The SOTO Outdoors success story began in 1978 with the Shinfuji Burner of Japan. Temperatures there can drop to -40°C in winter and at this time, many burners needed 2 to 3 minutes to preheat. The founder of SOTO Outdoors, Hajime Yamamoto, recognized the benefits of reducing the preheating time and put together a team of creative, technical and innovative people. They shared his determination to develop a burner that takes seconds to preheat, not minutes. Shortly afterwards, the Shinfuji burner was born, setting a new industry standard. The team became famous in Japan under the name “Master of the Blue Flame”.
Until 1986 the burner continued to celebrate ever greater successes, especially in weed control in the agricultural as well as in the private sector. The success inspired Yamamoto and his engineering team to create the Pocket Torch, a small lighter with a powerful flame that is impervious to wind. The team realized that this little burner would be well-suited for adventurers in extreme weather. With this vision in mind, the innovative engineers founded the company SOTO. SOTO means ‘outside’ in Japanese.
In 2010 the SOTO Outdoors brand was launched on the world market. In its very first years, SOTO won several sought-after industry awards for its groundbreaking innovations. The core of the brand lies in the technical innovations for the production and integration of the “blue flame” in outdoor stoves, but the engineers at SOTO are also active with numerous innovations in the areas of tableware and accessories.
