Urban Ultralight applies the design principles of ultralight backpacking to products and services for people who are increasingly choosing to navigate cities without a car to improve their health, save time and money, and increase happiness in their daily lives.
Beyond growing sales, we aim to sell functional, stylish clothing and gear made by similar-minded companies, and teach people how to build profitable businesses helping make urban environments more enjoyable.
In cities around the world, people are increasingly seeking transit options that are healthier and less costly than the personal automobile. While more transit options are being offered each year, personal clothing and gear that are both functional and appropriately styled for urban settings can be hard to find.
Also, urban transit decisions are typically framed as activists versus everyone else, where, in fact, vast private sector economic opportunities exist for businesspeople who wish to help shape public attitudes and urban policies toward more livable cities.
Urban Ultralight aims to serve and grow the market for high-performance and stylish gear by expanding our current online offerings. From there, we aim to help develop business opportunities in urban design and transit by training people in modern finance and project development strategies.
In this way, we can help those who prefer walking, cycling, and public transit become a healthier and more mainstream part of urban society.
In 2007, I designed my first “mobility product”, the world’s thinnest and lightest trifold wallet. My old bulky leather wallet would bang on my legs when I would ride my bicycle to the grocery store or transport my young sons.
By 2012, the wallet was sold in over 100 REI stores in the travel section. However, by 2014, problems with manufacturing, distribution, and financing prevented the product from scaling to other chains. This led me to abandon retail in favor of 100% online sales.
However, by 2015, I could see that the urban mobility and internet nomad trends were growing. A definable market was emerging for the lifestyle I’d been pursuing one way or another since my first bicycle as a kid. I renamed the company Urban Ultralight, but cash flow and financing remained huge hurdles.
In parallel, since 2001, I have pursued a field I call “ecological finance”. This was a difficult project itself, but by 2016, the world of finance started to shift in my direction. I can honestly say that today I am an expert in safely financing any size project.
In 2022, I was about to close Urban Ultralight, but my customers begged me to keep it open, so I solved the last big problems with manufacturing and distribution. Sales have increased organically since then, and the time seems right today to begin building a membership here on Make My Nut to help me fund my vision step by step.
