Screen Time: How VanEssential Became the Shop for Road-Trip Gear
This Colorado-based gear shop unique and well-crafted accessories for #vanlifers.
Image Caption: Photo Credit: VanEssential
Trying to get dressed in a van, surrounded by windows, is no easy task for someone hoping to maintain some, erm, decorum. When James Bartho couldn’t find a reliable or efficient solution for privacy, he set out to design his own. And those magnetic, insulated window covers are now the backbone of VanEssential, which manufactures a variety of gear for van travelers.
The Boulder, Colorado–based company sells an array of curtains, showers, bug screens, storage and mounting solutions for a variety of van models. Many of these product evolutions—including one of the newest additions, a unique corner track system ideal for securing bikes—come from Bartho and his team’s own lived experiences on the road. “We’re driving the industry forward because we’re thinking about it consistently,” he says.
Photo Credit: VanEssential
VanEssential controls every aspect of its production by managing a direct partnership with its factory, where the team can oversee materials, sourcing and labor. Recycled plastic is incorporated into soft goods whenever possible, and the company prides itself on making flexible, integrated products that work together in order to make van-based adventure a little easier.
Bartho didn’t start out with such lofty goals. Before he launched the company in 2019, he was sewing those window covers by himself in a garage and selling them via Craigslist. (That’s also where he bought his first Sprinter van, for $5,000.) The pre-pandemic Internet wasn’t a hotbed of parts-for-order and YouTube tutorials, so those wanting to get into vans had to play detective as they worked to convert their rides. Bartho’s 20 years of design, sourcing and sales experience for outdoor companies like Sea to Summit and BioLite gave him invaluable insight into the market, but he also brought personal experience along when he moved from Australia to the United States. “Coming from where I was, with surfboards, dirtbikes and other things, a van was the staple to move your gear around,” Bartho says.
Photo Credit: VanEssential
When the pandemic hit and everyone was looking for a way to escape and get outside, VanEssential was primed with inventory—and the company took off. Today, Bartho wants everyone to find the same joy of the open road as he savors. And that comes from simplifying travel. That’s why all VanEssential products are designed to be easy to install and store, whether you’re a DIYer or a professional. By envisioning its products as full systems, VanEssential has become a one-stop shop for four-wheeled adventure gear.
“The product that we build really is trying to help people along their journey and to get them out there in a more efficient way,” Bartho says. “The vans now have come a long way to being really beautifully built and using nice materials. We wanted to make sure the product line complemented that.”
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
