material can also hold an incredible amount of weight, up to 400lbs or more, while weighing less than a single pound. Just like a parachute, the hammock is able to pack down incredibly small as well, roughly the size of a grapefruit or smaller.
“I had no business education or really anything that applied to any of the new challenges I faced in starting a business,” Haber said. “Like other entrepreneurs I’ve talked to over the years, I just discovered that I had an urge to dive into the unknown and to teach myself new skills and learn as I went. I certainly wasn’t the first person to be working on making a lightweight hammock - creative DIY folks have been making hammocks out of everything from tablecloths to recycled sails and parachutes going back many years. But you couldn’t walk into a store and buy what I needed so I sought out a manufacturer who could help me take all the things I liked and didn’t like in the various hammocks I had seen and put my own spin on it.”
Now, with a Trek Light Gear Hammock, instead of a hammock being a symbol of laziness, it’s now a piece of active adventure gear.
Candice Reed
A graduate of Kelsey-Jenny College in Communications as well as a certified grant writer, Candice has written for The Los Angeles Times & The New York Times. She loves entertaining and all things French.
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