Why I started Zero Trace Bivvy

There was a night out field in the army I’ll never forget.

We had been walking through shoulder high grass all night, and by the time I crawled into my bivvy, I was already damn and cold. Like most bivvies, it was basically just a waterproof bag over my sleeping bag – no structure, no space, just fabric lying straight across my body.

The problem with that design is simple: when the material sits directly against you, it doesn’t matter that its “waterproof”, the moisture soaks through. And because the fabric was pressed right up against my face, bugs had free access to bite me all night. I get that the bug net stops bug entering your bivvy, but they don’t do squat for stopping them biting you. I actually woke up with my eyelid swollen and sagging across my eye.

The problem with conventional bivvies

Don’t get me wrong, traditional bivvies are great in theory – light weight, compact, and easy to carry. But in practice, they come along with compromises.

·         Fabric pressed against your skin, leaving you wet and exposed

·         No space to breath or move

·         Bugs biting through the material

·         A sense of being trapped, rather than sheltered

This wasn’t just my experience. Anyone who has spent serious nights in the field knows the discomfort and frustration that comes with a convention bivy. But those discomforts don’t need to exist, and that’s our goal – to make you that little bit comfier.

The spark

The actual idea for this new kind of bivvy came from something very simple: A bike tire.

I thought, what if I bent a bike tire into an arch, and placed in inside my bivvy? Something strong enough to hold shape, light enough to carry, and able to lift the fabric off your body. That small spark of an idea grew into sketches, and those sketches grew into my actually purchasing bike tires and cutting and glueing them into some terrible prototypes. These small steps and failures is what is now zero trace bivvy: a compact shelter with an inflatable system, quick to setup, and reliable in the worst conditions.

So, what’s next

Right now, zero trace is in its final stages of development. The idea that started with a soaking wet night in the army, and a random thought about a bike tire, has grown into a bivvy that solves real problems.

This blog is going to share that journey – from frustrations that started it, to the solutions build into every design choice. We’ll also be sharing stories from our users and any useful tips and tricks we find along the way.

Because, at the end of the day, a bivvy should do more than keep your out of the mud. It should protect you, simple and without compromise.