It started with a bad picnic.

A rocky riverbank outside Montagu, warm wine, and a blanket that came home wetter than it left. Somewhere between wringing it out in the driveway and swearing never again, House of Arlo started.

The idea was not complicated. Almost everything sold for being outdoors in this country is either technical gear built for a mountain nobody is climbing, or it is cheap, and it falls apart in one summer. There was very little made for what South Africans actually do outdoors — which is eat, drink, sit for four hours, and drive somewhere beautiful to do it.

So that is what we make. Every piece answers something small and specific that goes wrong. The wine that gets warm on the way. The blanket that will not fold back into anything. The chair that sits too upright to properly relax in. The cooler that looks like a cooler.

What we will not do

We will not release a piece we have not used for a full season ourselves. We will not make something in nine colourways because it is easy. And we will not pretend a thing is handmade in the Karoo when it is not — our textiles and hardware are made to our specification by manufacturing partners we visit, and the design, testing and standards are entirely ours.

Female founded

House of Arlo is owned and run by women, in Cape Town. That is not a marketing line at the bottom of a page — it shapes what gets made. A cooler bag you can carry across your body because your hands are full. A blanket sized for a family rather than a catalogue. Things designed by people who are actually the ones packing the car.

— Lara