Our Story
Objective and responsibility - Production - Service - Why Pinguin - History
is one of the oldest Czech brands making equipment for an active stay outdoor. It belongs among the traditional manufacturers in the tourism segment, who have shaped outdoor equipment in the form we know it now.
The owner of the Pinguin brand is the Czech company Activent 365 s.r.o., headed by the original founders.
The company's headquarters, development, service workshop and warehouses are in the Czech Republic, the town of Nachod in Eastern Bohemia in Podkrkonoší.
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Our company employs 20 qualified Czech employees. Many of them have been active in the company since company establishment or since its‘ transfer from Brno to eastern Bohemia.
Objective and responsibility
Our goal is to produce functional, long-term reliable and affordable equipment for an active stay in nature.
Our driving force is the trying to create products with the maximum possible lifetime, which contributes to the sustainable development of the company and the protection of our planet.
This, is why we devote much of our time and effort to developing, selecting materials, selecting suppliers, and processing customer feedback from product testing. Sometimes at the cost of later marketing.
The fact of no security risk, health-conscious recyclable products is a matter of course for us.
Production
Due to the level of demand and the growing range of products, Pinguin products are manufactured mainly in Asia by specialized suppliers working with state-of-the-art technologies.
We realize that the quality of workmanship and lifespan of products are the result of the work of experienced and motivated employees who work in a safe working environment and can fully concentrate on their work.
For the above reason, the working environment of all our suppliers is monitored by independent audits (BSCI) and must meet the requirements of SA8000:2008 on Working Conditions for Employees.
We require the fulfillment of the above requirements from all our suppliers and is a condition for our cooperation.
Our suppliers are companies with many years of experience in the field and long tradition. Our mutual cooperation and business relationship with them is long-lasting. Thanks to this, we are able, to conduct open and honest discussions together to improve production, delivery, development and, last, but not least, friendly conversations.
Wages in Asia have been steadily rising in recent years, making it a great challenge for manufacturers to keep experienced staff. For this reason, our suppliers are also responsible for their statutory duties, paying full wages to their employees, overtime pay, including good performance bonuses.
Representatives of Activent 365 s.r.o. personally visit all our collaborating operations at least twice a year and can see for themselves the ever-increasing quality of working conditions.
Service
The interest in our products does not end with the sale to the customer. For all our products, we have both warranty and post-warranty service throughout the lifetime of the product.
Selected products from our offer have a superior three-year warranty.
Our service workshop is equipped and ready for any repairs to Pinguin products, so we can significantly extend the life of the purchased product to help protect our planet and you.
In 2017, we became proud members of the European Association EOCA, which associates outdoor companies around the world to raise funds for nature conservation projects.
Why Pinguin
The name of the Pinguin brand was chosen as a synonym of resistance to a wildly growing plant on the slopes of the South American Andes, high above the forests, in the rocky and inhospitable environment of strong wind, ice and snow - Bromelia Pinguin.
Pinguin products have been used and tested by the number of alpine expeditions, including those to the highest peaks in the world. Knowledge and incentives are taken into the account when innovating and designing new models to provide the best functionality, comfort and safety. Thanks to this, Pinguin has found thousands of satisfied customers and is now distributed to the number of countries in Europe and beyond.
History
The history of the products, under the future brand of Pinguin, started around 1986, when products on the Czech market began to appear for the needs of travelers, adventurers, climbers and other nature enthusiasts.
"The first impulse was the need to equip, in a time of pre-revolutionary, inaccessible outdoor equipment that we knew from our Western friends or television broadcasters."
This gave the impulse to rise to the idea of small-scale production for friends and acquaintances, and in the future, it will start up the serial production. The first products, tailored to specific people, were feather jackets and sleeping bags. Their handmade production in a one-bedroom student apartment in Brno soon became popular and sought after throughout the city.
The situation around 1988/1989 and the demand for outdoor products at that time was such that they were no exception to the queue of eager customers waiting for another supply of Pinguin goods.
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Pinguin Parker Jacket from 2005 |
Pinguin Explorer Backpack from 2004 |
We are already in the middle of the nineties, when the company as one of the first Czech manufacturers starts with the development of light two-layer tents for hiking and mountaineering. The very first version of the very popular (now innovated) tent with the crossed construction, Gemini is created. In the first versions, with home-turned dural segments.
Tent Pinguin Gemini 2004
The official establishment of the company is due to the possibilities of private business in Czechoslovakia since 1989.
In 1996, the production of Pinguin products moved from Brno to Velký Poříčí in East Bohemia and the number of employees increased from two to 20.
Ten years later, in 2006, due to insufficient operating and warehouse space, the company moved to the nearby district town of Nachod, where it is housed till today.
Since then, the Pinguin range has expanded considerably and includes a wide range of equipment for active outdoor activities.
With increasing brand experience and growing experience, our demands for the quality, functionality and durability of Pinguin products also grow.