Why We StartedUNROUTED

Before the products, the website and even the name, there was a pretty simple thought.

We wanted more reasons to get outside.

Not necessarily huge expeditions.

Not climbing the highest mountain or travelling halfway around the world.

Sometimes it's getting in the car and taking a road you've driven past a hundred times.

Sometimes it's throwing a tent in the boot on Friday afternoon.

Getting on the water. Walking somewhere you've never walked before.

Or sitting outside with a coffee when you could quite easily have stayed home.

Those are usually the days you remember.

It didn't start with a product

When we started talking about UNROUTED, we didn't want to build another company where everything began and ended with something to sell.

Products are going to be part of UNROUTED. We're working on those right now.

But the bigger idea has always been about what those products help you do.

Get outside. Stay out longer. Explore somewhere different. Make the spontaneous decision. Take the kids somewhere they'll talk about afterwards.

Choose the scenic road even when the map is telling you there's a quicker one.

That's the world we want UNROUTED to belong to.

Adventure has become complicated

Sometimes it feels as though we've made adventure into something you need to prepare six months for.

The perfect van. The perfect equipment. The perfect clothing. The perfect location. And obviously the perfect photograph proving you went there. We don't believe in that. Some of the best days outside start with:

"Shall we just go?"

That's enough.

You don't have to travel thousands of miles to find something new.

There are mountains, forests, reservoirs, beaches, trails, campsites and roads we've never taken sitting right on our doorstep.

That's part of what this Journal will be about. We'll find them. We'll share them.

And hopefully we'll give somebody else an excuse to go looking too.

Why UNROUTED?

Eventually the name became obvious.

Because we're interested in what happens when you don't automatically choose the obvious route.

Not getting lost for the sake of it. Choosing differently. Taking your time. Looking around. Being curious. And occasionally ignoring the quickest way from A to B. That became our philosophy.

OFF ROUTE. ON PURPOSE.

It's printed underneath our logo. But we want it to mean considerably more than that.

We're only just starting

There's a lot happening behind the scenes. Some of it you'll see through this Journal. Some of it we're deliberately keeping very quiet. For now. We're building. Talking. Testing. Changing things. Occasionally starting again.

Rather than disappear and suddenly appear when everything is finished, we thought we'd bring people along while we're doing it.

The products will come. But UNROUTED starts here. Outside. Taking the longer way around.