Founded in 2009, Lightheart Gear is the embodiment of adventure maven and problem-solver Judy Gross's passion for outdoor exploration, years of sewing expertise and design knowledge, and her relentless drive to innovate and improve upon existing adventure gear.
Judy’s journey into the ultralight space began during her first Appalachian Trail (AT) hike attempt in 2006, where she carried a heavy, cumbersome tent that took up a large portion of her pack. About 1000 miles into her trek, she was forced to quit her hike due to a pre-existing shoulder injury and decided to return home to recover.
On her last night on trail, inspiration struck in the form of a fellow AT hiker who set up his ultralight tent next to hers. “It appeared to be half the weight and twice the size,” laughs Judy, who knew then and there that she simply needed a better tent.
She returned home on a mission to craft a durable, spacious, and lightweight tent that would make her experience in the great outdoors even better. She purchased a DIY ultralight tent from a fellow hiker, studied the seams, patterns, and fabric and then used her decades of experience in home sewing and alterations to make her own version.
“Judy is the kind of person who says, ‘I know I can do this differently and that differently, and I can do this better, and I can do that better,’” says Judy’s husband and LightHeart Gear co-founder, Marc Penansky. So that’s exactly what she did.
Dead set on designing a hiking pole supported tent to further lighten her load on trail, Judy utilized Marc’s skills as an engineer to create the structural support system, which they would later patent and release with great response.
And while Judy’s initial vision was simply to create a tent for herself, close friends encouraged her to sell DIY kits to fellow thru-hikers, to which she responded, “I could just make the whole tent and sell it.”
Her initial designs were so well received that they sparked the beginnings of LightHeart Gear.
“We started in 2009 making everything in the basement of our home,” says Marc. “We then rented a small manufacturing space when we couldn’t keep up with demand. So, in 2018, we decided to buy some land and build our own factory."
LightHeart Gear now operates out of a 7,500 square foot modern sewing facility in Fletcher, NC (just south of Asheville, NC), where they design, develop, and manufacture a thoughtful line-up of ultralight tents and accessories, as well as men’s and women’s rain gear and adventure apparel.
“We do not make the absolute lightest tents, but we still offer ultralight at an affordable price,” explains Marc, “We have a unique design with unique features.”
“In rain gear, we make strictly non-breathable rain jackets with large pit-zips,” he continues, “We believe that WPB (water-proof breathable) rain gear works great in the laboratory, but fails in the field.”
“It also depends on an expensive multilayer fabric and a DWR (Durable Water Repellent) finish that washes off and must be constantly renewed,” Marc laughs, “We occupy a mid-priced niche that will at least keep you from getting hypothermia.”
In order to make this all possible, LightHeart Gear employs 9 full-time workers, while also offering contract-based sewing for other cottage industry brands under the name Excelsior Sewing, an aspect of the company that their son, Joshuah Gross, manages operations of.
Having this award-winning manufacturing facility and a team of skilled sewing machine operators has proved very beneficial to the community, especially in the wake of the damages sustained to many outdoor companies and small brands by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.
“We have been trying to help out our fellow outdoor companies in our area who suffered far more than we did during this period,” says Marc, “As a result, we are trying to assist some of them by taking on some important pieces of business that they can no longer fulfill and providing others with manufacturing assistance.”
This willingness to help the local community speaks to the generosity and community-minded nature of Lightheart Gear, a company that is also trying to do their part to offset their impact on the global environment.
On top of recently adding enough solar power to offset 100% of their electricity demands, Lightheart Gear wants to “continue our efforts to be environmentally sensitive, limiting our waste production by recycling as much of our waste as possible.”
“We hope that people will recognize these qualities of our business as well as our commitment to provide USA made sewn goods,” says Marc.
As the company continues to grow and evolve, Marc and Judy both agree that making enough time for themselves is one of the biggest challenges of running their companies. “Business is all encompassing and takes a lot of time, sometimes preventing us from enjoying time to relax.”
But the rewards for the output have proved themselves worthwhile.
“It’s very rewarding when customers talk about how they love our products and depend on them when they are in the outdoors,” says Marc. And with no signs of demand for their goods slowing down, the team has got their hearts set on continuing to improve their products and services - one stitch at a time.
