From a brain fart to a new idea
For the Turkana Team, it remains challenging to work through the bucket load of ideas we have. To take just a single idea to market is a time consuming and complex venture. We work relentlessly through each idea to a point where we think it is possible to manufacture a product at a cost that will result in an acceptable price for our customers.
We want to add value to a rider's experience and for them to love our products. The design process for each new product starts with our passion to solve problems.
Get riding, get travelling longer than just a quick weekend, get dirty, travel to places where there are no Coca-Cola billboards, and you can’t get your selfie to upload to the ‘gram.
Our ideas do not just spring to life, they evolve over time from many brain farts to full-grown concepts with even more ideas ending up dead. Mostly these ideas come to life through accidents, chats around campfires, or being stuck in a foreign country during a lockdown of pandemic proportions – but always making sure we tick all the boxes on the critical criteria we have stamped out during this process.
1st stage design and engineering.
This is where we beat each other up on the differences we want and demand in a product. Normally from the initial idea to the 1st prototype, we have a few sizing and shape mock-ups. From there we make a few prototypes for testing and different prototypes out of different materials.
We do not have fancy supercomputers to help with 3D modelling and drawings. It is all done by hand drawings, paper mock-ups, cutting up frayed (stained?) sheets stolen from old stinking hostels, "misappropriated" red Turkish Airlines blankies and everything else we can find to work with to bring the idea across. Luckily for us, our factories know how we roll and understand our thinking.
Focusing on design - we focus on what you’ll be using the product for – You pack differently for a short, lightweight enduro ride than for a long week Adventure trip on your heavily loaded 1250.
Trying to destroy the good work
Testing is always fun.
Seeing a new design come to life and perform as we intended, albeit always with going back to the drawing board to make changes, is an awesome feeling. We test the gear on different motorcycles for sizing, fit and shape, we test for possible damages and, when all is said and done, we take it to fulltime testing. Just dragging and destroying a product is easy, any gorilla can do that.
Our testing is done by ourselves and a very small dodgy bunch of friends who are also knowledgeable about the set criteria that a product must meet to pass our requirements. We have so many combined years of off-road, enduro and adventure trip expertise to understand how products should behave and perform. And of course, we still make stupid mistakes, but that is part of the fun and the learning curve.
We do not rely on our manufacturers to make sure the products meet minimum standards. That is simply not how we roll. We set our own requirements, and then make sure our products meet those - it is a process we take very seriously.
In the end, when the fat lady has sung, there is nothing like real-world testing, by using and abusing the gear during amazing trips, the kind of adventures it was made for!
Never stop evolving
Your opinion matters A LOT! And your feedback is therefore important to us. The continued development of our Turkana gear is the result of using the products ourselves, and more importantly, listening to the feedback from dealers and customers. By doing that, we continue to improve on our products by making sure we use this critical feedback in the strive for even better-developed products. Materials and fabrics also improve over time, which we continue to incorporate in our new designs.
Our partners in the manufacturing process are also constantly looking out for new and improved ways to innovate their production processes. We work closely with them as we are constantly testing and trying new buckles, fabrics or other solutions that could result in an improvement to our products.
Non-stop adventuring
The world is open for everyone who is fortunate enough to travel and see all the wonders it has to offer. Even if this means taking just a small bite from a bigger chunk at a time.
We hope that our passion and love for travel and our design ideas resulted in products that will be of value to you, our customer. We constantly rethink the normal and try to stay outside the box in which conventional thinking lives.
It does not take much to make the same old, same old. For us, however, the fun is in creating new and exciting stuff that will also be appreciated and enjoyed by our fellow aficionados!
