2023 – 2024 · Denver, Colorado
Ultra-light travel gear for the modern explorer.
ULT Gear was a one-person product lab: about thirty ideas for gear I wished existed, taken as far as tech packs, factory samples and prototypes before the math caught up. This is what got built.
The idea
Three tribes, one bag
Ultralight backpacking, digital nomads, minimalist travel. Three groups buying the same kind of gear from three different aisles. ULT Gear sat in the overlap: one small backpack, ultra-packable clothing, and accessories that disappear when you're not using them.
The products
Thirty ideas. Twenty-three that left the sketchbook.
Every card is a real project with real artifacts: factory samples, tech packs, annotated revisions, patent searches. The status pill says how far each one got. The words between them are how it actually went.
Clothing first
I started with clothing because it seemed like the simplest. I wanted one of everything: ULT-branded hoodies, shirts, shorts, socks. Quick-dry, anti-wrinkle, anti-stain, built-in packing pockets, multiple zippered pockets. Basically every feature I look for in travel gear, in every piece of clothing, tailored to minimalist travel.
I learned about tech packs, material sourcing and MOQs. Some ideas died because I couldn't find or get the materials I wanted. Some died because I found existing products already doing it better. Some died because it's nearly impossible to express a clear idea to a manufacturer through text and images, and US-based manufacturing was too expensive. Many died from minimum order quantities. Shipping played a role too: sending material samples and prototypes back and forth meant two to three months for a single prototype, so improvements and iterations would have taken years.
Packable Travel Shorts
Packable Travel Pants
Ultralight Packable Hoodie
Ultralight T-Shirt
Apparel Tech Packs
Packable Puffer Jacket
Packable Rain Jacket
Quick-Dry Travel Socks
Convertible Pants
Arm and Leg Sleeves
Everything Else: Apparel
Stayed on paper
- Packable Rain PantsConcept only.
- Quick-Dry UnderwearConcept only.
Bags, in parallel
At the same time I worked on a few backpack, day pack and sling bag concepts, and ran into the same issues: rare, unavailable or prohibitively expensive materials, long wait times, and existing brands that weren't perfect but already had recognition and a cult following. These died for similar reasons.
Packable Day Pack
Packable Waist Pack
Security Chest Sling
Ultralight Backpack
Everything Else: Bags
Stayed on paper
- Ultralight Waterproof Clip-on BagsSmall dry bags that clip to the outside of the pack.
Physical products
I had a number of physical product concepts too, and pursued a few: ultralight waterproof clip-on bags, a security belt that combined my favorite travel features (no metal, stretchy cloth, hidden security pockets), an ultra-portable drying rack for the perennial problem of nowhere to hang clothes in hotels and hostels, a packable picnic and beach blanket, a free-standing toiletry bag for hostel bathrooms with no counter space, and a packable wash basin for doing laundry in the sink.
I followed a similar path: product designers in Atlanta, a 3D print shop in Denver, manufacturers in China, material sourcers in Switzerland. The same constraints came up. Rare materials, manufacturing minimums, long prototyping timelines, and the cost of prototypes and components.
Hidden Pocket Travel Belt
Universal Drying Rack
Packable Wash Basin
Packable Beach Blanket
Free-standing Toiletry Bag
Ultrapackable Tech Accessories
Everything Else: Accessories
The technical ones
A number of concepts were technical: a packable heating pad for drying clothes, a packable heated hanger, heated clothing in general, a portable ultrasonic cleaner for washing clothes. Some required technology I knew existed in other products, but I wasn't sure I could adapt it to mine. So I started by testing existing products to see if they worked as advertised: staining and cleaning tests, heating and drying tests, packing and wrinkle tests.
I spent a good amount of time figuring out what was possible, technically and legally. Could I license certain tech? Could I change something enough that it wasn't patent infringement? Did I need patents? Did patents already exist? For many of these, most of the work was finding out whether the concept was possible and worth pursuing.
Heated Drying: Pad, Hanger, Towel
Portable Ultrasonic Cleaner
Stayed on paper
- Packable Heating PadA pad to dry clothes on; bench-tested with a heating element and thermostat.
- Packable Heated HangerConcept only.
- Heated ClothingConcept, tied to the USB battery belt as the power source.
- USB-Powered Battery BeltPrior-art search, February 2023, alongside the heated towel.
SwitchKicks
One project I spent a lot of time on was SwitchKicks. Shoes have always been a problem for travelers. At minimum you need sandals, hiking shoes and casual shoes on the road, and ideally a dressier pair, a higher-ankle hiking shoe, and a cold-weather shoe if your travels cross climates. So I wondered whether I could build a layered shoe system: a minimalist base shoe for the beach or barefoot running, with slip-on layers that change the utility or the style. Colored patterns and materials for looks, an adjustable base for traction.
I worked with a couple of shoe designers to get the concept down. It died when I learned a single shoe mold, one size of one style, runs $10k to $12k. For a concept built on a flexible base plus layers plus materials plus outsoles, that meant something like $500k to $1M in R&D before anyone could try one on.
Stayed on paper
- Minimalist Barefoot SandalsVibram outsole, three straps, under 12 oz. Notes only.
Why it ended
All of the ideas died from cost, time, and the slow realization that I was building for a market of one: me. I do believe I could have found customers and built a new market. But without a lot of money, it was never going to happen.
Who I worked with
Product designers in Atlanta. A 3D print shop in Denver. Manufacturers in China. Material sourcers in Switzerland. Two shoe designers. One clothing designer.
The storefront
Before the products, a store
ULT Gear launched in 2023 as a curated shop of the best ultralight gear already on the market, with the plan to swap in ULT Gear's own designs as they came off the line. The store ran; the line never came off the line.