This is Kyboka

Kyboka is an innovation driven company dedicated to designing, manufacturing and selling outdoor carts and gear, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. We are inspired by outdoor light weight, waterproof gear and foldable mobility concepts. Our flagship design is a stylish foldable outdoor utility cart that combines all great features to make moving your gear easier and more fun.

As Kyboka grows we will continue to improve and maintain our focus on innovative functionality, ease of use and elegant design on outdoor carts and gear.

A brief history

The idea

The idea designing the Kyboka outdoor cart was born back in 2005. Because we’ve always an eye for anything on wheels, we noticed that existing carts are all compromised, i.e. they don’t combine all the benefits and features heavy users are looking for. Some carts are foldable, but rickety build, some are strong but have to knock down to put them in a car, some are very affordable, but can’t be repaired, and most of all, they are designed to be toys or to transport children. In short, existing carts just don’t cut it for adventurists and professionals who have big valuable gear packs to move.

When you want to travel light, it makes sense for a few items that bags and backpacks are the better option. But many small items add up. And what if your gear pack makes you look like a camel? Or makes you walk back and forward to get everything on location? Requires an extra pair of hands? Makes you decide to leave some of your gear behind? Becomes too much hassle to move to an other spot? Exhausts you before you could start to do your real job? Or worse, starts breaking your back?

The challenge

The vision emerged to design a great tool giving big haulers like photographers, film crews and outdoor enthusiasts a big relief and more freedom to take everything with them, in one take, wherever they go. For this, the cart should be foldable but strong, easy and stable to manoeuvre no matter what road ahead. It should be light and being able to carry lots of stuff and should be easy to repair with simple tools. On top, all parts should be connected together as one pack, such that even the smaller parts can’t get lost, folded as well as in use. And of course, it should have an outstanding weatherproof design.

An unique cart concept

The idea of building a solid but foldable carrier by means of a flexible tub was believed to be impossible. But the solution to this was in the kitchen drawer: a vintage foldable colander. What worked for my mom, should work for others too was the idea. The magic of it is that the weakest part in rest transforms into the strongest when set. Starting with some sketches and building experimental bread board models from simple tubing and duct tape a full functional model gradually came to life. The idea worked and we even got it patented.

Going Dutch

We were forced to build full scale demo prototypes from the start to make it work as envisioned and to understand fully its functionality, quality and looks. As a result, the design revealed numerous new functionalities we didn’t foresee upfront. Like three folding modes, wheels became bumpers when folded flat and when put it on a side, these still spin, making it easier to park it in a void. We needed a second model (blue) to have it further optimised. This one was presented at the Dutch Design Week of 2009 and gained lots of praise of the press and audience. Especially its design and very light manoeuvrability. High light was a publication in the bi-annual release of ‘Goed nieuws uit Nederland – 50 Meest inspirerende innovaties’.

Going East

Because money was spent easily we had to slow down the project for some years in our pursuit for funding. The project revived when chances were to go to Taiwan. With the help of many from our Taipei creative network we started to team up with experienced designers in outdoor gear and bikes. We started to collaborate with manufacturers from the bike industry to develop the cart in such way that we could start-up in small amounts in an economical way. A few months later, the first samples were ready. So a visit was paid to Taiwan which got extended by six months to get everything in place for the first run.

First shipment

In the summer of 2014 we finally received the first parts at our workshop and started assembling the carts. As sales took off, we kept working on the cart and applied improvements in our second run. We celebrated a new milestone in 2015 by the introduction of our limited flagship model: The Black Edition.

Demo’s & test rides

While assembly was up and running we went outside to show it off to the world. We wanted to gain deeper insight on how users respond to everything we put into it, like extreme light handling, thought through details and versatile functionality for convenience and comfort. For test rides we attended over 50 fairs near the beach, marinas and urban hotspots. Besides, we participated in boat shows, camping shows and the global Outdoor Show in Friedrichshafen (DE). We got featured in stores as well and in the summer of 2016 we even opened our first pop-up store down town Renesse, a popular Dutch beach resort. Here the German market opened up for us. Without exception, everywhere we went, the cart amazed many and got the approval from even the most critical visitors.

Growing global

From the beginning we have collected real user feedback on quality, functionality and joy our customers experience. Based on their input we have started developing two upgrades: a parking brake and an extendable tow rod as we improved the cart further bit by bit. We were lucky to have the support of our manufacturers to build a small first batch, the second one however, should meet their minimum order quantity. For this we had to seek substantial funding. So we went to Kickstarter and experienced that this was more of a marketing tool for us. Unfortunately we didn’t meet our funding goal and missed the opportunity to manufacture the batch for 2016, but our cart got the attention of the world. As a result, sales got boosted and we started to export to customers on four continents. And recently we sold out, but …

The journey continues

Our goal is still to build our best and most featured carts and share it with you and the rest of the world. This time we approach our funding a bit differently as we do it ourselves via our website. Mainly because backers visit us anyway, and why sharing a big piece of the pie with the middle man for displaying it only, and above all, we now have more freedom to create better perks and serve you better, like winning your cart!

We are confident to deliver you our carts as we already have an experienced supply base and executed two successful runs. Based on the response from our customers we know that we’re on the right track and are able to improve our cart along the way delivering a superb product. But our newest carts however can only come to life with your support. Therefore we hope to welcome you backing our project.

In the meantime we will continuously improve our carts toward more sophisticated, quality products such that you can enjoy more freedom having all your gear on hand, wherever you go.

Thanx a million for your support!

Fons Sweegers

Designer and founder of Kyboka

Bio

Fons Sweegers is a mechanical engineer (MSc | Eindhoven University of Technology (TUE)) and industrial designer (BA | Design Academy). He has over 20 years of experience in the front end of innovation and running start-up projects. During his career he has worked on spacecrafts, ferries, busses/ coaches, trucks, cars, caravans, as well as on healthcare, lighting and lifestyle products. On top, he has worked as an innovation consultant and helped hundreds of researchers, developers and business owners on breakthrough and breakaway innovation, both on SME and corporate level. Since 2013 he has been dedicated to make Kyboka a world wide success. Although he has a passion for anything on wheels, he loves to wander through rough landscapes the most.

Team