One of the things we love most about making canvas wall tents and gear by hand? That crafting our products gets to be a conversation.
At Diamond Brand Gear, customization is built into the (oftentimes literal) fabric of what we do. Nothing about our production process is static; thanks to our made-to-order abilities as handcrafted tentmakers, we’re able to design and adapt tents for individual customers’ needs. And that means a level of personalization that, pretty simply, isn’t possible with most big-box retailers.
Our Made-to-Order Canvas Wall Tents Are a Collaboration.
As Maria Lassman, a five-year Diamond Brand vet who started her career here on the production floor, put it, the way we make our tents is a dialogue — and not just a one-way transaction.
“One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about working here at Diamond Brand is that conversation is always easily accessible and questions are always heard, whether it’s something that’s possible or completely outside of what we do,” Lassman says, using the example of a customer who later realizes they’d like a window added to their tent. “If somebody came back to us and said, ‘Hey, I really love my tent but I have this beautiful view,’ Diamond Brand would have that conversation and, if it’s not possible, come up with a solution. I feel like we always come back with an offering of some sort.”
“Conversation is always accessible and questions are always heard.”
Maria Lassman, Diamond Brand Gear Customer Service & Sales
In her time at Diamond Brand, Lassman, who now works in customer service and sales, has had the chance to help hundreds of customers make their dream wall tent a reality. Whether the goal is a wall of view-affording windows, stove jack and electricity customizations, or simply a preferred tent fabric type and color, having these conversations with customers means Lassman gets to “really help bring to life what they’re looking for.”
“People call you and say, ‘Oh, I have a quick question about your tent,’ and it turns into this really nice conversation where I can almost picture the tent and the feeling that they want to get out of it,” she says. “They’re sharing with me that they’re putting it on land they just bought and that they have young kids and are building a house with a beautiful view of a river. Allowing that space for them just to talk it through with us and tell us what they want out of their tent… people have been very open about saying, ‘Wow, this has been such a great experience, to be able to get some real answers.’”
Finding Creative Solutions for Canvas Wall Tents, Together.
What, exactly, have some of these customized solutions looked like? Lassman says she’s been continually impressed by Diamond Brand Gear customers, who are “really creative, and who think outside of the box.”
One example is the way rain flys have been customized to imaginatively expand a tent’s footprint, creating additional living space in the front or back. And, on the subject of additional space, Lassman has seen wall tent platforms utilized in pretty innovative ways, too: “Some people do cool things with their platforms, giving almost a wraparound porch to the tent which then transforms it into a really cool semi-permanent structure.”
Other customers opt to collaborate with Diamond Brand Gear on decaling their canvas wall tent with art or logos, which Lassman calls “a really fun way to make it your own,” or to add things like mud flaps, improving tent functionality in wetter environments.
So, too, have some made-to-order adjustments allowed Diamond Brand Gear to help make customers’ tents more inclusive and accessible. That’s been true of our longtime partnership with the Scouting community, for instance. “I know a couple of camps that want to have wheelchair access to tents and things like that,” Lassman says. “Their tent frames look different, and we’ve been able to help customize the canvas parts of their tents so that it fits their needs.”
Largely to thank for this made-to-order nimbleness, Lassman adds, is the fact that all of Diamond Brand’s research and design is done in-house. That means wall tent customizations “become a conversation with the team of, ‘Alright, this person is looking for this very specific thing — they want to create, for instance, openings for electric outlets,’” she says. “Then, we can work with them on figuring out what would be the best way to do that without really changing the tent too much.”
Ready to Make Your Custom Wall Tent Happen?
When made-to-order adaptations don’t significantly alter a tent’s structure, the team’s timeline is usually about four to six weeks to bring the project to life, Lassman says. And when the requested customization is a little more extensive, the process could extend more than six weeks. But the team, she adds, is committed to seeing collaborations through and making customers’ visions for their canvas wall tent possible, however they can.
“We know that people have an understanding of what they want out of their tent and what is truly important for them, whether they’re using the tent as living quarters or for a weekend getaway,” she says. “Having a relationship with a company like ours means they get to have a say in their tent and a little bit of a sense of ownership in the process.”
Want to collaborate on making your customized, dream tent a reality? Shoot us an email, or give us a call. We’d love to hear from you!