History

Jörg Schulze, a passionate outdoorsman, starts his North Cape-Cape Town expedition in 1987. He covers 37,000 km in seven months in a VW Beetle. Always in his luggage: a tent. His experience as an outdoor retailer and tester of various tents inspires him to get to work himself. Using a household sewing machine, he made his first prototypes from cotton fabric. Shortly afterwards, he founded the company “Wechsel” with a friend. In 1994, the first collection of seven tents and accessories was created.

The first handmade catalog is produced for the collection, after which the first tents are delivered in 1996. Soon afterwards, industry leader Globetrotter Ausrüstung stocked our tents in its range – a huge success!

The freestanding 1-person Pathfinder tent opens new grounds. The self-supporting tent construction is of great importance, especially when the ground is too hard for tent pegs. The Pathfinder has become one of our classics and is an integral part of the Wechsel collection of tents.

The Outpost has been around from the beginning until today. Originally given the model name “TZ“, it has undergone more than just a facelift over the years. The unique selling point of the tunnel tent has remained to this day: The asymmetrical inner tent cut.

On the tenth anniversary of the market launch, Wechsel presents a new brand logo and gives itself a contemporary look at international trade fairs.

Wechsel has always had a strong customer focus. In 2007, the "Forum 42", was developed together with the outdoor community of the largest German-based forum for outdoor sports and travelling (outdoorseiten.net). "Right from the start, our mission was to create tents for real outdoor enthusiasts. For this reason, we wanted to involve the target group in product development", says Jörg Schulze. Launched at the 2007 OutDoor trade fair, the result impressed both retailers and the press.

Wechsel widens the product range to include different types of sleeping mats. A highlight is the Nubo series, one of the first air mats with wool filling. Worldwide.

Winner of the industry award for the Wechsel Approach 2 at the OutDoor 2016.

From now on, a sleeping bag series completes the Wechsel sleeping set-up.

With Bella, WECHSEL launches a new tent, developed with the help of the female outdoor community. In the competition for all-female equipment, Bella's co-creative development process impresses the jury of #sheisoutdoors and wins gold in the camping category.

To mark its 30th anniversary, Wechsel presents a new website.