There’s a different kind of freedom you experience when you’re preparing to explore your surroundings on a bike rather than in a car. Just give your tires a squeeze, pack a pannier, and pedal onward. Swift Industries has made two-wheeled excursions even more accessible by creating stylish and functional products facilitating and inspiring people to go on environmentally friendly adventures. Celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2018, Swift has significantly evolved from their humble beginnings when the company was founded by Martina Brimmer at just 25-years-old with $300 and a sewing machine. Now heading up a globally recognized independent outdoor brand, Martina believes one of the keys to the brand’s success is personal growth.
“Are you ready for real talk? The entrepreneur community seldom speaks to the evolving personal, creative and emotional needs of company founders,” says Martina. “What’s most important for me is the fact I’m one of a true minority of female entrepreneurs in the bicycle and outdoor industries. I’ve built a company from the ground up, which has had the dynamism and agility to sustain me as I get to know myself again and again.”
Real talk, indeed. We recently caught up with Martina to learn about the origins of Swift, their products promoting travel by bicycle, and the importance of encouraging more people to adventure on two wheels.
Q. What inspired you to start the brand?
A. When we started Swift Industries, there weren’t any bicycle bags for commuting and adventuring that looked rad. All of the companies making really functional bicycle bags were producing generic styles in institutional colors. It was time for something fresh, for bags that fit the aesthetics of young, urban users without compromising on function.
Q. Swift has played a big role in bike-camping. Why is it important to the brand, what do you love about it, and how do your products facilitate bike-camping adventures?
Bike-camping is central to our company because traveling by bicycle has been an important catalyst for self-discovery and sense of place for both me and my co-founder Jason Goodman. It’s hard to convey my sense of liberation when starting bicycle touring. From covering territory using my own strength, to the intimate nature of the bicycle’s pace and proximity to communities and landscapes, it completely won me over. We believe traveling by bicycle is restorative, inspiring and generative. Our bags are tools designed to facilitate and inspire the immersive exploration of adventuring by bicycle.
Q. How do you design products to encourage people to ride their bikes more?
We design bags that enhance the bicycling experience with functional features making cyclists more capable, nimble and free to move independently. A stellar example is the backpack conversion on our Roll Top Panniers. The magic of a pannier is the bicycle does the heavy-lifting, liberating the rider from weight. Freedom of movement shouldn’t stop when getting off the bicycle. We took the assignment one step further by adding backpack straps to our Roll Top Panniers so the bag is as comfortable and easy to carry off bike as on.
Q. Why is it important more people cycle as a mode of transportation?
The environmental benefit we all initially think of is reducing fuel consumption and emissions. When we opt to pedal for transportation, we improve air quality, but we also reduce demand for expansion of oil extraction. Broadening our definition of environmental benefits to cities, we’re talking about decreasing congestion, noise and chaos of traffic. Imagine how much green space could be freed by reducing demand for parking lots? Then there is the physical health and well-being of citizens in our communities. The positive impacts of bicycling on quality of life are significant on both the large and individual scale. It’s really impressive.
Dedicated to S.J. Brooks. In loving memory and endless gratitude for the lessons you taught me in our short time sharing a path on this wild and beautiful Earth. You remain in every mountain top, pine tree and forest path. – Martina Brimmer
Images courtesy of Swift Industries.
xx Alex
This article was originally published in RANGE Magazine Issue Nine.