Originally introduced to Thailand in 1988 by a Swiss weaving engineer, the product has been steadily improved and new unique types, new materials, and new weaving styles have been added. Braided hammocks provide more comfort than woven or netted types, beacause the complicated weave creates a bed that stretches in any direction. – Just as a series of tiny springs resulting in a “floating” effect. Then our hammocks also impress by their sheer size, allowing the happy user to lie across the hammock which results in even more comfort.
22 Years ago we were the first ones to introduce colour designs to hammock making, and gave customers the possibility to choose from a variety of colour creations. In the meantime some other producers are copying this, but are not even remotely close to our wide range of designs to fit every taste. Most competitors are still offering “uncoloured, single colour and multicolour” as only choice for their customers., while we are steadily expanding the colour design choice, with the help of our resident and outside artists. Presently we have over 100 different colour designs available.
Other producers give you the choice between Cotton and Nylon. We do use cotton, but only as thick string yarn, and only for the cheaper types in our product lineup. This cotton is hand -dyed by us and washable.
For fine yarn hammocks we have found that both cotton and nylon are not suitable. Fine cotton, besides beeing limited to indoor use, also has a notable problem with durability, which is limited to about 2 years. Nylon is durable, but the “feel” and comfort borders on unpleasant. So, we have found a special grade of acrylic yarn, called “cotton spun”. To further enhance user comfort we use this relatively fine string as triple yarn. The result is a hammock that has a feel and comfort way superiour to the best cotton grade, and is also durable and resitant to rain and sunshine. This acrylic yarn is only available to us, as it is made locally to our specifications.
We are also using different weaving techniques than our competitors, resulting in hammocks that look better and spread more evenly than competing models. Our V-weave hammock is made with a weaving technique that is unique worldwide, and that can only be made by our most skilled weavers.
Our weavers are our most precious asset. Far from beeing simple labourers, they represent a well trained, superbly skilled and highly motivated workforce. We only recruit people who have already had several years of experience in handweaving, and who volunteer to expand their skills. After 10 days of basic training a weaver is able to produce the simplest hammock, (the Jungle Hammock) but it takes several months to aquire the experience necessary to do this fluently. Once this point has been reached, another training session beginns, where our specialists are thought how to make the Acrylic fine yarn types. And again they need to make more than a dozen hammocks untill they are able to work completely without supervision. Then for the best and most talented weavers we offer the option to learn how to make the most difficult hammock types such as the sitting and the V hammock. Presently our hammocks are mainly made by the Lahu tribe.
We take quality control very seriously, and do spend a lot of time on this. Each hammock is checked first by the maker, then by the supervisor and one final time before it takes the trip to the customer. Each quality check comprises about 10 different parameters. Any hammock which may still slip through or rigid QC system can be sent back and will be repaired or substituted without any delays.
“Service” is more than just a slogan for us. For retail buyers this means that we can accommodate their requests for special colour designs according to their wishes. Wholesalers will be assisted through the whole process from their first inquiry, to ordering the right designs, setting up shop, marketing and publicity, untill their business has become successful and even beyond. In order to do so, we have a wide range of sales support and publicity materials available. Any question that may come up will be answered usually within 24 hours. Basic tips for wholesellers can be found here: (URL to be announced soon)
Our resident engineer has over 20 years of experience in this field, and all our hammocks have been developed by him. He can assist wholesale customers in coming up with modifications, or even completely new hammock types.
After the initial challenge, of integrating all this into our company, we are now happy to be able to offer a great new product to our customers and many interesting and well paid job’s to our producers.
September 2011
