Chris Bishop, marketing manager AMG group, describes how Vango’s history influences their direction with tech, how they’re innovating with recycled materials and driving the peak of performance with their F10 collection.
Vango was established in the West of Scotland in 1966 and the company remains based at the gateway to Scottish Highlands in the company’s headquarters in Port Glasgow. Vango makes tents and equipment for families to camp in comfort, adventurers to go light and wild, and for mountaineers to survive in extreme conditions.
AMG marketing manager, Chris Bishop is responsible for all small tents, everything technical or trekking, backpacks and small accessories.
Chris said: “Vango has a very long history. We’ve been around since the 60s as Vango, but the history of the brand goes back an awful lot further than that. We’ve been based in Glasgow for a very, very long time. We were born out of the historic shipbuilding industry in the area.
“A son of a shipping magnate wanted to do something a little bit different, they funnelled him down the textile side of things with sails. That led to using canvas for tents, which went on for quite a long time, and then Vango was founded in 1966 as a distinctive camping brand and that’s where our classic orange Force 10 tent came from. And that is still a product that we manufacture today.
“If you actually survey people that are 30 and above, that are actively involved in camping, the majority of them will have had their first experience under a piece of canvas, under a Vango tent.
“Obviously having one product like the Force 10, that that has always been distinctly Vango, and has not really changed that much over the years, is great because it’s a real beacon of what the brand is built on and what it stands for.
“That’s what the brand, in terms of the technical side, has come from and what it’s built on. So, we still have those pillars of functional, practical product that’s reliable, it’s robust, it’s built to last, feeding all the way through everything that we still do now.”
Chris Bishop, AMG group marketing manager
“Nowadays, it’s not the kind of tent that you’re going to hike up a mountain with because it is a canvas tent. It is heavier, it is quite bulky. But it’s still a product that if you bought it in 1966, we still make the spare parts for it today. You can go and buy a brand new one. You can go and take it to our servicing centre just on the other side of Glasgow and still have it repaired.
“Interestingly, we used to manufacture in Glasgow. When we moved our manufacturer abroad, we opened a servicing centre here which basically deals with all our brand spares and repairs which is largely staffed by seamstresses that used to work in the Glasgow factory.
“A few years ago, we were working with a retailer on a spotlight for what happens if you send a tent back to us. So, they managed to get hold of an old Force 10 tent that needed a few stitching updates and things on it. When one of the seamstresses opened it, looked at the label they said ‘Yep, I made this one in 1977’.
“It came back 40 years later to the same person that made it in the first place in a factory ten miles down the road.
“That’s what the brand, in terms of the technical side, has come from and what it’s built on. So, we still have those pillars of functional, practical product that’s reliable, it’s robust, it’s built to last, feeding all the way through everything that we still do now.”
Vango has been at the forefront of innovation from the 60s right up to today. They were the first to bring in technology that is now seen across the board, innovations such as A-frame tents, tension band systems that add stability and new Airbeam technology.
Following the financial crash of 2008 the industry saw a shift to family camping – away from the technical side. However, despite that market becoming a major part of Vango’s product line they continued to innovate in the technical tent market.
Vango now has three categories of small tents: Trekking – the entry level introduction to the outdoors; Earth Trek – their largest technical range of tents; F10 the pinnacle of their technical range.
Chris said: “The top end is our F10 range. That’s where we introduce all the new innovation, the new designs and new styles with technology that then trickles further down the range.
“F10 was where we first saw the tension band system. That has trickled down into all our products, including our family tents and our awnings now as well.
“So, if you look at Trek as your introduction, Earth Trek as your main market stuff, 10 is your actively engaged outdoor enthusiasts. People that as soon as the weather starts getting better in spring are climbing Munros, they’re going wild camping, they’re out in the back country.”
F10 now has a new innovation which is a Dyneema cord version of the tension band system that basically stabilises with less weight.
The tension band was introduced to make hooped tents more stable, with a webbing strap which was introduced into F10.
Chris said: “What we have at the top end now is a Dyneema cord version with a line lock on it. So, it’s sort of a very small plastic locker attached to a really high tensile Dyneema cord. So that’s been introduced at the top end for a number of years now. And for 2024, we actually have a further development on that design that works with tent shapes and designs that traditionally you can’t put a tension band system in because of the way the poles are orientated.”
Vango has also been at the forefront of sustainability and trying to restrict single-use plastics.
Chris added: “We’ve been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes for a very, very long time. And in 2021, we reduced our single use plastic in packaging by eight tonnes.
“When you buy a tent, normally it’ll come in a tent bag that’s put into a plastic bag that’s then put into a box and shipped out to a retailer. So, none of our tents now are shipped with any form of plastic packaging covering them. The same thing goes for a lot of small accessories, things like our standard thermos bottles. You’ll buy something like that from some brands and it’ll be in a plastic bag inside a box. We’ve just got rid of the plastic bags. We don’t see the need for them.
“Also, all of our swing tickets are made from recycled card already. And we’ve been doing a lot of little similar things like that behind the scenes that just help reduce our overall impact. And for 2024, we’ve got an updated carton design that will reduce the amount of tape that’s required, stickers and all that kind of stuff, putting it all in a stronger box.
“And, also importantly, across all three ranges of our technical tents the flysheets are made of rPET – recycled PET.
“Our newest Apex collection of backpacks and sleeping bags have an underlying eco story behind them. The sleeping bags, for example, are fully recycled. It’s shell and lining is made from Econet, which is a recycled nylon made from fishing Nets. And then the fill itself is recycled polyester that’s been redesigned to imitate real down.”
