I'm the one behind French Light Outdoor—it's me, Florent 👋🏻
As someone who is passionate about hiking, camping, and ultralight gear, I design and make equipment designed for spending extended periods outdoors with minimal gear.
French Light Outdoor was born out of a simple desire: to create the gear that I myself wanted to take out into the field.
So it all started with my own camping trips.
I enjoyed traveling light, but I also liked understanding my gear, modifying it, and figuring out how to improve it. I started making my first pieces of ultralight gear to meet my exact needs.
Then I started making them for friends. One piece, then another. The prototypes became products, and that passion gradually evolved into French Light Outdoor.
Even today, the process remains the same: research, design, build, test, and repeat until I end up with a piece of equipment I'm satisfied with.
Equipment tested outdoors.
Much of my equipment is made right here in my workshop in France.
I select the materials, develop the products, create the prototypes, and oversee their manufacturing. Every detail serves a purpose: to reduce weight where appropriate, improve comfort, simplify use, or increase durability.
But outdoor gear isn't judged solely on a workbench—it's judged outdoors.
“Prototypes and new gear are tested on hikes and overnight camping trips—sometimes for kilometers—before they make it to the store.”
I'm not the only one putting the equipment through its paces.
Over the years, many hiking enthusiasts and outdoor content creators have used French Light Outdoor gear in their own activities.
These tests remain independent: the equipment can be purchased or provided free of charge, with no compensation offered in exchange for a positive review. Their experiences and feedback allow me to compare my choices with other approaches and further improve the products.
But French Light Outdoor is, above all, a community.
French Light Outdoor has grown alongside the people who use its products.
Your feedback after riding several hundred kilometers, your photos from your campsites, your comments, your ideas, and sometimes even your outlandish requests all contribute to FLO’s evolution.
That’s probably what I love most about this adventure: seeing equipment that was designed and built in the workshop go out into the world.
Thank you for being part of this adventure.
— Florent
Did you know?
Some names have a story behind them.
The names of French Light Outdoor products aren't always chosen at random. Orion, which is now the name of our Quilts, was our cat. Phergal, whose name is now used for our Fergal down jackets, was our dog.
They have both left us, but their names continue to be part of French Light Outdoor’s history—and, in a way, to accompany you on the trails.
A simple way to keep those who have been important to us close to our hearts.
