Podcast 023 | Henry Shires of TarpTent

Summary

Henry Shires is the President and Founder of Tarptent, a direct-to-consumer, cottage-industry tent manufacturer known for its light, stable, and roomy shelters. In this episode of the Backpacking Light Podcast, Andrew chats with Henry about his design philosophy and process, fabrics, Tarptent’s business journey, the importance of taking time away from your company to recharge, and much more.

Outline

Guest introduction – Henry Shires, Founder and President of TarpTent

Henry’s design aesthetic

Story of the first Tarptent

Original plans posted on Backpacking.net
The book that inspired Henry to start making his own gear.

Henry’s design process and signatures

PitchLoc corners
Probing the polyhedra
- Stratospire design
Catenary curves

Fabric

Why Henry started designing for DCF
The BPL DCF Podast
Working with DCF
- Taping
- The way the fabric is produced (size of the sheets)

Other design challenges

Stretch factor of fabrics
Failed designs
Combining successful design elements
Using CAD vs seeing how things work in the real world

Testing designs

Usability vs real-world stresses

How a passion for design leads to unique features

The business journey – from first design to present

Making the choice to go full-time
Early-days struggles
- Production
Sewing in Seattle – pros and cons

Things coming up in 2020 for TarpTent

Direct-to-consumer and why it is important for Henry

Balancing running a business vs actually doing the business

Staffing a cottage business

An experiment with Tyvek fabric!

The future of shelters

Henry is concerned about decreasing weight at the cost of performance
New fabrics?
Always room for new designs (but there’s only so many ways to hold up a tent).

Why it is important for Henry to produce affordable gear (Like the ProTrail)

What Henry views as the future of the cottage industry

Henry’s final thoughts – keep doing it until it isn’t fun anymore

Carving out time for hiking
Carving out time for family

Related Content

Ryan Jordan used a Tarptent Notch on a wet, cold, snowy trip in Wyoming – read his field notes and watch the movie.

We recently reviewed the Tarptent Aeon Li, Tarptent Notch Li, and Tarptent Stratospire Li

Learn more about Dyneema Composite Fabrics and their use in tents and other gear in the DCF Webinar and DCF Podcast.

Credits

Backpacking Light – Executive Producer

Ryan Jordan – Director and Host

Andrew Marshall – Producer, Host, and Editor

Henry Shires – Guest

Look for Me in the Mountains – Music

Written by: Chris Cunningham and Ryan Jordan
Performed by: Chris Cunningham (acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vocals, harmonica), Chad Langford (upright bass), and Tom Murphy (mandolin).
Produced by: Basecamp Studios in Bozeman, Montana

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This episode of the Backpacking Light podcast iis also brought to you by Douglas Fir trees. Douglas Firs: they make it smell like Christmas!

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This episode is

Disclosure

Updated November 7, 2019

Product(s) discussed in this article may have been purchased by the author(s) from a retailer or direct from a manufacturer, or by Backpacking Light for the author. The purchase price may have been discounted as a result of our industry professional status with the seller. However, these discounts came with no obligation to provide media coverage or a product review. Backpacking Light does not accept compensation or donated/discounted products in exchange for guaranteed media placement or product review coverage.

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Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

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Dec 26, 2019 at 2:56 pm #3624185

Backpacking Light
Admin

@backpackinglight
Locale: Rocky Mountains
Companion forum thread to: Podcast 023 | Henry Shires of TarpTent
Andrew chats with Henry Shires of Tarptent about his design philosophy and process, fabrics, business journey, the importance of taking time away from your company to recharge, and much more.
Dec 26, 2019 at 4:54 pm #3624209
Monte Masterson
BPL Member

@septimius
Locale: Changes Often
Excellent interview. Henry mentioned not wanting to make DCF designs that produce a lot of waste. In a recent thread Henry stated that it’s a main reason for not producing DCF Protrails. Zpacks utilizes most of their DCF waste by making stuff sacks.
Tarptent needs to start offering a camo DCF option just like MLD, Zpacks and Trekkertent does. I’d be on board then.
- This reply was modified 1 month ago by Monte Masterson.
Dec 27, 2019 at 2:55 am #3624251

Todd T
BPL Member

@texasbb
Locale: Pacific Northwest
Good interview. At one point Henry alluded to the question “what haven’t we solved yet” being one driver of new designs. I’ll offer one: 2-person, 2-door, 2-wall tent light enough and long enough for one tall dude, sorta like the Saddle 2 but not as discontinued. :-)
Dec 27, 2019 at 2:58 pm #3624293

Henry S
BPL Member

@07100
2-person, 2-door, 2-wall tent light enough and long enough for one tall dude,
I hear you …
-H
Dec 27, 2019 at 11:47 pm #3624371

matthew k
Moderator

@matthewkphx
“what haven’t we solved yet”
I’m sure you’ve heard this before (meaning I’ve emailed Henry about it in the past) but the thing I want is a side entry tent that is either stuffable or has very short pitchlock struts. I want it to fit sideways in a small volume pack. That’s the holy grail, imo.
Help me, Obi Wan Shirenobi. You’re my only hope.
Dec 28, 2019 at 12:19 am #3624376

Rene Ravenel
BPL Member

@autox
No one seems to take advantage of the fact that many people sharing a 2 or 3 person tent cary 4 trekking poles between them. 2 person trekking pole tents generally use only 2 poles.
Seems like 4 poles could give you a more storm worthy structure with smaller panels and better tension. It could also offer more area with a high ceiling, especially above the face when laying down.
Dec 28, 2019 at 1:06 am #3624380

Henry S
BPL Member

@07100
I want it to fit sideways in a small volume pack.
Yes, noted. Are you ok if the pichloc(s) is/are easily detachable and foldable (and stored vertically) ?

Seems like 4 poles could give you a more storm worthy structure with smaller panels and better tension
We actually did that for the Saddle 2. There are upsides (as you noted) and downsides (increased setup complexity/requirements). My feeling is that for large (3/4 person) tents the upside can exceed the downside.

Dec 28, 2019 at 4:49 am #3624547

matthew k
Moderator

@matthewkphx
Henry, removing the pitchlocks concerns me. I’d hate to drop them somewhere.
Dec 29, 2019 at 1:27 am #3624657

Dan Durston
BPL Member

@dandydan
Locale: Cascadia
Nice interview. I think a v2 of the Saddle would be pretty interesting. IMO, all of the downsides with the v1 were solvable.
Dec 29, 2019 at 2:55 pm #3624707

James Marco
BPL Member

@jamesdmarco
Locale: Finger Lakes
Thanks, Guys, a good podcast! Thanks!
Dec 30, 2019 at 7:15 pm #3624923

John
BPL Member

@johnnyh88
Locale: The SouthWest
Good interview and interesting discussion. After the X-Mid came out, I thought we had seen basically all there was to trekking pole tents. And then came the Aeon Li. I’m still holding out for a non-DCF version :)
Shelters are an interesting optimization problem, and something I’ve gone round and round with as I’ve backpacked through different environments and weather conditions. I want a shelter to be light, but still durable and storm-worthy and easy to pack. I want it to have a small footprint, but still have room to live and be easy to set up. There’s a lot demanded from a shelter. I’ve come to the oft-quoted conclusion that there is no perfect tent.
Jan 4, 2020 at 10:15 am #3625505

David U
BPL Member

@the-family-guy
I have owned several Shires creations and they have all been superb.
Thanks Henry for years of producing highly usable, light, and relatively inexpensive shelters. Both my wallet and feet thank you.
Jan 4, 2020 at 10:17 am #3625506

David U
BPL Member

@the-family-guy
“I’m still holding out for a non-DCF version :)”
Me too. I bet the weight might be 3 or so oz more but be more durable and much less expensive.
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