A big fan of the outdoors, Seth Haber—founder of lifestyle and travel products company Trek Light Gear—has always found himself hiking and exploring. When Seth moved from Rhode Island to Boulder in 2001, he quickly became obsessed with the city’s nearby landscapes: the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Utah’s beautiful red rocks.
On every excursion he returned from, Seth was propelled through his work week by thoughts of relaxation and how he could recreate them at home. Despite the dazzling scenery Seth was soaking up, he began realizing how uncomfortable sleeping on the hard ground is during his regular backpacking and camping trips.
During the night on one of these adventures, Seth slept in a hammock. He woke up thinking it was his best sleep in years, though the hammock was an uncomfortable one that left rope marks on his back.
That’s when Seth’s research began to create a hammock he actually wanted to doze off in, one that left him coming home from his weekend trips feeling well-rested and recharged. After creating a lightweight, portable, durable and, most of all, comfortable hammock in 2003, Seth traveled across Colorado to local festivals, shows and street fairs selling his product.
Beyond hammocks, Trek Light Gear soon grew large enough that Seth moved into one of the kiosks on Pearl Street, though it closed down around the time of the pandemic.
“That’s how a lot of Boulder locals would probably know us,” says Heather Haber, who runs Trek Light Gear with Seth, of the Pearl Street kiosk.
Heather already had one of Seth’s hammocks when she met him on Pearl Street in 2013. They got married and Heather joined Trek Light Gear, where she works to expand the company’s product line.
Trek Light Gear also sells apparel, home goods and the company’s best-selling handmade throw blankets. It partners with a collective of weavers in Mexico who are paid a fair wage to construct the uniquely individual blankets on a traditional handloom with yarn sourced from 100 percent recycled materials. Seth and Heather also just launched bath, yoga and travel towels, as well as robes crafted by a collective of artisans in India, to expand on the well-established comfort of their products.
Most of Trek Light Gear’s products can be used “at home or wherever you roam,” one of the company’s taglines. Another is “happiness-inspiring products,” aligning with Seth’s original mission to spread joy and leisure to his customers.
Relaxation, along with the outdoorsy and communal nature that Boulder instills, inspires Trek Light Gear’s new products.
“When we’re developing products, it’s really important to us that they’re high quality, made ethically and it’s an item that someone will hopefully have for a lifetime,” Heather says of Trek Light Gear’s lifestyle and travel merchandise.
Since inception, the company has used a one-for-one give-back model that plants a tree for every item sold; two for every hammock sold.
With the planting program Trees for the Future, Trek Light Gear has planted tens of thousands of trees around the world, many of them fruit or vegetable-bearing so they also provide produce to the communities that they grow in. Planting trees generates more clean air by reducing pollution, plus helps recycle water, provide nutrients and a habitat for animals and other plants.
“We’ve literally planted forests at this point,” Heather says. Trek Light Gear also supports nonprofit Be The Change Volunteers to donate school supplies to children in need every time someone buys the company’s day pack. Through these meaningful missions, Trek Light Gear has gained a following in Boulder.
“We always love to hear from customers that they bought a hammock from us 15 years ago and are still using it,” Heather says.
Since Trek Light Gear’s kiosk on Pearl Street closed, Heather has gotten its products into Bliss on Pearl Street and other local retailers. You can also buy them on the company’s website at TrekLightGear.com.
