Welcome, readers! Today we’re truly excited to share our most recent interview, with architect and business owner Alex-Shirley Smith. Alex is the founder and lead of Tentsile, a company that is re-creating our experience of the outdoors by manufacturing a line of eco-friendly tree tents and hammocks.
Tree tents, themselves, are pretty fascinating, and they offer the opportunity to experience the forest in a totally new way—an almost otherworldly encounter. We could have easily chatted about how tree tents offer a novel vantage point of the woods, and how even the most veteran outdoorsman / outdoorswoman can come to a novel appreciation of the environment around them.
But somehow our discussion veers off, and ranges from eco-campsites in Finland, to the moons of Endor, to economic advantages of tree villages, to how to attain a work/life balance while at the same time trying to cultivate a company built on ethical practices.
And, somewhere in there, we talk a bit about some of the surprising advantages that tree tents can offer to bow hunters—and hunters of all stripes, actually (as well as their conservation efforts).
Interested? Great! Let’s jump in. We’d like to offer a very sincere “thank you” to Alex for taking the time to talk with us, and if you get the chance, check out Tentsile! They’re a unique company, and they’re onto something truly unique and worthwhile.
Q: Thank you, Alex, for speaking with us! For those of our readers who may not know about Tentsile, can you give us a quick description of your company, and your main products?
A: Sure, and thank you. Tentsile is, among other things, a company founded on the principle of raising awareness of the importance of trees.
Our products were created to inspire the love of trees and educate others to appreciate them and respect them. We have grown into the team of 16 people, based in the UK and USA and we now own our production facility where we can carry out extensive R & D, have full control over quality, and make sure that our workers have a high standard of living and condition within which to work.
Our product range is made up of suspended shelters that ratchet tight between three trees and hold people in tension above the forest floor. Our “Tree Tents” and Giant Hammocks are complemented with a range of accessories that further enhance the usability and practicality of hanging out in the forest. The units are modular, so that they can be stacked and added to over time, and customers can build up their tree camps and invite increasingly bigger groups to join them in their adventures.
Q: That’s awesome! Kind of like a tree village. And that actually brings me to a question about tree villages. On the Tentsile “About” page, you describe seeing Return of the Jedi as a young boy, and how the scenes of the Ewok village on Endor made a lasting impression on you. We’re about the same age, and I, too, was profoundly moved by those forest scenes—I had never seen anything like that before.
Those scenes brought you to the idea of a “living space” suspended between the trees—can you describe that idea, and your ensuing mission, to us in a little more detail?
A: Sure. Two things happened when I was six years old that had a lasting impression on me.
Firstly, I saw for the first time the destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest, and I could not understand why the “adults” of the world were allowing this to happen. Even at six years old, I had enough understanding to know that this was a pristine environment that played a vital role in the overall healthy balance of Earth. But I didn’t know what I could do about it.
Secondly, I saw the Ewok village in Return of the Jedi and I realized that treehouses were the answer. By putting people in trees and giving trees a value other than that of timber, you could ensure their protection. By making living trees the primary structural member of an accommodation shelter, maybe you could save tree by putting people inside them! After all, if we are all hanging out in tree, they can’t chop them down.
Q: That’s absolutely true! And, given that many of our veterans bowhunters have spent a great deal of time in treestands, I think they would agree!
Speaking of our bowhunters—many of our readers are completely new to the pastime, and they’re figuring things out as they go along. Many of them, too, are taking multi-night trips outdoors for the first time. Can you suggest a few of your products that are good for multi-night trips, and give us some tips on how to use them?
We have a number of products that work well on overnight camps that are not heavy and offer a light-touch solution. The FLITE TREE TENT, is a two-person, hikers’ tent which is excellent for quick and easy set-up (it takes about 10 minutes have it completely set up) and its very quick to break down. Once it’s set up, you’re off the forest floor, and you can set it up almost anywhere. Plus, it’s small enough to carry long distance, but big enough to accommodate two people at close quarters, with storage for gear under the tent.
For single-person use, we offer an even smaller and lighter model–the UNA. “Una” means “One” in Latin languages and that’s exactly what it’s designed for—one person, easy up, easy down. Compact and light. Insect-proof and weather proof–the full system.
If you’re out for more than a couple of days with a partner, you may want to consider the CONNECT TREE TENT. It’s bigger and heavier than the Flite, but also more robust, roomier, and with a lot more storage and versatility. It’s many peoples’ favorite model for its size and comfort level.
Q: Those images are beautiful, by the way—whoever shot the photos for those tents did an incredible job. Just gorgeous:
And those two words—“insect-proof”—mean more than you could imagine. That feature can mean the difference between a good night’s asleep in the woods versus, basically, a night of torture as dinner for a thousand flies. No fun.
We actually did a quick survey with some of our experienced bowhunter friends, and a lot of them didn’t know that tree tents were an option—and they were truly excited to learn about them, because bowhunters are tremendously concerned with scent.
A bowhunter who leaves his scent in the area is basically telling game to run away from him, and the opportunity to sleep overnight above the forest floor—and keep his/her scent off the ground—is a tremendous advantage. Their main concern was about the health of the trees. I know the answer to this, but I’ll ask anyway: do the tents and hammocks you create do any damage to trees?
A: Our Tree Tents do not harm the trees. We are a company of tree lovers.
We use 25mm (1-inch) straps to wrap around the trees, not rope like a standard hammock. This thick strap spreads the load, and we also have even bigger straps for those who camp near trees with delicate bark, such as Redwoods.
The great thing about a Tree Tent is that you can get off the scent trail. You’re elevated, and this gives you added advantage. We actually had a National Geographic photographer who went to Sumatra to photo the elusive Pygmy Rhino. The Pygmy Rhino has only been photographed five times in the last twenty years, but with his camp 12 feet off the forest floor, the photographer was able to see the rhino over twenty times in two weeks by setting up over a forest trail and staying put in his hide!
Q: That’s incredible! And that’s so good to hear, that your tents do absolutely zero damage to trees. Speaking of which, your company is actively involved in the protection of trees—and on your site, you claim that for every tent bought from your company, you plant twenty trees. That’s absolutely incredible. How many trees have you planted so far? And what’s your goal?
A: We plant twenty trees for very Tree Tent and Giant Hammock that we sell. We’ve partnered with a couple of different organizations that reforest different parts of the world, including an alliance that is making a forest line across the whole of Africa, on the southern border of the Sahara to stop the desertification spreading south. So far we’ve planted over 500,000 trees and are on target to smash our goal of planting over one million trees by 2022.
Q: That is absolutely incredible. Not everyone realizes that bowhunters contribute greatly towards conservation efforts, and it’s very exciting to see results like that—I mean, one million trees. That’s incredible. Speaking of sustainability…
Bowhunting has long been considered a “traditional” activity, one that is passed down through generations in a family, but we’re seeing a new influx of bowhunters—people who want to eat meat, but want to get away from factory-farming and ethically harvest their own game. They’re very concerned about “leave no trace” hiking and hunting—can you tell us how your company is a good fit for that mission?
A: Tentsile is a Leave No Trace certified company. We have worked with the Leave No Trace organization for over four years now and have their approvals and their stamp. We are also recognized by various other associations around the world for our zero-impact credentials, including the government of Finland that recommends Tentsile as their favored camping solution in their National Parks!
Q: That’s fantastic! That park that has your tents is actually the most ecological and carbon-friendly campsite on planet earth. That must be nice to be a part of!
When we were researching this interview, we found that one bit of feedback came up time and time again: that you guys truly try to listen to your customers. How do you make that part of your business model? What does that look like on a day-to-day basis?
A: We do listen. We are a new company, and small enough to implement change to design and heed the recommendations of our customers swiftly. We keep up a close dialogue on our social media and invite feedback in all areas of what we do. Part of defining a new camping category is getting it right for the end user, and we have made it a priority to refine the designs not based on what we think, but what the customer needs and wants.
Q: Our interest, obviously, is bowhunting, and how bowhunters would use your tree tents and hammocks for multi-day trips, but these are great for people who simply love to sleep outside—families with kids who live in the suburbs want to set something up in the backyard and sleep under the stars. Do you have any models that would be good options for that sort of thing?
A: Our range of products aims to include everyone in our mission of allowing people to enjoy the outdoors more. We have lightweight products for those that hike and want to be light and fast and we also have models that are for more permanent, high volume use. Our bigger Tree Tents are perfect for these situations. More robust, heavier and with kids in mind, our bigger tents encourage camping and playing in equal measure. We even have a “Safari” range that is for very long set-up periods, comes with a 5-year, and is perfect for more permanent camps, rentals, and high turnover occupancy.
Q: Like a summer camp, or summer playground program, or something like that. That’s actually an oft-forgotten market segment that outdoor companies overlook. We actually get a lot of emails from summer camps and outdoor programs about archery, and a lot of companies kind of forget about them. So aside from tents, can you describe some of the accessories you offer, and how they relate to your main offerings of tree tents and hammocks?
A: Sure. We have a range of accessories that fit into our tents and hammocks in order to increase their usability and practicality. These range from the simple Drinks Holder, that allows you to put your drink down inside the suspended shelters, to our micro-light webbing ladder and Double Bubble insect mesh walls that enclose the space between levels as you stack your camp vertically into the trees.
We also have specially designed sleeping pads to insulate your back against the cold and clip together to stop any sliding movement. In 2020 we will launch a new range of products that push this envelope even further… but you’ll have to wait to hear more about those!
Q: Fair enough. We’ll check back in 2020! Second-to-last question: running a business is a full-time, at-all-hours venture. How often do you, Alex, get to retreat into nature?
A: Until recently, I lived in London, UK. That made it quite difficult to retreat into nature and get some precious time in the forest. Recently, however, I have moved to Sweden and I am now on the door step of a forest. It has given me the space I have been seeking to think again about the more strategic aspects on the Tentsile journey, and how I want to develop the company and the products we offer as we move forwards.
Q: Lastly, what’s it like running a company dedicated to such a fun and fascinating mission? I think a lot of our readers would find such a job a dream come true.
A: It IS a dream come true! We are doing good for the world, and putting that before the bottom line. As we have no shareholders, we are able to do things our own way and I believe that this is the future: companies that are based on passion and are conscious of the need to be considerate of the world around us. We welcome anyone who would like to join us on our mission to try and create a better world for future generations.
Micro businesses can offer a good work / life balance. You can (to some degree) make more time for your kids, for thinking and for reflection. The world is moving at an ever-increasing pace and we forget that we need time and space to think and remember what is important in life.
We only get one life, so best to make the most of it. Office work, might not also be the answer…
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Alex, a huge THANK YOU for speaking with us! Readers, if you’re unfamiliar with tree tents, you may want to check them out. They’re great for the environment, they can be a boon when bowhunting, and they’re a fascinating and novel way to experience the forest. If you’re used to hiking, camping, hunting—or really any interaction with the forest—appreciating it from a completely different vantage point is an eye-opening experience.
