ABOUT US | FROM THE GARAGE TO THE MARKET LEADER


Successful in the market since 2002 - the story behind it

There are companies which began in a garage and are now world-famous. Microsoft or Google, for example. Well, not that we have anything in common with these companies, but at least we also had a garage where it all started. The second and probably last thing that connects us with the first mentioned companies is the fact that there, as well as here, a few people were at work who were obsessed with just one thing. In our case, however, it was a very traditional product: the folding boat.

By chance we got hold of a folding kayak from the Triton company in St. Petersburg more than 20 years ago. The boat hit the water and the performance was absolutely convincing. We then scraped together all our possessions, imported a handful of boats and took them to a trade show in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. That was the kick-off of Out-Trade GmbH - at least in the short version.

After initially selling out of said garage, we soon realised that this space was a bit too tight and we moved to more suitable premises. We added the American manufacturer Pakboats to our product range and started to build up a distribution network. This laid the foundation for today's wholesale business. At the same time, we started to improve existing products and develop our own production lines and brands.

There have been several milestones in the history of the company. One of them was certainly the invention of hybrid technology as we use it in the scubi family of our nortik brand. The combination of little (structuring) frame and high-pressure hoses. Another outstanding development is the expansion of the range of ultra-light backpacking boats, so-called PackRafts.

The acquisition of the Pakboats brand in 2019 is also certainly one of the important cornerstones in the company's history. And one could name many more things. Ultimately, we have been fortunate to be able to expand our former "garage company" over the last few years to become the market leader in Europe in terms of unit sales. We have created and maintained jobs, constantly faced up to current demands and still have a lot of fun with it all. Today, folding boats from nortik, Triton advanced or Pakboats are available in many places as leading brands in Europe and you can find them in use all over the world.

We sell between 3,000-4,000 boats a year through our network of retailers, and our range as a manufacturer and distributor currently includes over 30 different models - from recreational boats to packrafts and expedition kayaks. We manufacture products under the brands nortik, Triton advanced and Pakboats. As a distributor, we are active for the brands Pakayak, Accent and Cannon Paddles.

Our production facilities are spread all over the world. From Europe to Asia and the USA, we work with many long-standing partners in development, production and distribution. But the heart of the company is in Ulm in Southern Germany and from here we work every day with a lot of passion and commitment to continue this success story.

However, one of the most important reasons for our success is and remains the contact to the customer, in other words to you, the paddler. Only in this way is it possible for us to take on board customer wishes, discover needs and a hands-on exchange takes place. It is a pleasure to keep reinventing such a traditional product as the folding boat, to implement ideas and never stop thinking up - perhaps even unusual - things.

The gratitude for the last two decades goes not only to the employees and the people who have accompanied us in many ways up to this point, but also, of course, first and foremost to you as our customer. You are the key to our ideas, the driving force behind our developments and the motivation to make the world of portable boats a little bit better every day! Because between you and me, where would we be today without you? Exactly - still in the garage.

With this in mind, we wish you lots of fun on the water!