Tropicfeel are relatively new on the scene – but appropriately enough for a company that started out making ‘the world’s most crowdfunded shoe’, this Barcelona-based brand has hit the ground running. Their story started in 2016, when co-founder Alberto Espinós and his mate returned from a backpacking trip to Thailand with a serious gripe. The problem, as they saw it, was that their gear just wasn't versatile enough. They were ponying around multiple sets of kit for various different activities, spread across a mismatched set of duffels, day-packs and bum-bags.
Alberto’s vision of travel was one where a single set of apparel would do for hiking, adventurous activities and city breaks, and where adaptable, modular luggage could be combined with an efficient 'ecosystem' of accessories. Working from the ground up, he began by designing a multi-functional travel shoe, pitching it straight to a worldwide community of globe-trotters through an ambitious and meticulously planned crowdfunder.
What followed was one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever to come out of Spain, and Tropicfeel have been quietly rewriting the backpacker rulebook ever since.
What's kind of special about Tropicfeel is an obsessive desire to move forward – to make each new product and iteration that bit cleverer and more versatile than the last. They're also hugely conscious of their own impact, with recycled materials and ethical manufacturing at the heart of pretty much everything they do.
