In your mind, build your perfect outdoor kit. You have packs, outer layers, base layers, footwear socks... but do you have your towel?!
Today on Gear & Beer Colin and Justin welcome founder Zack Helminiak to talk about the Original Towel from Nomadix.
They hit on the history of the brand as well as the versatility and functionality of Nomadix towels, which are designed to meet the needs of outdoor enthusiasts across various activities, from yoga to camping.
And around here you can't have Gear without the Beer. Which 'dry' options did Colin, Justin & Zack bring to pair with the Original Towel?
Click play to find out.
Chapters:
05:17 - The Origin Story of Nomadix Towels
12:05 - Cracking open some beer
17:13 - The Versatile Uses of Nomadix Towels
Hurricane Helene Relief Links:
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Episode Transcript
Colin
00:00:01.840 - 00:00:14.398
Welcome to Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gear Heads, beer buffs, and adventurers with discerning tastes in the latest edition to the Rock Fight podcast network. I'm Colin true, and I worked for brands and makers in the outdoor industry for over 20 years.
Justin
00:00:14.574 - 00:00:36.472
And I am Justin Hausmann, senior editor at Adventure Journal, professional gear reviewer. What else do I want to add in regular foot? More of like a stick shift fan than an automatic fan.
Favorite band is Yola Tango, and my favorite color is blue.
Colin
00:00:36.656 - 00:00:38.700
You're gonna run out of things to say in this intro.
Justin
00:00:39.240 - 00:00:42.580
No, actually, I just unloaded a lot of things I like, so maybe.
Colin
00:00:43.600 - 00:01:07.820
Well, listen, everybody. Today, this is the second time we're making an attempt at this conversation. We tried it before and my Internet blew up. And since I host the.
I have the hosting software for these conversations. So we're gonna. This is round two of. We're talking about the original tal from Nomadix.
And I'm going to make everybody listen to this again because I was really proud that I wrote this last week because the paraphrase the great Douglas Adams, a towel is mostly. What?
Justin
00:01:07.940 - 00:01:09.840
Great. Yeah.
Colin
00:01:10.580 - 00:01:17.492
You don't think great? To paraphrase the perfectly adequate Douglas Adams, there, we better. Ok.
Justin
00:01:17.556 - 00:01:17.876
Thank you.
Colin
00:01:17.908 - 00:01:47.492
A towel is about the most massively useful thing an outdoorsy person can have. You can wrap it around you for warmth. You can lie on it, you can sleep under it.
You can use it to sail, wet it for use in hand to hand combat, wrap it around your head to ward off noxious fumes, wave it as a distress signal, and of course, dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough. And we're talking about towels because we're here on gear and beer today. We're excited that the founder of nomadics, Zach Hel. Oh, my God.
I'm gonna screw up your last name because I haven't said it in a week. It's Helmniac.
Zack
00:01:47.556 - 00:01:48.292
It's Helminiac.
Justin
00:01:48.316 - 00:01:53.062
That was not right. Helming. It's like Pontiac. It is Helminiac.
Colin
00:01:53.166 - 00:01:53.854
Oh, that's actually.
Justin
00:01:53.902 - 00:01:54.490
Yeah.
Colin
00:01:55.350 - 00:02:02.326
So the founder of his nomad exec, her miniac is here with us. Welcome back to the show, Zach. This one's going to actually get released to the public, though.
Zack
00:02:02.398 - 00:02:05.542
Thank you so much for having me. This one feels good. This is the one.
Justin
00:02:05.566 - 00:02:06.974
Does it? Because it feels terrible.
Zack
00:02:07.022 - 00:02:08.326
So far, it's a little, you know.
Justin
00:02:08.358 - 00:02:10.742
I never got on, so I feel like how to read.
Zack
00:02:10.806 - 00:02:13.410
A little bit of bumps and bruises are okay, you know?
Justin
00:02:14.030 - 00:02:17.046
All right. That's true. This is pretty smooth.
Colin
00:02:17.238 - 00:02:21.674
Yeah. This. Maybe it's the. It's a towel thing where, like, we're too excited. I don't know.
Justin
00:02:21.722 - 00:02:27.954
But it's because Douglas Adams, like, unnecessarily wordy prose fucked you up while you're reading it. That's the problem. Yeah.
Colin
00:02:27.962 - 00:02:30.474
If we do this a third time, I'm canning Douglas Adams.
Justin
00:02:30.562 - 00:02:39.154
The best part about Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, book or movie is Sam Rockwell. And he's not in the book, obviously, but that's really the only thing I like about Hitchhiker's guide.
Colin
00:02:39.202 - 00:02:41.394
You'd be a hitchhiker's guide, if I'm being honest. I figured.
Justin
00:02:41.482 - 00:02:44.470
I don't like. I don't like cutesy writing. I hate it.
Colin
00:02:45.890 - 00:02:47.300
That's cutesy writing.
Justin
00:02:47.490 - 00:02:51.700
Douglas Adams. Yeah, like I'm being clever. Like I'm being cutesy and clever. Yeah.
Colin
00:02:52.320 - 00:03:17.812
All right, well, before we get into outdoorsy towels, let's go over a few quick items. Be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you're listening.
Clicking follow in your favorite podcast app and leaving that five star rating, folks. That's the best way to help out the show. And make sure you check out our other show on the Rock Fight podcast network. It's called the Rock Fight.
We talk about outdoor industry and community topics, and you can find that wherever you're listening to this podcast. And, Justin, where can our cutesy listeners follow along or even reach out to us?
Justin
00:03:17.916 - 00:03:47.336
You called them our cutesy listeners. They could just have my phone number. My wife doesn't listen to the show. Email us@myrockfightmail.com.
follow along on Instagram where our handle is Rock Fight Co. And you can sign up for our newsletter at Rockfight Co.
That's our homepage, our website, and click right there where it says, join the mailing list and you get a little psychic high five from Colin and his favorite writer, Douglas Adams.
Colin
00:03:47.368 - 00:03:47.816
That's true.
Justin
00:03:47.888 - 00:03:59.288
You'll feel like, may he rest in peace. May he. May he rest in peace. He would have loved nomadic towels. I think we. I think we can safely say that he would have loved nomadic styles.
Douglas Adams would have.
Colin
00:03:59.424 - 00:04:00.896
Actually, that's probably true.
Justin
00:04:01.048 - 00:04:08.568
I don't know, Zach. Here's a little free marketing advice for you.
Maybe see if you can license some hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy stuff and have a hitchhiker's guide towel. I probably do pretty well.
Zack
00:04:08.584 - 00:04:29.040
I would say that, you know, a major fall of all the Douglas Adams fans out there, and there's even a dedicated day, I believe it's May 15. That's called towel day.
And all of the readers will carry towel around all day because that is the symbol that you are a competent intergalactic traveler. And so.
Justin
00:04:30.100 - 00:04:34.204
Or your, what's his name? From Snoopy. And you just have to have your bean blanket.
Zack
00:04:34.212 - 00:04:36.924
Yeah, light blanket. Yeah, sure. That too.
Colin
00:04:37.012 - 00:04:44.076
Yeah, I'm with the hitchhikers people. This is a great idea. Is that the day that the spaceship showed up to destroy Earth? Is that why it's May 15?
Zack
00:04:44.108 - 00:04:58.260
I believe so. And if you're a Douglas Adams fan or nothing, there's actually some really good youtubes of him giving lectures at universities.
And he's, like a riveting storyteller. It's well worthwhile.
Colin
00:04:58.720 - 00:05:00.056
Doesn't sound too cutesy.
Justin
00:05:00.088 - 00:05:08.180
Now, Justin, I didn't say his books are bad. I just don't like his writing style. The stories are great. He's definitely a cutesy writer.
Colin
00:05:08.640 - 00:05:11.080
Yeah, that makes sense. No, you're right about that.
Justin
00:05:11.120 - 00:05:16.470
But his stories are very good. But you can tell a great story with bad prose as far as I'm concerned.
Colin
00:05:16.640 - 00:05:37.106
So, Zach, this is for the second time we're gonna have you tell us the Nomadix origin story. The fortunate thing is you're a founder, and that's probably about 50% of your job, is telling the Nomadix origin story at this point.
So you've probably already done it two or three times today. But can we take us back to, you know, what's up with Nomadix? What's the story and why?
Of all the gear you could have chosen as the foundation of a new brand?
Zack
00:05:37.258 - 00:08:17.244
Yeah. So me and my two co founders, hunter and chase, were ski bums in Colorado. Chase was my craigslist roommate. Hunter was dating a friend.
So we had, like, one of those real organic ways we got to know each other.
We were skiing snowboarding all winter, and then at the end of the winter, we packed up all of our possessions into the back of this beat up 98 subaru outback and drove from Colorado through all the national parks in utah and eventually landed in California.
And on that trip, we just had so much activity specific gear in the back of the car, because obviously, skiing and snowboarding, you, all that gear is, like, really just for that, that we ideated the idea of a company that made versatile gear for the outdoors, so products you could use for every activity. And when we got to California, the perfect product for this kind of showed up because there was a big yoga scene, a big beach and surf scene.
And going to the eastern sierras and camping, and each of them had a different towel that was very specific. So yoga towel had dots on the bottom. You didn't want to dry off with it. Beach towel was a cotton terry towel. It was very, you know, big.
Couldn't pack down small. It would get really wet and stay wet. And then the camping towel was the blue square that I'm sure we all remember.
That got pretty gross after one use or one, you know, multi day trek. It's like, you're not using that thing again, probably. And so we, ten years ago this year, we launched on Kickstarter, the only towel you need.
And we basically engineered a towel out of a material called Micro Terry. And that towel can perform at the highest level for yoga, which is one of the hardest engineering aspects to it.
It's also quick dry and absorbent for the beach, anti sand, and then it's super packable and anti odor for backpacking and camping. And so we really found this sort of this niche where there was a product need, and we solved that problem.
And then we also wanted to make it out of certified post consumer material. So from the start, we made everything out of certified post consumer material.
And still today, everything that we make is at least 85% post consumer material. And so, yeah, that's how we got started on Kickstarter. That's how we launched.
Colin
00:08:17.372 - 00:08:37.260
But it was, it is a pretty traditional outdoor industry origin story, right? I mean, it's like we identified shortcomings of other things and used innovation to create something up. You know, create a better mousetrap.
I mean, I imagine where you are, you have some interesting consumer stories of response to your product. Or like, you're like, holy shit, your towel is amazing. Like, there's got to be some incredible feedback from people who bought your towels.
Justin
00:08:37.340 - 00:08:43.992
Dude, they have 718 four and a half star reviews on their, on their towels, man. Did you not read all those? Colin?
Colin
00:08:44.116 - 00:08:46.992
I was giving our guests a chance to say something, man.
Justin
00:08:47.056 - 00:08:48.008
Sorry. Go ahead. Sorry.
Zack
00:08:48.064 - 00:09:38.312
Yeah, well, I mean, it's really cool to have a product that's good for travel because you get people taking it all over the world, and you'll have people tag you when they're in Jordan and Egypt and then South America and Asia, and you kind of get to see all the different use cases. We still have people that spot that supported Kickstarter originally, and they still have that towel. It's like a super durable product.
And so it's really cool to hear, like, how much they love that one towel. And how many places it's gone with them. And, yeah, it's not. I'm not exaggerating.
It really happens, like, almost every time that we go to an event, you get a customer that's sort of, like, identified with you in some way, and they share their story. That's cool.
Colin
00:09:38.416 - 00:09:42.648
So you guys have described yourselves as a social purpose corporation. Tell us about that.
Justin
00:09:42.704 - 00:09:42.896
Yeah.
Zack
00:09:42.928 - 00:10:40.472
When we re incorporated in 2018, and we found this type of corporation out of Washington state called a social purpose corporation.
And basically, what that allows you to do is you can put some of your social or environmental values right in your articles of incorporation so that future decisions by outside investors and things could not change what your ethos is. So, like, you can put right in your founding documents that you want to make everything out of recycled material, for example.
So it's not, like, a super strict reporting designation or anything, but we just file an annual report. We put it on our website.
We talk about all the things that we've done, all the improvements we made, the things that we want to do, and, yeah, we just thought it was a sort of responsible way to set up the company.
Justin
00:10:40.656 - 00:12:06.334
Well, I will say that when I first got mine, and the first one I got was the mini towel, which is awesome. Just barely big enough to towel change with at the beach. But you know what? For all of you towel changers out there, they're really grippy.
So, like, it's. It's actually when you. When you. When you do the little fold and the tuck, you know, to make the. To make the towel, you know, stay on your body.
The, uh, the nomadic styles are real grippy, way more than your standard terry cloth towel, by the way, so keep that in mind. But anyway, um, it was the first time I've ever. Other than. So, like, normally, right? Like. Like, a nice bath towel is epic.
I mean, it's just, like, a nice. A plush, like, expensive bath towel is so, like, every, like, twice a year. Not twice a year.
Every couple years, my wife is like, I got us new towels, and it's always like, oh, this is great. Right? But, like, I don't take those to the beach. Um, and, um. So you like, my favorite towel would always be one that looked cool, right?
That's all I really cared about. Like, I wasn't really. I was barely drying off after a surf. Really just needed it to change. Um, or, like, sit on. So you'd pick one that looked cool.
I'd like, whatever. Um, but when I got the little mini towel, I was like, oh, right, like, a towel. Here's a towel that I actually enjoy using.
Like, it was just kind of revolutionary. I mean, it sounds. It sounds so lame, but it was just like, oh, wow, this is, this is. I'm looking forward to, like, drawing off with this towel.
I can't explain it, but it's true. So. Yeah, you did. You definitely nailed the towel as a piece of equipment category.
Colin
00:12:06.422 - 00:12:12.654
Well, before we go much further, I think we've been recording for 15 minutes. We still have yet to crack open a beer. I think we should crack open a beer.
Justin
00:12:12.742 - 00:12:14.278
So let's crack open three beers.
Colin
00:12:14.414 - 00:12:16.654
Let's do three beers this way. We all brought our own beer this year.
Justin
00:12:16.662 - 00:12:19.570
Four beers. Just four of us. Good lord, there's four people here.
Colin
00:12:19.990 - 00:12:22.862
Are we saying, are we acting like David came to this?
Justin
00:12:23.046 - 00:12:38.950
No, there's you three and me. Oh, shit. Wow. Wow. You know, it's. Cause I've seen three people on screen now. Well, I. Yes.
I mean, not today, but do I counted all three of the people I see on the screen and then myself?
Colin
00:12:39.650 - 00:12:43.066
That's amazing. Well, you need to go to bed early tonight, buddy.
Justin
00:12:43.138 - 00:12:45.034
That's what happens when you have two little kids.
Colin
00:12:45.122 - 00:12:52.258
All right, so all three of us brought a different beer, so. All right, well, let's start with the cicerone. Cicerone. What did you bring?
Justin
00:12:52.354 - 00:12:54.484
Are we gonna open the beers or are we gonna talk about them first?
Colin
00:12:54.602 - 00:12:55.872
Let's talk. Let's talk about what we brought.
Justin
00:12:55.936 - 00:13:52.896
So I have an Asahi super dry here, which is the classic sushi beer. You know, you might get a sapporo or whatever but usually have your choice of asahi or sapporo. I usually go with the sahi.
It's just a real, real, real light, crisp lager, basically.
I don't know what they put in it, but I will tell you that it's the only beer I've ever seen that on the website has a graph that's explaining optimum optimal food and taste zone. It's pretty cool. Um, but it says, says right here that Asahi super dry allows you to appreciate food or take another sip sooner.
So I don't even really know what that means. But. But they do have a really lovely graph on here.
It has a quick peek in flavor and then it backs way off, which is basically what something, you know, I mean, that's. That's the kind of the description of something that's dry, right? Like you get some flavor and they're just.
Colin
00:13:53.048 - 00:13:56.302
It's gone, uh, refreshing went dry because we're.
Justin
00:13:56.456 - 00:14:13.190
Oh, yeah. Well, I thought that was obvious. Yeah. Talking about towels here, folks. So, um. Yeah. Uh, but, yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's just a pretty standard.
I've had probably 8 million Asahi super drives in my life. Great surf trip beer, by the way. Like, probably the best it. There's. It's hard to find a more refreshing beer than Asahi super dry.
Colin
00:14:14.050 - 00:14:15.170
All right, Zach, what'd you bring?
Zack
00:14:15.250 - 00:14:21.590
So since we just launched a world map towel, I thought I'd go global with the beer.
Justin
00:14:21.970 - 00:14:22.522
Nice.
Zack
00:14:22.626 - 00:14:40.182
So I went with a chema. I've got a couple tidbits here, if you guys want to hear some history. This recipe, they started brewing in 1862.
They released it publicly, I guess, in 1948. So this is a one 50 year old recipe.
Justin
00:14:40.286 - 00:14:40.998
That's awesome.
Zack
00:14:41.094 - 00:14:47.118
And it is still brewed under the supervision of monks to this day who.
Colin
00:14:47.134 - 00:14:49.918
Are all that old. They have the original monks.
Justin
00:14:50.014 - 00:14:53.750
They're like the dude in last crusade. They're. They're living a cave.
Colin
00:14:53.910 - 00:14:54.734
Can't leave.
Justin
00:14:54.862 - 00:14:57.430
Can't leave. They're immortal, but they can't leave their cave.
Colin
00:14:57.510 - 00:15:01.230
That's awesome, though. I love hearing stuff like that. Like, the same recipe 150 years. That's incredible.
Justin
00:15:01.310 - 00:15:35.592
It's cool. Shimei is. Is a such a freaking fantastic beer brand. I mean, they're so good. If the. My favorite shima is the single, it's hard to get.
So there's doubles and triples, which are. There's nothing specific there. That just means that that's, like, theoretically, like, a strength. Doubles are usually brown.
Triples are usually light. It doesn't have to be. I mean, but if you ever find, like, the chema single, which is.
It used to be one that they only let the monks drink, I guess kind of like what you have there. But, like, it was, like, made for the monks to just drink on a daily basis because it was pretty low in alcohol. But. Oh, my God, it's good.
It's just hard to find love. Shimei.
Colin
00:15:35.736 - 00:15:38.960
Well, mine's kind of similar. I mean, mine's been around since 1987.
Justin
00:15:39.040 - 00:15:39.608
Holy shit.
Colin
00:15:39.664 - 00:15:41.216
My body is kind of the same.
Justin
00:15:41.328 - 00:15:44.500
Almost as old as the last starfighter by.
Colin
00:15:44.880 - 00:15:50.260
Actually a little younger than that. Probably by a brewery down here called Pizza Port.
Justin
00:15:50.400 - 00:15:51.324
Anybody know it?
Colin
00:15:51.412 - 00:15:51.868
Yeah.
Justin
00:15:51.964 - 00:15:52.444
Here we go.
Colin
00:15:52.492 - 00:16:11.260
Playing homage to our guest, who's from San Clemente, California, right now. So, you know there's pizza port in San Clemente, I believe. And so we got the session IPA, the Ponto session IPA, which I read on the Internet.
Session ipas are typically dry, so, Justin, you can weigh in on that.
Justin
00:16:11.380 - 00:16:18.112
Sure. Depends on the hops. Depends on the malts, but, yeah, that makes sense to me. It's probably pretty light. Very beachy. You chose a real beachy beer.
Colin
00:16:18.196 - 00:16:19.312
Let's crack these open, boys.
Justin
00:16:19.376 - 00:16:21.260
All right. All right, we ready?
Colin
00:16:21.960 - 00:16:23.184
All right, you count it down.
Justin
00:16:23.272 - 00:16:27.312
All right. Three, two, one. There it is.
Colin
00:16:27.336 - 00:16:30.048
Oh, man, I love when there's a guest and there's three of them. That's awesome.
Zack
00:16:30.144 - 00:16:30.860
All right.
Justin
00:16:33.240 - 00:16:38.980
Oh, yeah. My mouth is dry now. It's like I just put a towel in my, like a nomadic towel in my mouth.
Colin
00:16:41.480 - 00:16:51.014
He's put a towel in your mouth? Excellent. Excellent. Well, good. Good choice of beers. Do you approve, Cicerone, on the. The beer choices?
Justin
00:16:51.182 - 00:16:57.814
Yeah, those are. Those are solid. I mean, chimae is great. I don't drink a lot of Belgians, but now you are frozen, and I love pizza port.
Zack
00:16:57.902 - 00:17:12.622
Colin, I'll say I like your choice, because pizza port is very important to San Clemente. If you have kids, which I do. I have two young kids. You end up at Pizza port regularly, and it's loud all the time, all the crazy.
But the beer is very good there.
Colin
00:17:12.726 - 00:17:43.458
All right, so let's move in a little bit more of a product conversation. Justin, you were talking a bit about how you can do your change at the beach using even the small automatically.
But just in general, like, what is it about towels? I mean, again, I think Zack's set it up really perfectly about.
He took a towel, made it into gear, and these are those little things that you don't necessarily think about if you're, like, making a list of, like, what are my favorite gear choices? And it's going to be like, oh, a pack or a shoe or something like that. But go.
But how much better is your experience if you go out into the back country, if you're backpacking or something and you have a product like this?
Justin
00:17:43.474 - 00:18:01.584
Oh, well, that's true. So the mini towel is epic for that. Like, that's. I, you know, before I had kids and would backpack a lot, I always took. I always had it with me.
Um, and I would use it for, God, like, a lot of things. Um, you know what? You guys make an even smaller one, I think. I have a mini towel. And what do you have in a smaller one than the mini?
Zack
00:18:01.632 - 00:18:35.116
So we've, um, we've built quite a few smaller towels at this stage. So we have the mini towel. We just released a fitness towel, which is, like, a little bit smaller.
And then we have a bandana, which is made out of performance ultralight material, but it's a bandana size and then we recently made something called the tiny towel. And that is like a little ten by ten. I use it for a glasses wipe.
We started giving it out at trade shows, and then everyone wanted to order it, and so it's just got all our prints on it, and it's nice.
Justin
00:18:35.268 - 00:20:11.470
Maybe my. Maybe. Maybe I just have the mini towel and then a couple regular sized towel. Anyway, like, the.
I gets probably the mini towel then that I bring with me when backpacking because it is so nice to have a towel that drives that fast. I mean, the thing is, it's kind of weird. Like, why does any piece of outdoor gear, like, charm you? Right? Like, it could. It's. It's.
You wouldn't think it was something as simple as a towel could do it. But, like, whatever feeling you get about a product that works really well, like, turns out you can have that for fabric, right?
I mean, it's just, who knows why, but same. Same little joy you get from, like, your favorite camp stove. Like, oh, this thing just works so great. Like, I really enjoy using this.
I care about this product because it's well thought out. I mean, it's like that. I mean, it's about the most simple thing you could possibly have with you, but it's just well thought out.
I mean, um, having something that dries that fast is so epic when you're camping. Uh, just insane. And, like, I'll use it for, you know, you're back. If you're backpacking, you're getting dirty.
And I don't really care much about how I smell or whatever, but, like, I'll wash off a little bit. Dry off with that. But also dry out my. My cook pans, you know, with it. I'll try out my cooking stuff with it.
Even if there's some food, I'll wipe it out and just dump the thing in the river and, like, wring it out and it's fine. You know, it's dry in minutes. Um, it's just a. It's just an epic thing to have. They're really good with on your car. I've used.
I use them to wash, to, like, dry my cardinal. They're great for that. So it's just nice to have, I guess, like you said, zack, something that does, like, all these little things.
Well, I mean, it sounds like we're blowing smoke up Zach's ass here a little bit. I realize that, folks, but it's just that it's just. It's a cool. It's cool that it's something so simple that's really well thought out.
Like, why can't something that's that simple be well engineered, you know? And it is. So. I don't know, it just gives you the same sort of pleasant vibes as anything else that you enjoy using.
Colin
00:20:11.580 - 00:20:23.202
Zack, do you have any stories from your, from your own use with your own product that it's sort of like a surprise you or something that you kind of point to is like, oh, shit, I didn't even think about using it in this scenario. Or just something that you, like, really appreciate about.
Justin
00:20:23.266 - 00:20:29.830
I mean, I don't necessarily want to open the door to, like, weird towel uses, Colin. I mean, there's.
Colin
00:20:31.050 - 00:20:32.802
This is gear and beer after dark.
Justin
00:20:32.866 - 00:20:37.882
I mean, I don't. Yeah, like, there's a lot of, like, bodily fluids that could be wiped up with a towel and I don't know.
Colin
00:20:37.906 - 00:20:39.110
We got what you meant.
Zack
00:20:40.530 - 00:22:19.994
I have manners. You know, I'm on, I'm on live radio or whatever. This is. I think, like surprising stuff.
I mean, you got to realize, like, we've been driving around with these towels for ten years, so it's like, there's no use. That has not happened. Probably. I will say that, like, when you have kids, it opens up a whole new world of towel uses.
Like, the festival blanket that we have is now, which is like a. It's water resistant on the bottom. It's like a picnic blanket, essentially. And that's in the car 100% of the time now.
Like, if you need to, kids need to eat lunch and you're in a field or whatever that's going down. Beach, same thing. Our ultralight towels are definitely fan favorites for, like, changing your kids diapers and stuff.
And you just like, throw them in the wash and it's easy and they're super light and then. Yeah, I mean, there's just like, certain items, like the ultralight towels and the festival blankethe are definitely in the car 100% of the time.
And they get used every time we go to the beach. It's just always there. I live three blocks from the beach, so there's a lot of beach that happens. Camp kitchen is definitely super important.
So I always have, you know how, like, when you have a couple pots you don't want to bang around, so you put the bandana in there and then not only does it clean out the pots, but it keeps your kit quiet. Wrap your stove up in it if you've got like, one of those super lightweight ones that just goes on top.
Colin
00:22:20.162 - 00:22:25.242
What you mentioned, Rei, are they available in like, specialty shops or where else do you distribute them? Where people find.
Zack
00:22:25.266 - 00:23:15.100
Yeah, Nomadix is a brand that, like you, a lot of people haven't heard of it. And then when you hear of it the first time, you'll start to see it everywhere. And that's because we're in 2500 doors around the country.
So we're in every REi, we're in West Marine, DSG and Shields, and a lot of larger accounts like that. But we're also in mom and pop outdoor stores, surf shops, travel stores, yoga studios. The list goes on.
Right after the Kickstarter campaign, we just started driving door to door in California and selling it to yoga studios and surf shops. And those accounts are still with us today. So, yeah, we're in lots of different places where people are doing activities.
Colin
00:23:15.440 - 00:23:22.464
What else? I mean, so you guys also recently announced that you've earned the climate label.
So what's the climate label and how does that sort of play into your goals as a brand and company?
Zack
00:23:22.512 - 00:25:07.568
Yeah, so that, that program is really cool. So it was formerly known as climate neutral.
And basically you would take whatever emissions you caused and you would offset them with carbon credits and then you would be labeled climate neutral. And we really committed to that. My wife actually runs that program.
We lowered our carbon emissions through that measuring and testing process by 80% in one year because we identified the biggest problem areas. But what was climate neutral?
Did something smart and they beta tested this program where instead of investing carbon credits, you could invest in your own supply chain to reduce your carbon footprint, which is really what the goal should be, to reduce the carbon you're making, not just offset everything you do. And so the climate label listened to that program and we're one of the sort of like test brands there.
And so basically we've been investing in better, more sustainable materials, better packaging, better shipping, all this stuff so that we can reduce our footprint. And you earn your climate label through doing that. So it's really cool. I'm pretty impressed that they turned that into what it is.
And I think that everyone should take a look and see if it's a good program because. Because it can make a huge difference. You know, you don't even. You don't even know how bad it is until you start measuring it.
Colin
00:25:07.744 - 00:25:16.136
Well, let's take one last final soup. Everybody enjoying their beers? Any final beer? Thoughts before we. Before we wrap it up here, Justin?
Justin
00:25:16.248 - 00:25:17.472
I like beer a lot.
Colin
00:25:17.616 - 00:25:19.992
Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. How's the chimae?
Zack
00:25:20.096 - 00:25:28.050
This. This. It feels a little criminal to drink this out of a can, to be totally honest, but it's still.
Justin
00:25:28.130 - 00:25:29.234
You need a little goblet.
Zack
00:25:29.322 - 00:25:35.842
Delicious. Yeah. There's no goblets at the office, so I just gotta do this. Yeah, we'll work on some.
Colin
00:25:35.866 - 00:25:37.258
That could be the next thing you guys work on.
Zack
00:25:37.354 - 00:25:45.058
But I'm very happy with this choice. I'm. Yeah, for sure. I'm happy that there are three more of these beers in the fridge.
Colin
00:25:45.194 - 00:26:02.222
All right, man. Well, hey, Zach. Thanks so much for taking some time. Twice now. I'm glad we made it through.
As soon as we got through the opening of the beer, I'm like, all right, we're further than we made it last time, so we're on a good track. This was the third. The second time was the charm.
So I appreciate you coming back and sticking with us and coming on to talk about pneumatics and the original talent.
Zack
00:26:02.366 - 00:26:09.854
Thank you guys for having me. Thank you for doing the good work putting beer and gear out there. I think this is an important service that you do for the public.
Justin
00:26:09.942 - 00:26:18.878
It is. Thank you for. You know what? Thank you for appreciating that.
You're the first guest who's really acknowledged how crucial this podcast is and how crucial the pairing is. So thank you very much, Zach.
Zack
00:26:18.934 - 00:26:20.250
You're welcome. Well earned.
Colin
00:26:21.550 - 00:26:29.708
All right, well, gear and Beer is a production of rock fight LLC for Justin Houseman, our guest. I'm gonna say it wrong again. Say your last name for me.
Zack
00:26:29.884 - 00:26:31.116
Helminiak.
Colin
00:26:31.268 - 00:26:46.840
It's like Pontiac. That's what it is. Helminiac. I'm so sorry. I'm colin true, and he's here to take us out. The voice of the Rock Fight podcast network, Chris demakes.
He's gonna sing the rock. Oh, I almost had the rock fight. He's gonna perform the gear and beer theme song right now. We'll see you next time.
Chris
00:26:53.200 - 00:27:18.296
Experience lots of tales to tell. Just like you're with your pals out on the trail. We review outdoor adventure gear, pair it with the perfect beer. Now let the games begin.
So glad that you're here at the break. The put in the trailhead. We're going to crack up in the.
Justin
00:27:18.328 - 00:27:19.340
Cooler.
Chris
00:27:21.330 - 00:27:32.070
Where we can celebrate our wins, those losses we hold so close. The bottom line here is you'll get the berries that matter most.
Justin
00:27:47.530 - 00:27:48.470
Bite.
Zack
00:27:50.490 - 00:27:50.690
Of.