We are a father-daughter team that started our small business journey together after being inspired to build a lighter and multi-use bear canister while hiking the John Muir Trail together over a decade ago. 

Since 2007, we have passionately played a part in the effort to protect bears and their natural habitat through the creation, production, and distribution of the LIGHTER1 Bear Canister. We're proud to have partnered with like-minded companies that promote responsible consumerism and redefine conservation, which you can find listed below. 

We invite you to join our efforts to minimize the human footprint on bear habitats and the environment at large through recreating and consuming responsibly.

In 2007, Steve and his family backpacked the John Muir Trail together, traversing the backcountry of California's beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range. Like he was apt to do, Steve used the experience as an opportunity to share his heart for environmental conservation with his family, a lesson that was life-changing in numerous ways for his daughter, Samantha. Together, they took their passions for miniziming the human footprint on the environment and innovating in the outdoor recreation industry and created a lighter, multi-use bear canister, now affectionately known as the LIGHTER1 "Big Daddy" and "Lil Sami" bear canisters. Since then, they have partnered with several companies and organizations to promote the protection of bears and their natural habitat. Their affiliation with these companies has also helped promote responsible consumerism as a crucial facet of conservation of this beautiful and life-giving Earth.