Solo Stove, Chubbies, Oru Kayak and ISLE Team Up Under Solo Brands

John Merris and his team at the outdoor firepit brand Solo Stove didn’t set out to become serial acquirers, but that’s exactly what happened when the growth equity-backed company went from zero acquisitions to three bolt-ons in the span of just a few months.

Solo Stove’s recent acquisition of men’s outdoor apparel brand Chubbies Shorts follows the May acquisition of Oru Kayak and the August acquisition of paddleboard maker ISLE. The result: a new outdoor platform called Solo Brands, with the quartet of businesses now working together under the majority ownership of Boston-based Summit Partners.

CEO John Merris sat down with Outside Business Journal to share how the idea for Solo Brands was born and the company’s vision to build a better, community-oriented customer experience.

“We truly believe that the next decade and beyond is going to be led by direct-to-consumer, digitally native brands that know how to deliver and are obsessed about delivering an exceptional customer experience. We believe that, if done right, bringing brands together as we’ve done is better than any one of us could have done it by ourselves. It’s going to give us improved access to the customer, and it’s going to give our customer better options.”

Read more in Outside Business Journal