Walking into Dongah Aluminum Corporation (DAC) feels like stepping inside the lobby of a grand hotel: the soaring two-story ceiling creates plenty of space around the large-scale paintings and sculptures in marble and bronze. It鈥檚 an art gallery, not the reception area you might expect in a factory that makes aluminum tubes and poles. And on all three floors, there are gardens filled with graceful bamboo, tranquil lilies, and apple trees that Jake Lah, DAC鈥檚 founder, planted in 1988 to commemorate his company鈥檚 launch. One garden even includes a koi pond with golden fish that shimmer in the sunlight, like DAC鈥檚 gleaming rods of anodized aluminum. Like the rest of the factory, located in Incheon, South Korea, these poles defy expectation, because they routinely solve problems that tent designers, including other manufacturers, once believed to be unsolvable.

鈥淚鈥檓 kind of a strange person,鈥� admitted the 67-year-old Lah, whose irresistible smile lights up his entire face. 鈥淢y wife kept telling me, 鈥榊ou are not a normal person,鈥� and just this last year I said 鈥榊es, maybe you are right.鈥� What I鈥檝e been doing just doesn鈥檛 fit into the normal sense of things.鈥�

But if Lah had made a habit of embracing norms, the tent industry would look nothing like it does today. Lah鈥檚 proprietary aluminum alloy鈥擳H72M, or 鈥淢鈥� for short鈥攎ade backpacking shelters lighter by allowing for thinner pole walls with no loss of strength. His aluminum pole hub revolutionized tent architecture and facilitated designs that have since become mainstays (see the REI Half Dome, to name just one). Lah also masterminded an array of other clips and attachment points that streamlined tents鈥� geometries and rewrote the rules for what aluminum scaffolding can do.

鈥淗e鈥檚 been the man behind the curtain in our industry for something like three decades,鈥� said tent designer David Mydans, who retired in 2017 after 28 years with REI. Lighter weights, bigger interior volumes, better ventilation鈥攁ll of these defining improvements to outdoor shelters have been fueled by Lah鈥檚 innovations, and still are. 鈥淥ver the past 20 years, there鈥檚 nothing that鈥檚 happened in tents that hasn鈥檛 been heavily influenced by Jake,鈥� said Michael Glavin, who鈥檚 designed tents for brands like Sierra Designs and GSI Outdoors since the late 1990s.

Indeed, Lah is much more than an expert in aluminum alloys and tent pole manufacturing. He鈥檚 also a talented designer in his own right who has solved myriad structural problems for the tent brands that are his clients. Some of those brands use entire designs that Lah created from scratch. 鈥淗e has far more tent IP than any of his customers,鈥� said tent designer Mike Cecot-Scherer, who started with Kelty in 1985 and now produces his own MoonLight series of shelters.

Rising from the Ashes

One sleepless night in 1990, Lah contemplated a high-stakes gamble. His father, who had funded DAC鈥檚 launch two years earlier, had died before the business had become self-sufficient. His mother, Oknah Kim Lah, urged him to abandon ship before it sank, taking him with it. 鈥淚f you stop now, maybe you can salvage enough for the rest of your life,鈥� Lah recalled her saying. She鈥檇 founded Korea鈥檚 branch of the Girl Scouts and devoted much of her life to volunteering, beginning during the Korean War. Lah valued her wisdom.

Besides, business was new to him: he鈥檇 studied history in college, and although he鈥檇 completed an MBA at the University of Michigan, he wasn鈥檛 an aluminum specialist or even an outdoorsman. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite odd,鈥� Lah admitted. 鈥淭here seems to be no connection between my past and aluminum.鈥� But Lah is undaunted by foreign realms (after all, he completed his MBA not in Korean but in English, a language he barely understood when he began the program), and he saw a tantalizing opportunity in high-strength aluminum. He鈥檇 founded DAC because he鈥檇 learned (through his eldest brother, who worked in the sports industry as a distributor of baseball equipment) that there was just one major player, Easton, making tubing for outdoor applications such as camping and archery.

After that night of reflection, Lah walked into his factory the next morning and realized that the 50-person team he鈥檇 assembled had become as important to him as his birth family. 鈥淚 just couldn鈥檛 run away alone,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淩elationships are my life. So I said okay, let鈥檚 die together.鈥� He decided to invest all of his inheritance in the failing business.

He resumed his dedication to making his poles stronger, lighter, and more versatile than competing options. Lah had found a materials mentor in Dr. Robert Sanders, a developer from the aluminum giant Alcoa, a man he calls 鈥淵oda.鈥� 鈥淗e gave me my compass and map, and asked me to find a way,鈥� said Lah, who鈥檇 wrestle for months with alloy conundrums that Yoda could鈥檝e solved with one phone call. 鈥淚 think he intentionally watched me get lost in the woods. I鈥檇 ask, 鈥榃hy didn鈥檛 you tell me?鈥欌�� But Yoda knew not only aluminum, but also the personality of his young apprentice. 鈥淵ou learn by yourself,鈥� Yoda replied.

And so Lah tinkered through as many failures as successes with aluminum, copper, magnesium, and zinc, integrating occasional clues from his mentor until he finally struck upon the alloy that would establish DAC as an innovator in outdoor applications.

Lah鈥檚 first breakthrough was DA17, a softer alloy that could replace steel in the cabin-style tents common at the time. DA17 appealed to Japanese tent brands, and later to REI, which used it in a 1994 model called the Olympus. His second alloy, TH72M, allowed backpacking tents to reach new weight-saving benchmarks. 鈥淏efore M, the thinnest [pole walls] I could make were 1.62 millimeters, but with M we went to 1.6, then 1.55, and now, we鈥檙e at 1.4 millimeters,鈥� Lah explained.

DAC鈥檚 list of brand partners grew rapidly, as did Lah鈥檚 innovations. Around 1993, Lah developed an aluminum donut that revolutionized tent architecture. It wasn鈥檛 the first-ever pole hub (that credit goes to Bob Swanson, who developed a chunky plastic four-way connector for his Walrus tents) but Lah鈥檚 鈥渦ni-connector鈥� was stronger, tidier, and more customizable. 鈥淵ou could choose the [pole] diameter and angle, so tent designers got a lot more freedom in building the frame,鈥� said Lah. MSR ran with it on the Hubba Hubba, and 鈥淭he rest is history,鈥� said Glavin. 鈥淸That tent] redefined the space-to-weight relationship.鈥�

Breaking Down Walls

Hubs were just the beginning. More 鈥渢oys鈥� (as Lah calls his connectors) followed, including clips that don鈥檛 slide along the pole, allowing the fabric to contribute to the structure鈥檚 overall strength, and plastic 鈥渂allcaps鈥� that replaced the bulky webbing pockets where a tent鈥檚 brow pole clipped into the fly. One plastic connector stabilized poles at the corners and resulted in a 53 percent improvement in structural strength, according to wind-tunnel testing. Sally McCoy, then at Sierra Designs, nicknamed it 鈥淛ake鈥檚 Foot鈥� (it鈥檚 now patented as 鈥淛ake鈥檚 Corner鈥�). It debuted in Sierra Designs鈥檚 Hercules tent, which survived 100-mph winds thanks to the cupped plastic corners that grip pole ends more tightly than an eyelet.

Lah鈥檚 poles improved, too. DAC鈥檚 1998 Featherlite innovation addressed the weakness at poles鈥� connection points by eliminating a bridge tube and instead, nesting pole-ends of varying diameters, stacking them as you might stack drinking cups. Featherlite NSL poles allow the diameter to vary along their length, so that softer sections create a rounder arc while stiffer segments stay straighter. As a result, one pole can achieve multiple curves.

DAC鈥檚 brand partners quickly grew to include more than 45 companies, not only because Lah offered ingenious ways to push tents into new realms, but also because he scrupulously respected each company鈥檚 intellectual property, Mydans said. Thus Lah successfully walked a tightrope between serving all tent brands while protecting each brand鈥檚 innovations.

Often, Lah himself is the one serving up the breakthroughs to tent designers. The Copper Spur tent made by Big Agnes, for example, remained largely unchanged for five years while Lah mulled a way to improve on its minimalist design. Finally, he presented Big Agnes founder Bill Gamber with a solution to reduce the tent鈥檚 two hubs to just one, without sacrificing interior volume.

鈥淎lmost every time I try new things, I feel like I鈥檓 pushing against a wall, and that there鈥檚 nothing I can do,鈥� said Lah. 鈥淚 try, try, try, and finally, I might find a crack in the wall, or a small hole, and oh! Maybe I can find a way out.鈥�

Such dogged persistence not only helped him to revise the Copper Spur, but also fueled his development of more sustainable manufacturing methods, such as Green Anodizing鈥攖he moonshot innovation that DAC unveiled in 2008. Anodizing uses acids and other noxious chemicals to remove the oxidative film left behind on heat-treated aluminum; the process also preps the aluminum for dyes and seals it against corrosion (plus, users appreciate anodizing鈥檚 glossy finish). But Lah hated that the process released harmful chemical gases into his factory and endangered his workers, so he spent eight years seeking an alternative. He knew that no chemical existed that could polish the aluminum in a nontoxic way (even Alcoa and Yoda used phosphoric acid, which releases toxic gases and creates hazardous waste materials). So Lah looked at mechanical processes, and finally, succeeded in developing a machine that physically polishes the film off the poles. Now, almost all DAC aluminum uses the Green Anodizing process.

Lah rounds out that materials expertise with a knack for intuitive design and a passion for creating the best possible product. So brands that partner with him must share the driver鈥檚 seat. 鈥淗e always over- steps,鈥� Glavin said. 鈥淏ut you鈥檙e benefiting from the fact that he feels like [the project] is his. He would drive you crazy if he weren鈥檛 such a good, kind person at heart, because his intent is always positive.鈥�

Futuristic Vision

Lately, Lah has begun to step out from behind the curtain and claim space on the main stage. In 2018, he hired Glavin to help him start his own tent brand, and although the pandemic sidelined that effort for now, Lah continues to work on tent collaborations that credit him for his contributions. Sea to Summit鈥檚 ultralight backpacking tents, which hit the market to wide acclaim in spring 2021, advertise Lah鈥檚 role as codesigner with Sea To Summit founder Roland Tyson.

He鈥檚 also creating his own visionary structures. One recent masterpiece is a massive, wedding-style tent supported not with buckets of cement, but graceful arches of thumb-thick aluminum. Another Lah creation is a solo tent on stilts鈥攂ecause Lah doesn鈥檛 particularly like camping, nor sleeping on the ground. 鈥淭ents right now are used for sleeping only, but I wonder, what if they could be shelters that can use furniture inside?鈥� he mused.

Glavin explained, 鈥淭hese shelters aren鈥檛 about filling a market need. He鈥檚 creating pieces of art, as a design expression.鈥� If the outdoor industry maintained a museum, Lah鈥檚 avant-garde tents would deserve inclusion鈥攁long with his many best-selling hits. As Mydans put it, 鈥淛ake has perfected the art of designing with aluminum tubes.鈥�

Retirement, however, isn鈥檛 in Lah鈥檚 10-year plan. Before long, he says he鈥檚 likely to front-burner his plan to launch his own branded tents. He also plans to commit himself to lots of volunteering, particularly in disaster relief and nonprofit campaigns and events. (He inherited the passion for volunteerism from his mother, who passed away in August 2021 at the age of 103). And he continues to pursue more sustainable manufacturing: DAC completed the Higg Index to understand its environmental impact, and for NEMO鈥檚 2021 tent line, it adopted a recycled-fabric alternative to the polybags that its poles had always shipped in.

When Lah finally brings his own tents to market, he can test his creations in his very own wind tunnel, built in 2017. Much larger than the Kirsten Wind Tunnel at the University of Washington (the sole wind tunnel in the U.S. available to tent developers, it only accommodates small shelters), DAC鈥檚 version is designed specifically for tents. It鈥檚 an extravagant facility by any measure. Viewed from DAC鈥檚 parking lot, it looks like the space shuttle crashed into the side of the factory. Lah says he鈥檚 far from finished with his wizardry.

He has plenty more time, assuming he inherits his mother鈥檚 longevity. Still, DAC鈥檚 gardens remind him that nature鈥檚 seasons never dally. When Lah sees the apples on the factory鈥檚 trees turn from green to red, the change never fails to catch him by surprise. 鈥淎lready?鈥� he鈥檒l gasp. He must hurry to do all that鈥檚 yet undone.

The post The King of Tents: How Jake Lah鈥檚 Influence Extends to Every Corner of the Modern Tent Industry appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Nemo’s journey to eliminate polybags began in 2019, on the floor of a distribution warehouse in Riverside, California.

Theresa Conn, the camping gear company鈥檚 global distribution and sustainability manager, had been called to the warehouse to look over a 鈥渢ransportation packaging audit.鈥� With a handful of coworkers, Conn pulled boxes of items off shelves at random and looked inside. She was surprised to find vast inconsistencies: plastic banding was being used on lightweight boxes that didn鈥檛 require it, and polybags encased tents that had been safely shipped without them for years. Across the board, there was just too much waste.

鈥淚t was really eye-opening,鈥� Conn said. 鈥淲e thought, 鈥業f we鈥檝e been shipping some products without polybags, and it鈥檚 been fine, why are we using [polybags] at all?鈥欌��

The realization sparked Nemo’s desire to get rid of polybags, culminating in the company鈥檚 latest plastic-removal initiative, the 100K Polybag Elimination Project. Starting in 2019, Nemo phased polybags out of the shipping process for all items except for its sleeping bags, which are at higher risk of moisture damage and require total protection from the elements. The program sets a 鈥渘ew transportation packaging standard鈥� for the company, says Conn.

NEMO takes aim at polybags

Once the audit revealed that Nemo鈥檚 tents and other gear could be safely shipped without polybags, eliminating the outer bags was a no-brainer. It saved time (Nemo wouldn鈥檛 have to open the bags and remove the products before sending them to customers), money (15 to 20 cents per unit), and significantly slashed plastic waste in its supply chain. In 2020, Conn estimated Nemo saved one ton of plastic on its best-selling tent, the Hornet 2-Person, alone.

After doing away with the outer bags, Nemo set its sights on the inside of the tent roll. A polybag still encased each tent鈥檚 poles when the company received them from its supplier, South Korea-based Dac听笔辞濒别. Nemo coordinated back and forth with the manufacturer, challenging Dac to reimagine its own packaging.

鈥淚t was an uphill battle,鈥� Conn said. 鈥淒ac is a huge supplier, and we鈥檙e getting bigger, but we鈥檙e not The North Face.鈥�

For Nemo鈥檚 2021 tent line, the partners landed on a solution: an undyed, uncoated pole bag made from Repreve fiber, a fabric crafted from recycled water bottles. This bag specifically is what inspired the 100K Polybag project name, as the bag will save Nemo 100,000 polybags over the first two years of the initiative. The project netted Nemo a Green Good Design 2021 award for Green Product.

The benefits to the initiative don鈥檛 begin and end with Nemo, though. Throughout the process of developing the new bag, Dac and Nemo tested methods of shipping tent poles, and found that in the vast majority of situations, polybags were unnecessary. Starting in July 2021, Dac will ship tent poles to certain partners without polybags.

Nemo was part of Dac’s first cohort to receive poles without polybags, along with sunshade maker Shibumi and tent manufacturers Hilleberg and Helsport. Currently, Dac is testing the program with Big Agnes and REI, with hopes to expand it to all of its partners鈥攎ore than 40 companies including giants like The North Face and Mountain Hardwear.听

Nemo鈥檚 sustainable future

With single-use plastic polybags eliminated from Nemo鈥檚 tents, chairs and accessories, the company is setting its sights on solutions for its sleeping bags. Because most of its bags are down-filled, shipping them without any sort of moisture protection runs the risk of significant product damage.听

鈥淩ight now, we have emails bouncing around at Nemo about better ways to handle polybags for our sleeping bags,鈥� Conn said.

At this point, the company is aiming to use polybags that contain recycled plastic and are recyclable, but Conn noted that a number of solutions are on the table. For the individual sleeping bags, Nemo is exploring options from compostable PLA bags鈥攂iodegradable bags made from plant compounds鈥攖o stone resin packaging, a waterproof cardboard substitute made by mixing resin with calcium carbonate. Additionally, the company is currently testing a shipping system that uses one master carton polybag instead of individual bags for sleeping bags, with hopes to implement the practice in 2022.

Conn also highlighted the importance of varied sustainability initiatives, including projects focused on emissions reduction and materials waste. She cited a 2016 Quantis/Textile Exchange Apparel CO2 footprint study which found that 98 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are created prior to product distribution; this stark picture of waste led Nemo to create the Chipper, a sitting pad made from recycled foam that鈥攋ust over the past year鈥攕aved 8.8 tons of foam waste and 48 tons of CO2 emissions from foam incineration.

A major portion of Conn鈥檚 focus remains on emissions, but the plastic-focused initiatives NemoNemo has implemented over the past two years have demonstrated sustainability success.

鈥淚 think [reducing plastic waste] is an awesome entry point into sustainability for any brand,鈥� Conn said. 鈥淭he goal is to eliminate, eliminate, eliminate.鈥�

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