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Home > Nemo Equipment History
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2002
Cam Brensinger incorporated NEMO Equipment, Inc with the intention of bringing high-level design and engineering to the outdoor industry. Only two months later, following his graduation, Cam moved NEMO into an historic mill in Nashua, NH. A quick drive from both New Hampshire's White Mountains and the great design and business resources available from connections at RISD and MIT, Nashua was the perfect location to establish the company headquarters. Much of the first year was spent learning how to sew and pattern and developing NEMO's AirSupported Technology®. Tents were chosen as NEMO's first product line because Cam saw the opportunity to bring significant new innovation to the market and knew that successfully revolutionizing tents would give NEMO the credibility to move into new product lines in the future.
2003
The first AirSupported™ prototypes were completed. Early ideas explored the possibility of creating an entire tent shape from one compound curved airbeam and welding beams rather than sewing them. The very first successful airbeam Cam completed took over 1500 straight pins to hold together during sewing. It was a bear to construct, but proved the viability of the concept. With working prototypes in hand, NEMO started developing its inaugural tent line and hired its first employees. NEMO began a history of doing specialized consulting work on the side to stimulate creativity and expand its expertise. One of the first projects was to engineer a new architecture for habitat modules for Lunar and Martian exploration.
2004
NEMO debuted its first generation of AST™ and Extreme Conditions poled tents at the Summer Market Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, Utah in August of 2004. The tents instantly captured the attention of the industry. NEMO was published in the "Best of Show" section of the OR Daily publication, Team NIKE/Balance Bar asked NEMO to co-develop a tent for adventure racing and officials from the ISPO BrandNew Award committee invited NEMO to submit for the winter of 2005. The design of the first complete line of tents was completed and went into trial production.
2005
Sales were expanded to include outdoor specialty shops across the country. Some of the original designs that debuted in 2004 continued their evolution, such as Morpho AR™, Tenshi™ and Gogo™. Many new models were also introduced as NEMO refined its skills in design, pattern making and manufacturing. The growth in sales only served to strengthen the company's resolve to make the finest products for outdoor adventure. Additional resources allowed the company to assemble a top-notch team of designers and engineers, create a well-equipped lab for tent development and build relationships with the best textile and component companies in the industry. The company put its vision, mission and message on paper:
Vision: be the leading source of product innovation for outdoor recreation and survival.
Mission: use our brains and creativity to inspire respect for our planet and a love of adventure.
Message: love your life. Protect the people and places that make adventure possible.
Later in 2006, NEMO was approached by an elite group of Navy SEALs who were impressed by how lightweight, fast and small packing Gogo™ was, especially considering its disproportionately spacious interior. After successful testing by the SEALs of NEMO's tents in the remote wilderness of Alaska, NEMO developed the Tanto and Gogo SE™ (similar to Gogo EX™ and Gogo LE). That was the beginning of NEMO's SOS™ (Special Operations Shelters) program which has been rapidly growing and expanding ever since. With some of the company's friends and family currently deployed overseas, NEMO is proud to do their part to keep service members safe and well equipped.
2007
The awards continued as Morpho AR™ was named "Coolest New Technology" by Backpacker Magazine and Tenshi™ received a B.I.G. award from Rock & Ice Magazine. Excitement about the brand grew as NEMO made its way into specialty shops across the country. New designs were in the works for 2008 that would expand the company's product line beyond mountaineering and adventure racing into backpacking, opening the door to a larger market. NEMO created the Adventure Anywhere™ tagline which embodies the company's idea that memorable and meaningful adventures can happen anywhere from the backyard to Mt. Everest
2008
NEMO pushed green thinking and sustainability to the top of the priority list and created the G.R.N.™ (Green Rethinking by NEMO) program. Every employee was offered a day off each month for community service and the company adopted Jenness Beach, a favorite local surf spot for company employees. At the Summer Market OR show in 2008, NEMO debuted the first nearly 100% recycled tent, tent poles made of bamboo and its Ditto™ line of upcycled products. The company also debuted the Tuo™ line of sleeping pads and the Fillo™ pillow, making significant innovations in new categories outside tents. Moki™ won Backpacker's award for best all-around mountaineering tent and top honors from Rock & Ice. Overland Journal gives Morpho AR™ the Value Award. The company staff expanded to include dedicated positions for marketing, sales, customer service and graphic design. Design pervaded every level of the business; even the director of sales has a degree in product design
2009
In 2009, Tenshi™ was named Editors' Choice from Backcountry Magazine, and Losi 3P™ won the prestigious Gear of the Year award from Outside Magazine and Best All-Around 3 Person Tent from Backpacker. As NEMO's product line expands beyond tents, it continues to thrive as a young company, committed to making the most innovative and high quality equipment for outdoor adventure and survival and committed to protecting the people and places that make adventure possible.
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