San Francisco, CA, February 13, 2020– Oru Kayak, the makers of the original origami-inspired kayak, is a proud recipient of an Outdoor Retailer Innovation Award for the company’s Inlet kayak. The award was presented during the second annual Outdoor Retailer Innovation Awards show held at this year’s Outdoor + Snow Show in Denver, CO. Chosen amongst 30 other finalists within outdoor products, materials and services, the Inlet was recognized for its groundbreaking compact size, weight and ease of assembly.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to be recognized by Outdoor Retailer and the outdoors industry in general,” commented Jess Anthony, Marketing Director for Oru. “Feedback from our customers and retailers has informed a decade of R&D, using origami to create simple, packable kayaks. With the Inlet, we utilized all of our experience creating foldable kayaks to make the most portable and affordable boat yet.”
Oru’s Inlet elegantly solves the most common barriers to kayak ownership: storage and transport. By inventing an entirely new origami folding pattern—the first redesign in the company’s history—Oru has created a stable, 10’ kayak that weighs 20lbs., folds into a box approximately the size of a guitar case (40”x19”x10”), and can be assembled in under 3 minutes. The Inlet costs less than premium SUPs and is manufacturer-rated for 20,000 fold cycles. The Inlet was originally unveiled via crowdfunding in late-summer 2019, ultimately raising more than $1M as the highest-funded campaign ever for a personal watercraft, and will be available for consumers in June 2020.
This year’s Outdoor Retailer Innovation awards were determined by a 19-member judging panel comprised of veteran leadership in product design across academia and the outdoor industry. The panel was tasked with evaluating products against a strict criteria of spark, design, function and impact. Ultimately,16 products and services were awarded, including Oru’s Inlet kayak.
For more information on the Inlet from Oru Kayak, please visit orukayak.com. For a complete list of 2020 Outdoor Retailer Innovation Award winners, go here.
