An Insulated bottle for coffee & cocktails? We’re in.

Are you a traveling coffee connoisseur who also appreciates a well-crafted cocktail? Or maybe you’re a loose leaf tea aficionado with a taste for fruit infused water.

Whatever drink is your jam, have we got a recommendation for you.

Say hello to Hibear, the brand behind the new All Day Adventure Flask. This Swiss Army Knife of insulated travel bottles does it all in one sleek package: start your day with a classic pour-over, enjoy ice-cold water throughout the day, then finish it all with a fruity beverage of your choosing. From cold brew to cocktails and everything in between, this bottle has you covered.

We are seriously obsessed with the All Day Adventure Flask. It’s perfect for camping, traveling, and backyard adventures. Even better? It was started with sustainability in mind.

With a Kickstarter that hit it’s $10,000 funding goal within an hour of launching, this bottle is going places. So, we wanted to sit down with the owner of Hibear, Mark Tsigounis, to see what he was all about. 

Q: Mark - tell us a little bit about yourself and how you decided to start Hibear.

A: I grew up in New Jersey near the Appalachian Trail. I know! It’s hard to believe that there is more to Jersey than the parkway and the shore! I grew up loving the outdoors. My first love was snowboarding for sure. My first board was a Burton Air 3.9 I got when I was 11 years old, which was a step up from the bright orange saucer I would “surf” down the local hill on (we had these in NJ. Hills, that is). Going to school in New Hampshire introduced me to the White Mountains and was the first time I actually felt like I was in the wild. The Presidential Range is super special. I have always loved the outdoors and travel. I could go on, and I get wanderlust just thinking about it all. It was that sort of inspiration that I want to share with the world. Which is what Hibear is all about.

Q: Out of curiosity, where did the name Hibear come from? 

A: In 2014 I summited Mount Katahdin, completing my Appalachian Trail through-hike. The adventure was even sweeter because my wife (then girlfriend) had come from NJ to Baxter State Park to celebrate the end of my 2180 mile journey. On the drive out, we passed an outdoor store where I bought a new hat. 

That hat came everywhere with me.

We drove the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in a Juicy camper van. We visited Half Moon Bay where I proposed, then I deployed with the US Navy to the Horn of Africa where I spent a year. After returning home, we set out for a three month trip to South America. 

We were on the bow of our boat off the coast of the island Fernandina. A breeze kicked up. Before I could even react it blew my hat overboard. My new friend Pierre turned to me and said in his French accent, “That hat was a part of you” without even knowing the history. 

The hat I carried on many adventures had a waving bear on it. It's just a hat, that’s true. But the things in our life that we cherish can stand more than just their utility. It is the story they tell which makes them special. It is what inspired me to create things that go beyond their utility and tell an amazing story. Also, it’s a great way to let a bear know you’re nearby. HEEEY BEAR!

Q: What has the process been like for creating the bottle? How long has this been in the making? 

A: We put everything we had into creating it over the last 2 plus years. It’s been a wild ride! We made zero compromises when it came to creating a bottle with more usable versatility than anything we could find. The challenge was to maintain a beautiful rugged form while maintaining simplicity. That’s a tough thing to do when you are aiming to maximize versatility in a 32oz vacuum insulated bottle. We were stoked to be recognized with a Red Dot Award this year. It helped give us the design validation we worked so hard for.  Personally, I love starting my day with pour-over, but it’s pretty cool showing up to someone’s house with an icy cold, shaken, spicy mezcal margarita ready to rock in your Adventure Flask. Friends are generally like, “woah”.

Q: It sounds like being environmentally conscious is important to Hibear. How have you made that a priority throughout the process of creating the bottle? 

A: As an outdoor company, we are at the forefront of sustainability. We believe the products we create have a direct impact on reducing the amount of trash in our landfills and oceans. We achieve this through long-lasting design quality, reusability, and a commitment to be carbon neutral and support climate change non-profit initiatives. We are also just rolling out the gate, and over time we’ll get even better.  

Q: And, in line with that question, what’s Hibear’s mission? What values drive your company? 

A: It’s so easy to go into robot mode and regurgitate some rehearsed corporate speak. But if we must - We make adventure and travel gear using smart, sustainable design. Travel and adventure are at the core of who we are. Every contributor, follower, backer, admirer of the Hibear brand has a dope story to tell, and we love that we get to be a part of it.  We want to cultivate those epic experiences and help others enjoy all this planet has to offer. Being conscious of our impact on the planet and making sustainable choices in design is really a no-brainer for us. We’re not perfect, but we're committed to doing better. By making more functional stuff, we can reduce the need for additional gear. We can also keep more trash out of landfills by building products that last longer. 

Q: The All-Day Adventure Flask has been wildly successful on Kickstarter. Congratulations! Was there a reason you decided to Kickstart the project?

A: Thank you! It is a great way to rally your community behind you for a kind of ushering-in event. So it’s kind of like hosting a party for 30 days. Which makes crowdfunding hard... like, really hard. But, we are super fortunate to have an outstanding community of adventure seekers come out and back us!

Q: We at Bucket want to make adventure travel and the outdoors more accessible. Knowing that, what do you think Bucket subscribers would love about Hibear? 

A: Funny, because we at Hibear want to make adventure and travel better through smart, sustainable design. It’s pretty enjoyable to share a beverage between strangers, lovers, friends, dogs, friends with dogs... really anyone. We love that the Adventure Flask can be the olive branch to facilitate those stories and create experiences around a campfire or kitchen table. 

Q: Where do you see Hibear in a year? 5 years? 

A: That’s so exciting to think about because it’s so far away, but there is so much possibility! It really depends on where our community steers us. We have our own great ideas on where to go, and if people want to get on and help drive this crazy train of awesome, then let’s go do this. We have a lot of hard stuff to do first before we can do the fun dreamy stuff.

Q: Going forward, how does Hibear plan to support diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the outdoors?

A:  We are dedicated to being part of the solution and want to hit refresh on the idea of what an outdoors person should look like. We talk about DEI initiatives as one of our key priorities moving forward, and once we have a successful Kickstarter campaign, we plan to make inclusivity one of Hibear's pillars.

Q: Here’s the real question: how can we get our hands on a bottle? Can we still get one through Kickstarter? 

A: Yes! We’ll be on Kickstarter until the 9th of October, where you can pre-order one today. Just bring your creativity and excitement and your bottle will serve you well!

We still have a few more months before the All Day Adventure Flask is ready to roll - Mark expects these bad boys to ship no later than May 2021. But if you’re as excited as we are and want to snag one for an early-bird discount, head on over to their Kickstarter today. Limitless beverage options await!