Redtail Overland evolves from rooftop tents to luxury $600k Skyloft Vans built in Boulder

Annie and Ty Tatro founded Redtail Overland in to make a better rooftop tent Six years later the couple is building vans It was cool on our SUV but you still couldn t stand up You couldn t go to the bathroom You couldn t cook a meal Ty disclosed of the original product If it was rainy it was better than the tent was But it still left a little bit to be desired The attachment which the couple calls the Skyloft is a carbon fiber-shelled triangle with windows insulation electricity and the like It was originally a pop-up tent on steroids They made and sold four of them before pivoting The first two sold for and the last two At the time Annie declared they also had about other orders in at the time But because it cost them twice as much as they expected to make the Skyloft they were at a crossroads The only way to get the price down to a level that we thought it should be was to massively scale this with several hundred units a year or we needed to send it offshore and have it made in a different country that has cheaper labor Ty declared We would have had to get funding to do either of those routes which we weren t necessarily opposed to he continued But we just invented this thing and the sector for this didn t really exist There was no arena research on it no material At the same time one of the early Skyloft customers petitioned Redtail to install it on their van Similarly to how the Tatro s build out their vehicles in contemporary times they had to cut an opening through the roof to allow adventure seekers to access it within the cab After the pair saw how it looked and the ease of use Redtail Overland had a new direction The Skyloft Van was born When we put it on the van it was like Oh this is what I m talking about Ty recalled We can have this penthouse loft and look at all these beautiful views but then also have all the amenities that a van gives you That was around two years ago Since then Redtail has shipped out four vans ranging from to depending on add-ons The Tatros and group of others put a Mercedes-Benz chassis through four phases installing in-house carpentry upholstery and of module the Skyloft on top Though the sticker price is shocking to specific the Tatros invoke the Field of Dreams mantra they learned while making an even more expensive outdoor carriage The couple met while working for the EarthRoamer the Dacano-based maker of million behemoth expeditioners During his more than a decade working there Ty rose to president while Annie became a marketing and sales executive in her six years with the firm They both left in We approached it from this philosophy that it s going to cost what it costs Annie stated Our careers have communicated us that when we build things like this without a budget that we re able to make something really cool and really unique and that no one else is doing If you build it they will come Ty added So we built this wild thing They hope to iron out the process at th St in Boulder over the next several years before deciding if they want to grow more The -square-foot space Redtail works out of is enough to make around eight vans a year and they already are booked through Annie who manages the sales side of Redtail plans to open up the phones for orders at the end of this month or early October She s unsure how much if at all prices will rise with the model RedTail imports a major amount of inventory and costs rose around across the board in its the bulk up-to-date order Related Articles Specific Resorts makes M bid for Inspirato both founded by Denver s Handler brothers Federal appeals court allows Vail to ban UPS FedEx trucks from pedestrian malls Noble Riot wine bar closes after six years in RiNo Denver City Council to vote on multimillion-dollar Rock Drill mixed-use project in RiNo Smashburger closed Lowry location due to sewer odors landlord says But with a high-end clientele and no financing options she doesn t think a likely hike will alter demand When you get to this higher end the customers just aren t as affected by everyday changes in the arena Annie reported If we have to raise stuff by a inadequate percentage points that s not much to them We don t want to raise it just cause but vendors raise prices every year We gotta keep up Ty who grew up in Breckenridge also has eyes on other high-end outdoor doohickeys to complement the Skyloft Van With this year being Redtail s first profitable one though the couple doesn t want to set too lofty of targets We don t need to take over the world by any means Annie announced We just like to build beautiful things Read more from our partner BusinessDen