Chapter 3: Splat!

With a van full of still-warm-from-the-kitchen Adventure Packs, Eric and I attended our inaugural bike race with real Embark Maple Energy.  The Coffee Maple & Salted Embark varieties were a hit, the weekend was a delightful adventure, and new friends & connections were made with a community of cyclists who embodied the Good Energy we sought to share.  We rolled home with spirits lifted and an excitement for what the first year of Embark Maple Energy, our new direction in life, would bring.

Back home the third launch variety, Elderberry Maple, was pouched and Kickstarter rewards were put in the mail.  Our team began reaching out to bike shops & outdoor retailers where we hoped to sell Embark.  Things were looking good!

And then something strange happened.  Eric was volunteering at a local trail maintenance day and had thrown an Embark pack in his lunchbox, just like he had many times before.  When he sat down and opened his lunch he was greeted with a sticky mess.  And then a Kickstarter backer emailed that one of their Embark packs broke in shipping.  And then another.  A deep sinking feeling descended.  The pouches were breaking.  But they had been tested!  They had survived mountain summits in the Rockies, whitewater canoe trips in Northern Wisconsin, & bikepacking adventures through the Cascades; there was no way this could be happening!  But it was. Durability testing commenced, the packs failed immediately.  Something was wrong.

Phone calls were made, emails sent.  Assurances were given.  And then apologies.  There had been a mistake.  An additional layer we requested that provided durability & strength had been omitted from the pouch material.  The Maple Energy inside was still perfectly good, just in a less-rugged pouch than what had been expected, tested, ordered, required.  Just *slightly* different.  But not really rugged.  Not really ready for the outdoors.  Not really at all what we had spent the past year developing, saving up for, betting the farm on, bringing to life.  Not something we felt good about putting out into the world.    

We looked out over pallet after pallet, more than 65,000 Embark packs, in delicate, un-adventurous pouches.  WTF now?