OutdoorX4 sits down with Uriel Eisen, founder of Austere Manufacturing. Producers of lightweight, high-quality hardware, made in their facility on the Kitsap Peninsula, in Washington, USA.

OX4: When did your passion for the outdoors start? Who or what was responsible for your interest in outdoor adventures?
AM: I have my parents to thank for that. We spent a lot of time when I was a child camping out of the back of their Landcruiser in the Israeli desert. After college, I returned to the outdoors and started Bikepacking. There wasn’t really much specialty soft goods for bikes at that time, so I made all of the bags for my first trip. I went on my first Bikepacking adventure in Georgia, and I was hooked. I’ve since to been to the Andes, all over the Northeastern United States, a lot of places. I love being able to get outside and disconnect from the hassles and noise of modern life.

OX4: What’s your favorite way to get outside?
AM: Definitely on a bike. I have quite a few that I love to ride, right now, my go-to bike is my Crust Evasion. I like to run a fatter tire so that I can adjust the PSI for differing terrains. It’s so versatile, I can go from riding on natural trails to urban alleys and streets with a quick air adjustment. I love it.

OX4: Do you have a go-to weekend destination or a favorite annual trip?
AM: I don’t really have any one place that I keep going back to. I like to discover new places; I feel that you can get kind of lazy just going on the same tracks and trails. I enjoy riding in natural and urban environments, so there’s so many new places to go.

OX4: What was the spark that occurred when you decided to create your product?
AM: I was tired of seeing all of these innovative materials being held together by the lowest quality components. I have previous experience in the soft goods industry, I worked for a company that developed components for the spacesuits for NASA, where everything is custom designed and fabricated for that specific application. After my first bikepacking trip, I started noticing that the failure point on almost all soft goods was the hardware. The buckles, especially. It frustrated me so much that the cheapest material was being used at the most likely failure point, and that the part that is subject to the most wear was generic plastic hardware. I wanted to focus on quality over quantity with well thought out and proven designs. To bring the quality of the hardware used in fall protection equipment to the soft goods space, bridging light weight and strength to extend its useful life and to counter the problems commonly found on regular soft goods hardware, like slipping and breakage.

OX4: Is there a particular mission behind your brand?
AM: I would say to produce the highest quality, light weight hardware and reducing waste by making gear that will last for years and possibly a lifetime of adventure.

OX4: What materials and processes do you frequently use when developing your products?
AM: We utilize old school pen and paper designs to develop prototypes, then we 3D print the prototype to determine function and form. Once a production version of a prototype is created, we continuously test them in real world scenarios to gauge the endurance and performance of design. All of our hardware is CNC milled from billet aluminum, and we use a high strength titanium pin, stainless steel spring, and finish with durable cerakote in a variety of colors. We set our fully automated mill to produce one buckle at a time for quality control and reliable production, which seamlessly transfers into full scale production once a final design is proven.

OX4: How hard is it today to make all American-made products?
AM: I would say cost is the most dominant factor, especially in the soft goods space. When making quality equipment, it’s naturally going to cost more to use the highest-grade materials. Obviously, this will push the overall price up, but when you weigh the cost vs. return, you’re getting years if not decades of performance out of higher quality gear than you would from something made to a lower price point, which is often to a lower standard. But I would say the advantages are stronger when you have an entirely domestic made product. There’s the obvious level of superior quality control of product, which ensures reliability. Also, material shipping times and costs are significantly lower. Most importantly, would be the ability to communicate directly with those who design and manufacture the equipment. If there’s a design drawback or something that can be improved, we want to know about it. If there’s a custom application that you need a buckle or hardware for, we can help develop that too.

OX4: Where do you see the industry and hobby heading in the next decade?
AM: I hope to see a return to recognizable quality amongst products as opposed to the quick click and buy swarm of low quality gear that we’ve seen in the last 15 years or so. The landfills are full of cheap outdoor gear, tents, packs, etc. We need to return to being conscious about the benefits of long-term sustainability of a product, as opposed to only considering its price and overall disposability. There is no value in buying cheap gear if you have to buy it again and again every other year.

OX4: Do you have any new products or lines you would like to give us an inside track on?
AM: We do have a new design of ladder lock coming out soon. Same high quality materials and overall design, but they have pins that haven’t been completely pressed in. This allows the user to utilize it in any regular application, or add the ladder lock to existing gear that may be due for an upgrade without the hassle of having to sew in the new hardware.

OX4: Awesome. Uriel, thanks for taking time to chat with us today, we look forward to seeing what’s ahead for Austere Manufacturing in the future.

To learn more about Austere Manufacturing and their products, check out www.austeremanufacturing.com and follow them on Instagram @austere_manufacturing

Editor Note: The Around the Campfire series is brought to you in collaboration with our friends from 67 Designs, proprietors of the finest mounting solutions for your mobile devices whether in the backcountry, around town, and at home. Learn more about 67 Designs by visiting www.67d.com.

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