NEMO Equipment Founder & CEO Cam Brensinger Interview
Posted by Andy Neil on Jul 08, 2024
Last month, we had the privilege of hosting Cam Brensinger, the founder and CEO of Nemo. Cam, who established Nemo in 2002, was kind enough to sit down with us and answer a few questions on the company's origins, the process of bringing ideas to market, and the vital role of brands in championing sustainable design.
1. What inspired your decision to start NEMO? How did your upbringing influence your decision to embark on this entrepreneurial adventure?
My father was an architect and my mother an untrained but gifted artist. My mother, especially, loved the outdoors and made skiing and hiking a big part of our lives growing up. Her own father's family emigrated from Norway to northern New Hampshire and a love for the mountains passed through the generations. Throughout my childhood, building things, making art, and being outdoors played a major role. By the time I got to college, I was looking for a way to combine these passions in a career.
2. What do you consider your first real adventure? How did that experience ignite your passion for the outdoors and inspire the creation of future NEMO products?
I remember the very first time I rock climbed. It was the summer after 7th grade in 1989, at a summer adventure camp at a crag called Pawtuckaway in New Hampshire. It’s a humble area tucked deep in the woods, but some famous climbers like Dave Graham have spent time there. I was on top rope, wearing leather boots, and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. But it struck me immediately that this was a sport about problem solving, mastering the mechanics of your body, and controlling your state of mind. It gave me a feeling of connection with the physical world and the people around me that I immediately loved. I learned that adventure has a unique ability to engage our minds and bring us closer to the people we care about.
Cam bouldering in Zion, Utah in 2003.
3. When you decided to start NEMO, I read you had returned to school to study design. Did you have a product in mind? Was there a gap in the market you wanted to fill with a product?
I wrote my first crude business plan for NEMO when I returned from climbing Denali my first summer after college. I shared that plan with my father one day and he introduced me to the idea of industrial design. I had no idea there was a field of study specifically for creating consumer products and I knew right away this was my future. A few months later I was accepted to the Rhode Island School of Design, where I spent the next almost four years focused on assembling the ingredients for starting NEMO. In the meantime, I did a lot of rock and ice climbing and spent a good deal of time browsing the outdoor gear mail order catalogs and visiting the specialty shops. It struck me that there was still a lot of opportunity in those years to elevate the design and engineering. While at RISD, I had the good fortune of being selected to join a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), funded by the NASA Institute of Advanced Concepts, to help develop the next generation of spacesuits. The combination of being in art school and working with some of the best young engineers was a great context for dreaming about the first NEMO products. In the end, I chose to focus first on tents and shelters because it was a hard product to improve and I figured if we could do that well, we could easily move into other categories.
4. Are you still involved in developing new product ideas? Could you walk us through the typical cycle for developing a new NEMO product? For instance, if a developer presents a new tent idea, from the initial concept to the final product hitting the market, how long does that usually take?
I am still very involved in the creative process, in fact, it remains my favorite part of the business. And though there are many places for creativity in NEMO, developing new products is my first passion. The process always begins with identifying an opportunity to enhance the experience of adventure. From there, we do a lot of brainstorming and iteration, taking advantage of our talented team and the extensive resources we have at our HQ. By the time a design has been developed, prototyped, tested in the lab, tested in the field, and delivered to market it is typically two to three years.
5. Without revealing too much, could you share any upcoming products you're particularly excited about and can't wait to see on the trail?
This year, we launched our first backpacks and duffels after a long journey that began with our first patents for backpacks in 2009. In 2020, shortly before the pandemic, I challenged our team to make a leap forward in addressing our environmental impacts and make the first recyclable products in our categories. Our team jumped at the opportunity to make a real difference by keeping product out of the landfill and so we began the development of what we call our Endless Promise® Collection. Last year, we launched our first Endless Promise product, our Forte™ sleeping bag, and this year we expanded that collection to include additional products and our new pack line. Making technical products easy to recycle requires figuring out how to make them out of a single type of plastic and then setting up the reverse logistics to make taking these products back practical. Making all this possible with packs has taken a lot of work, and the result is that our packs are built from recycled PET with innovative new materials for performance and comfort. Each item also includes a permanent QR code that can be used in the future to collect a free shipping label from us for returning the pack for recycling. These packs have exceptional fit, features, and design, making them a meaningful step forward in every way for our industry.
Cam working on a tent design in the original mill space.
6. NEMO started in 2002, so you have been in the market for 22 years. What were some of the surprising market trends you have seen during this time, and do you think that experience helps you better predict where the market will go in the future?
When NEMO debuted its first products in 2004, after a couple years of behind-the-scenes development, the industry and outdoor participation looked a bit different than they do today. There was a much more singular focus on “hardcore” activities and the demographics were less representative of the population as a whole. It’s been very rewarding to be part of a movement in the last two decades to welcome new audiences and broaden the scope of what is considered legitimate outdoor adventure. At NEMO, we have tried to be on the leading edge of this progress by showing racial and body type diversity in our marketing all the way back to the beginning, and by deliberately designing and marketing gear for overland, hunting, and fishing. We believe spending time outdoors is essential for mental and physical health and our hope and mission is to make gear that enables meaningful and memorable outdoor experiences for anyone, anywhere.
7. With more people embracing outdoor recreation, how does NEMO aim to appeal to both seasoned hikers and backpackers and newcomers to the activity? Are brands responsible for educating the newer hiking people on principles like "leave no trace”?
Brands like NEMO have a lot of responsibility because we profit from bringing more physical products into the world. We must be very thoughtful about the resources we use and impact we have on the planet; what products are worthy of being produced; who will benefit from those products; and what will happen to those products at the end of their useful life. We are a majority family-owned business focused on becoming a lasting and iconic brand. Unlike many brands today, we operate on a long timeline, are patient with growth, and take personal pride in the decisions we make. We have made a considerable effort to take responsibility for our impacts, widen our consumer audience, ensure our products’ value, and build our gear with the highest quality possible. We are far from perfect, but I believe our values are in the right place and we are always learning and improving.
8. How important is sustainability when considering new products and materials like the OSMO™ fabric. Are the leaps that have been made in recent years driven by customer demand or a sense of responsibility from the manufacturer?
In 2020, we publicly committed to reduce NEMO’s carbon intensity — in other words, the amount of emissions per product on average — in half by 2030. This was a very ambitious goal considering every product would need to be redesigned and we would have, at most, maybe two or three development cycles over those 10 years to figure out how to cut the manufacturing emissions in half.
We did this because we were exhausted of hearing about offsets and companies paying to “cancel out” their pollution without doing any of the hard work to actually make their designs and processes cleaner. We simply couldn’t see how this would solve the major problems we are seeing in our environment today and we wanted to show a better path is possible. Every year since then we have used a major global consulting service to audit our corporate emissions and help us build an annual report. We recently published our 2023 report and it shows we have already, in three years, reduced our emissions intensity by 36%. This work continues to take considerable investment of time and resources, but it has been some of the most motivating and inspiring work we have tackled as a team. Unfortunately, there has been so much greenwashing in recent years that many consumers are weary of hearing talk of sustainability, but at the same time, people can see the challenges our planet is facing and are rewarding companies that are doing the real work and making a difference.
9. What advice would you give anyone passionate about the outdoors looking to start their own gear brand?
My advice about starting a business is, if you have the passion and the right expectations, go for it! If you’re looking for the greatest challenge and adventure of your life, your chance of achieving that is high. If you expect financial success, your chances are much smaller. It’s important to make an honest self-assessment of your needs in life, your conviction, and your abilities. Our industry needs the next generation of fresh brands and ideas. If you have a unique point-of-view and the drive to create something of value for consumers, and the grit to stick it out, there are plenty of opportunities awaiting you.
10. What is your favourite item of Nemo kit you take whenever venturing out?
Asking which NEMO product is my favorite is like asking me to pick a favorite child; I may have some preferences, but I really can’t say! In truth, every product we make has its own unique story of creating it and bringing it to market and each is special to me. I have been enjoying ultralight overnight trips lately using our Elite products and it is remarkable to me, compared to 20 years ago, how much comfort is possible with a complete kit that weighs well under 10 kg. There is simply no reason to give up a good night’s rest. For example, I always carry a Fillo™ Elite pillow, which weighs a mere 80 grams, and place it over my empty pack and any spare clothing to create a perfect height for side sleeping. It sure beats a zipper pressing into your cheek all night! It’s possible to have a long day on the trail with a lightweight pack and then rejuvenate with a night of deep sleep to do it all over again. And this is really our mission — to design the best all-around experience in the outdoors.
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Andy Neil |
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Andy has been a keen long-distance hiker and wild camping enthusiast since he completed the Cleveland Way in 2015. Since then, he has walked thousands of trail miles all over the UK and is an active member of the Wild Camping UK community, being an admin of the largest wild camping community on Facebook. He strongly advocates for responsible wild camping and believes it is important to leave no trace when camping in the wilderness. He joined the UOG team in 2021 and works as a website developer and content creator. |
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Last month, we had the privilege of hosting Cam Brensinger, the founder and CEO of Nemo. Cam, who established Nemo in 2002, was kind enough to sit down with us and answer a few questions on the company's origins, the process of bringing ideas to market, and the vital role of brands in championing sustainable design. 1. What inspired your decision to start NEMO? How did your upbringing influence your decision to embark on this entrepreneurial adventure? My father was an architect and my mother an untrained but gifted artist. My mother, especially, loved the outdoors and made skiing and hiking a big part of our lives growing up.