Since our start back in 2019, we have gotten the privilege to work with and get to know the people behind some pretty incredible outdoor companies and organizations. Whether they sell products we love or provide programs for families to enjoy the outdoors, the main thing they all have in common is a passion for encouraging and making it easier for everyone to get out in nature, especially families.
For this next installment of our “Brands We Love” blog series, we want to highlight an awesome brand with some pretty innovative gear coming out that will make it even easier for families with young children to get out on adventures.
Milk X Whiskey is a company dedicated to getting families outside, especially once kids are added to the mix. They firmly believe that an adventurous lifestyle is not only possible but hugely beneficial to all members of a family, from the squishy newborn to the seasoned parents. Similar to our own story, they couldn’t find outdoor gear (in this case, an outdoor adventure-friendly diaper bag) to fit their family’s adventure needs, so they took it upon themselves to create a solution for their own kiddos (you can find their innovative Adventure Proof Diaper Bag on Kickstarter Now!).
Ryan, one of the founders of Milk X Whiskey, shares their company mission, and why their product makes it easier for families to explore nature together.
Tell Us About Milk X Whiskey. What is the Story Behind Your Name?
Milk is the nurturing side. Family is the most important. We know having children is not the end of our adventures but rather a whole new beginning.
X is the crossroads when we find out we are expecting a child and make the decision to keep the outdoor adventure going.
Whiskey is the defining trait of our fearless and fun-seeking attitude towards life. We find that adventure is the binding force in our love of the outdoors, living life on our terms, and now with our children. Plus, even though we are parents, we still like to party!
MXW also has a sense of humor, inspires curiosity in the name, and has a bit more independent flair. It is super awesome to see when the name clicks with people. We always get a laugh.
What is the Mission of Milk X Whiskey?
Our one-liner is: To be here for your (next) greatest adventure, now with kids.
We are here to support outdoor families to make new outdoor experiences easier for every kind of family - whether you're a weekend nature warrior, a walk-in-the-park discoverer, or a long-term expeditionary. We believe leading our children to an outdoor lifestyle at an early age provides both children and parents with many mental, emotional, physical, & growth tools to live the happiest of lives.
Why Are You Passionate About the Outdoors and Getting Families into Nature?
At a very young age, both our parents had us out camping, on the trail, and in the wilderness. As 80’s kids, that's just what we did. What we didn’t know then was that they had instilled in us not only a passion for the outdoors but also a fundamental world to recharge, reset, and wonder.
Flash forward to when we were having our first child, and one of the first thoughts we had was whether it would be difficult to keep on exploring with a baby now. Obviously, we found many parents who showed us that outdoor adventures with kids are more than doable; they're super awesome. We had our baby camping, albeit yes, camper camping, at 3 months old, and we have seen many amazing parents backpacking overnight and making amazing new adventures. It’s super inspiring, and that always stuck with us as we progressed through our own parenting journeys.
What our parents instilled in us, and what we didn’t know until we had our own children, is that the passion for the outdoors ran deeper than we could imagine. We consciously wanted to share this passion for the outdoors with our kids—to see them be kids, explore, get messy, and howl at the moon. The amazing thing now is that almost every day we find amazing brands (like Morrison Outdoors) that feel the same. There is an amazing community we hope to be a part of and contribute to in any way.
I personally believe leading our children to an outdoor lifestyle at an early age provides both children and parents with many mental, emotional, physical, and growth tools to live the happiest of lives.
When we began searching for products that fit into our lifestyles and had the same quality or features we had in our own gear, we found the market a bit lacking, especially with durable carrying gear. Really good technical outerwear seemed to be an afterthought for many of the legacy brands, and we wanted to build something that really gave parents like ourselves something high-quality and special to their adventuring needs.
How Does Your Product (the Adventure Proof Diaper Backpack) Help/Encourage Families to Get Outdoors?
We could always be found outdoors, traveling to new locations and cultures. Soon after we were married and after our honeymoon, we discovered we were pregnant. We searched everywhere for a diaper bag that fit our on-the-trail lifestyles. We struggled through this time in our lives with a combination of our own backpacks and carry systems, and it all felt like too much. This highly functional adventure system is the culmination of our learnings from traveling with children in the most effective and high-quality way possible.
In this way, we have created this system specifically for the outdoors and travel that takes the core benefits of most modern-day hiking backpacks and combines them with the organizational needs of a diaper bag. The very first thing we wanted to address was that diaper bags are a throwaway product after a few years, and we needed something to be used for a much longer time. Higher-quality materials keep up with the demands of the outdoors. We wanted to solve the “Parent Pack Mule” and have a system where everything was in one place, so we combined this with an internal cooler for snacks, a ground cover blanket, and extra comfort for trail use. Essentially, we want parents to feel prepared for different types of adventures and be able to use or remove features depending on their daily needs as well.
Is There Anything Else You Would Like to Share?
We are new to the outdoor recreation world. We truly want to contribute where we can to this amazing industry. Our next great adventure is just starting, and we can't wait to see where it goes and who we can learn from. We hope that as we grow, we can continue to build more carry systems and mountain adventure outerwear for the adventuring family with the support of our consumers and partners.
What to Learn More?
Check out the Milk X Whiskey website for more information on their products and story. Want to get your hands on one of their epic Adventure-Proof Diaper Backpacks as soon as they come out? Head over to their Kickstarter Campaign for more information and launch specials for the backpack.
