I was mindlessly scrolling Instagram one afternoon when a video stopped me in my tracks. It showed someone cinching a lightweight tarp around a sleeping pad to protect it from punctures and other damage. I had never seen something like it before, and apparently, neither had the rest of the internet.
The reel blew up and catapulted the product’s creator, Summit Systems, to a following of over 20,000. This cottage backpacking brand based in the U.K. doesn’t have a product on the market yet, but it’s already disrupting the industry and making a name for itself. I spoke with one of its co-founders, Tom Jenkins, to get the scoop on the cutting-edge brand backpackers need to know.
The Origin Story
Four friends — Will Napper, Dom Poli, Tom Jenkins, and Jack Phillips — have spent nearly 2 decades going on outdoor adventures together. They loved backpacking, camping, climbing, and pretty much anything that got them outside. They were gear nerds and started tinkering with making their own gear. What started as an idea to make an ultralight chair morphed into designing a full ultralight kit: pack, sleep system, and shelter.
While working their full-time day jobs, the group talked about fabrics, logos, designs, and hardware. Just getting the materials to build prototypes proved to be a difficult challenge.
“When you start out from our experience, having no sort of proof, no Instagram following, no website, it’s really hard to get through the door,” Jenkins explained. It took the group over 4 months to find suppliers of the high-quality materials they wanted and believed were legit.
When conceptualizing their brand, the group focused on three key values: ultralight, durable, and versatile. “There’s ultralight gear out there that strips out some of the stuff that makes it durable. So we want to make sure that it’s fit for purpose, and something that you can use for years to come rather than being a bit more of a disposable item,” Jenkins explained.
In their eyes, it’s better to use a slightly heavier, more robust fabric that can withstand the mountains, like choosing Challenge Ultra 200X over Dyneema.
Continuing its focus on value, Summit Systems aims to make products you can use for all your outdoor pursuits. Customers should be able to use its 40L pack for climbing, backpacking, fastpacking, day hikes, and travel.
The Products
The Pad Protector
The viral sleeping pad cover started off as a repurposed old tent flysheet. The group does a lot of cowboy camping and camping under tarps, and they wanted something to protect their pads, which tend to be pricey and delicate items. If you’ve popped a pad, you know how tricky they are to patch.
The new version, which will hopefully come to market before 2027, uses Ultra TX70, a waterproof fabric with high abrasion- and puncture-resistance. It’s also got snaps to attach to your quilt to cut down on drafts.
The group has taken it out to test on several camping trips, and Jenkins is confident that if your pad pops with this on it, there was never any hope it would survive.
The Pack
For the pack, the brand took inspiration from running vests, a popular trend in the backpack market. The shoulder harness has a zippered pocket and a mesh pocket on each strap to make it easy to grab your phone, snacks, and other essentials. In the interest of versatility, it’s got trekking pole pockets, ice axe attachments, and a Y-strap on top that’s ideal for carrying a climbing rope.
The team really dialed in the materials on this pack to achieve the performance they were after. The main body is Challenge Ultra 200X, which is waterproof, a must-have in the famously rainy U.K. Stretchy mesh pockets are handy on packs, but can rip easily; the Challenge Ultrastretch mesh expands but can withstand scrapes.
The hardware is all Duraflex, a high-strength plastic. “They’re top-spec materials. So we’re not doing things on the cheap. We don’t see the point in that. We wouldn’t want to carry it ourselves if it wasn’t the way it’s built,” Jenkins said.
The current prototype weighs 1 pound, 14 ounces, which is right on par with packs from leading ultralight brands like Hyperlite and Outdoor Vitals.
The Sleep System
In designing their sleep system, the team had a bold idea: What if we combined a quilt and a sleeping bag? Ultralight quilts have become all the rage among thru-hikers in recent years, but a quilt alone isn’t enough for true winter conditions. Summit Systems will make a sleeping bag and quilt that you can use separately as standalone products in warmer conditions, or combine them for cold weather.
The quilt, currently on prototype number four, has a water-resistant, PFAS-free ripstop nylon shell and 850-fill down. It uses horizontal baffles with a vertical skip stitch to stop down migration and avoid cold spots. Its comfort level is 41 degrees Fahrenheit, and the lightest version clocks in at 18.6 ounces.
The sleeping bag will have a comfort rating of between 14 and 23 degrees and will weigh about 28 ounces. It has similar materials and design to the quilt. Layered with a sleeping pad, the bag-and-quilt combination should provide comfort in temperatures as cold as -13 degrees, the brand said.
What’s Next for the Brand?
Summit Systems is committed to manufacturing as many of its products in the U.K. as possible. It hopes to launch the pad protector, which will retail for around $160, before Christmas. It’ll likely do a preorder production run to cut down on any waste.
“It’s a great material, but it’s very expensive, so we’re barely making any money on that, to be honest with you. People are so keen for it and excited about it that we wanna get it out there and not have to charge a fortune for it,” Jenkins explained.
The pack will likely launch sometime in 2027 and go for around $400. “We’re very competitively priced. We’re not overcharging. We’re being sensible. We’re not really in this to make loads and loads of money. We just want to offer a good product at a good price, and for people to enjoy what we’re building, really,” Jenkins said.
As part of that philosophy, the brand has a community events arm, hosting hikes and educational workshops. “We’ve had quite a few people come along that don’t necessarily hike too much either. They’ve just seen our event … they’ve kind of come across it and thought, yeah, I’ll, you know, give it a go and come down,” Jenkins explained. “We wanna do stuff that we enjoy doing. If it was a community hike, then we’d probably sign up to it.”
