The Cottage - Episode 1: The G4 and the Yellow Pad

Glenn Van Peski never set out to start a gear company. He was an engineer with a 70-pound pack who decided to make himself something lighter. When hikers started calling, asking him to build one for them, he figured 50 packs would satisfy every request and he could get back to his real job. He was wrong: 86 orders came in before the first batch shipped, and an accidental company was born. "The G4 and the Yellow Pad" traces the origin of Gossamer Gear from a hand-sewn prototype to a near-death moment when Glenn almost shut it all down, and the unlikely phone call from Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey that saved it. Along the way, we hear about the secret brain trust hikes where the founders of Gossamer Gear, Tarptent, Six Moon Designs, and ULA would backpack together and share trade secrets: competitors who were also friends. And we meet Lloyd Vogel, a former special ed teacher who took the cottage gear ethos in a different direction, building Garage Grown Gear from his Minnesota basement into the online home for over a hundred and sixty ultralight brands. This is the creation story of an industry that started in garages.