Henry Shires: Tarptent master

In 1999, Henry Shires started a road that has lead him to be a well known name in the Backpacking world. Why? He made a tent. an 18 ounce solo shelter that is still working after 3000 miles of use.

He made that tent design available for others, but that wasn’t enough. People wanted him to make the tent for him. Over the past years he has developed a whole line of tents. From solo tents like the first one he made to the 2009 released Hogback that sleeps 4 and weighs in at only 4 lbs.

Henry’s tents aren’t for your car camper (although they’d do fine). They’re really targeted at your backpackers and thru-hikers who want to shave pounds off their base weight and save space in their pack. Why not take a look at the product sheet for their current line.

Being an avid hiker, Henry is very involved in not only the design of new products but tests them all himself. “I do trail testing on everything.  Snow load testing happens in my backyard.”

Being a father of 3, I had to ask about his Hogpack. When you are carrying diapers and children in and out, you need to look at ultralight options. Why did he add this niche item?

The Hogback was inspired by my own need for a family tent.  My wife and I have a (now) 5-year-old boy and a 100-lb chocolate labrador retriever. None of our other models fit my family and since I’m the designated family mule I wanted something light enough to fit all of us on overnight trips.   I/we are very pleased with it.  I haven’t seen anything else out there that competes for space/weight in a double wall shelter that sleeps four.  Four-person shelters will never be as in demand as solo and double shelters but we’ve sold more Hogbacks than I ever thought we would. It’s more a niche product than our other shelters and really targeted at similar families looking for “togetherness.”

 Togetherness isn’t just his attitude towards family either. The cottage industry is key for the backpacking world as it is a small niche market. Henry keeps involved with those in his field. “I do an annual hike with fellow gearmakers and we’re definitely going somewhere but we haven’t picked a location just yet.” A great idea and the best meeting room.

Small scale and low overhead allows Henry to keep the Tarptent manufacturing in Seattle, Washington. Henry used to live there and remembers it fondly. When asked about manufacturing and hking in the area Henry offered:

We live and work in the Sierra foothills (California) but, yes, manufacturing is in Seattle.  We lived in Seattle for 5 years back in the mid 90’s and the Cascades are near and dear to my heart. In good weather It’s hard to go too far wrong wherever you go.

What about new products?

We spent the last few months expanding our office building (while working out of a very cold and cramped garage) so product development has been on hold. We moved into our new space a few weeks ago so I now I can get back to design.  Fall/Winter 2011/2012 is about when you could expect to see something new from us.