The team at Khione had a bold idea: create an all-in-one hammock, tent, and insulated sleep system that could be suspended from just two points. It was designed to capture the growing demand in the hammock camping market, while retaining the simplicity of “the original hammock way.”
Their early prototype, made by a US sewing factory, showed promise but also highlighted challenges. The design didn’t fully capture the essence of Khione’s vision, and waterproofing a suspended shelter proved far more complex than expected. With no groundsheet to rely on, every seam, zip, and angle had to perform flawlessly.
That’s when Khione turned to Mouse Design, looking for specialist expertise in outdoor gear and performance fabric design.
At Mouse, we’ve spent years working on outdoor sports and technical fabric products, from backpacks to expedition tents. We understand how real-world use stresses products in ways that assessing a sample in the workshop never can. Khione needed a partner who could reverse-engineer their prototype, identify what worked, and engineer a new design that could be manufactured reliably at scale.
We began by living with the product. Yes, that meant a lot of time lying around in hammocks – but this stage was critical. By using the prototype in real conditions, we experienced its strengths and weaknesses firsthand.
From there, we worked closely with Khione to define the improvements needed:
Each of these “small” details required engineering-led solutions – far more technical than a conventional tent design.
We translated our learnings into full 3D CAD engineering drawings and detailed pattern work. These were used to create a refined prototype with Khione’s factory in the Far East.
The first sample from this process was a breakthrough. The geometry worked, the waterproofing held, and the zip engineering delivered both durability and ease of use. With confidence in the design, Khione was ready to launch.
Khione introduced their hammock tent system to the world via Kickstarter. The campaign was a resounding success, reaching full funding and confirming strong demand for innovative hammock camping gear. Khione exceeded its $15,000 target cost and raised $94,179 in backing for this product.
From that point, the product moved into full production and has since become a favourite among the hammock camping community.
Check out the kickstarter page for this product Here
or Khione’s website Here
For Khione, the project opened the door to a wider product range in hammock camping. For Mouse, it marked the beginning of several more hammock-related design collaborations, particularly with US brands where hammock camping has a strong following.
To date, our team has gone on to design six or seven additional hammock camping products, each building on the lessons learned from the Khione project.
And on a personal note: if you’ve never tried hammock camping, we can’t recommend it enough. It’s a unique way to experience the outdoors, light, comfortable, and just a little bit adventurous.
This project is a great example of how design engineering and outdoor expertise can transform a clever idea into a successful product. By combining real-world testing, CAD development, and close collaboration with factories, Mouse Design helped Khione bring their vision to life and to market.
At Mouse, we love working on projects where the challenge is high and the outcome makes people’s adventures better. If you’ve got an outdoor product idea, we’d love to hear from you.
