Camping Trade World – Issue 05

BASE CAMP
Photo: Luno
GOT CAR, WILL CAMP
■hat with the huge surge of
interest in camping in the
W
last year-and-a-half and
manufacturers sometimes not being able
to keep up with demand in building new
leisure vehicles, it should perhaps be
no surprise to learn that car camping is
on the up. The evidence? American car
camping brand Luno, which specialises
in air mattresses, window blinds and
other accessories to turn your regular
car into a camping home from home,
has enjoyed one of its best ever years in
the last 12 months. The company only
began trading in 2018 with a single
air mattress, but it now creates a wide
range of products and is expanding at
a rapid rate, proving that this slightly
less conventional camping method
is certainly not lacking in willing
participants. Luno founder Pete Ducato
said: “Our goal at Luno is, and always
has been, to create a new category in the
outdoor marketplace: comfortable car
camping. In 2022, we’ll expand our sleep
ecosystem, add accessories to organize
and elevate the car camping experience,
introduce van accessories, and roll out
products specifically for trucks and
off-road vehicles to complete the car
camping experience.”
Over in Europe, there has also been
an explosion of similar products flooding
into the market, including the Back
Car, which turns any car into a vehicle/
tent hybrid with relative ease (read more
about that in our Barcelona caravanning
show report on pages 40 to 43).
It seems as though people who want
to get out and camp are more than
willing to do so, by whatever means
possible.
▲ Advanture magazine is
growing at a steady rate.
READY FOR ADVANTURE?
The growth of the campervan
segment has given birth to
many things, not least the term
‘van life’ – love it or hate it.
This sector of the market has
a clear identity of like-minded
people who have a lust for
adventure and for the freedom
that living in a campervan
brings. And nowhere can
that better be sampled than
in stylish consumer print and
digital magazine Advanture. The
brainchild of English adventurer
Alex Brown, the magazine
is available in both English
and German and is designed
to curate and deliver the best
van life content that the world
has to offer into one actionpacked
publication. It started
life as a passion project but,
like the market segment that it
is focussed on, is now gaining
popularity and subscribers
at a steady rate. To get a real
feel for the end consumers in
the van life world and what
makes them tick, we’d heartily
recommend heading over to
www.advanturemagazine.com
and grabbing a subscription.
MAKING A STATEMENT
It seems not a day goes by
without a company announcing
what they’re doing to tackle
the issues facing our climate
– and quite rightly so. Recent
examples include Winnebago
Industries, Dometic and a
group of five European outdoor
retailers, all of whom have
made commitments about their
carbon footprints and climate
impact. While no one change is
going to save the planet, these
small steps will all add up and it
begs the question: what are you
doing about it in your company?
If you still haven’t signed up to
the fact the planet is in trouble,
then at the very least think of it
as the greatest PR stunt you can
pull right now. Climate matters,
to you and your customers.
08 | www.campingtradeworld.com