Meet Kyle Ng | Founder, Designer, Adventurer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyle Ng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyle, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The business grew very organically and I’m happy it happened that way. When I started making bags, they intention wasn’t to sell them. It was to use them. I had some design ideas that weren’t available at the time. I wanted these specific designs with me in the wild, and that was my inspiration. Not sales or quotas or making a living. After the designs gained some recognition from friends and industry people, I started making more bags as people wanted them. Eventually, I got busy enough to try and make it a career. The company is completely bootstrapped, so I still don’t have any bankers or investors to answer to. I hope my inspiration always comes from adventures and the love for being outdoors.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I grew up in Los Angeles, if you rode a bike around town, you were almost immediately a friend. That’s because bike culture was so extremely marginalized in the car dominated city. I remember going to Critical Mass almost 20 years ago and seeing so many different people, age groups, and walks of life brought together. Now I feel like there are so many cliques and subcultures that don’t integrate in our bicycle community. I believe bicycles have a great power to unite. Just like I saw growing up. I hope our company can be a unifier of bike cultures. The designs are meant to adaptable, not hyper-specific. We make bags for all types of bikes. Mountain bikers, road bikers, and commuters. They shouldn’t exist as separate markets. They should be recognized as people with much more similarities than differences. I think that sets us apart from other brands. I’m really proud to see our customers come together that otherwise wouldn’t have, just because they’re fans of our gear.

Starting a business wasn’t easy. I use to make everything myself in a small bedroom in an apartment. I’ve worked obsessively and I’ve worked hard but it only got me so far. I’ve leaned on friends and some of these friends are part of the company now. Learning to let go in order to have people help was a challenge. Now I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them and I still can’t do it alone.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
One of my favorite events is Coffee Outside SF. It happens at 7am every Friday morning. We bring all our breakfast camping gear to an overlook in the Marin headlands. We make coffee outside, share pastries, then go to work! It’s like pretending to camp with a bunch of friends, but without the commitment of staying overnight.

Other places I like are the Wave Organ, Lands End, Mount Tamalpais, and Yamo’s Burmese Restaurant.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Definitely our employees make the company what it is. In such a small company where everyone works together intimately and plays multiple roles, it feels more like a family. I’m very grateful for my friend and business parter Jim Santos. Our head seamstress Xin Gong. Our fulfillment, production prep, and do-all extraordinaire Janah Romero-Ramos.

I’d also like to thank all the friends and fans that take our gear to the ends of the earth. The incredible stories I’ve heard about our gear are invaluable. I listen to each one of these stories because they contribute to the design just as much as I do, through inspiration and product testing.

Website: outershell.com

Instagram: @outer.shell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/outershelladven

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OuterShellAdventure/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5cJ73yWWTBIKpK-jUcriPw

Other: https://vimeo.com/outershelladventure