How Fieldtrip is Making Getting Outdoors Easier for Families
Inspired by days spent out and about with his young family, Fieldtrip founder Tristan Watson swapped the tech life for a new venture
Tristan is no stranger to building businesses from the ground up. ‘Before doing Fieldtrip I ran a tech accelerator in the North East,’ he explains. While he loved the work, Tristan longed to build something for himself. ‘What I really wanted to build was something where I loved it, it was of value to the customers and it would stay in the family beyond me retiring.’
Now offering everything from canvas picnic bags and durable cutlery rolls to locally-inspired pocket knives, Fieldtrip was born when Tristan was determined to give his little girls hot chocolate at the beach. ‘I’ve got two young daughters. I’m very lucky to live in Tynemouth and we love being down on the beach,’ he tells us. ‘We try to always take hot chocolate down with us to warm them up and got absolutely fed up with using the enamel camping mugs that we had. As soon as you put the hot chocolate in, the cup is instantly too hot to pick up – we used to call them knuckle burners!’
Insulated options were already available on the market, but were too big and bulky to be practical for families who already have so much to carry. The design Tristan landed on included stackable, insulated cups which could fit into a handy canvas sleeve. ‘We initially just sewed some bags for ourselves on my rather old Singer sewing machine. We got more and more people seeing us using them and I thought, this is something that we need to launch.’
Their initial stock launched two years ago had been intended to sell gradually over a year, but sold out within a couple of months, and Tristan knew he was onto a winning concept. Practicality and nostalgia went hand-in-hand when designing new products. ‘I love the things that I remember using when I went camping as a kid. I wanted to create that same feeling of heritage – things that were quite timeless,’ Tristan explains. As part of this, he decided to make the cups personalisable, with the idea they could be passed down through families.
‘One of the highlights was when we were asked by Ben Fogle last year to create some cups for his new business’
A flask was the next item to be added to the range, and again inspired by his family Tristan knew he wanted it to be large enough for big groups to have enough to share, with a wide mouth for cleaning and shaped for an easy grip even when wearing gloves. A pocket knife came shortly after, taking inspiration from the local landscape. ‘I had been given one by my dad on my 18th birthday which I still have and I absolutely love, but I wanted to create something that was more connected to the region,’ Tristan tells us. ‘We worked with a company down in Sheffield and they made us a very beautiful little pocket knife which has the contours of The Cheviot engraved onto the handle. That actually came from a 1924 OS map that we found of Northumberland, and we traced the contours by hand.’
Other items which followed included a handy canvas tool roll designed for cutlery and kitchen utensils, as well as a canvas picnic bag with rope handles inspired by a bag of a similar design from Tristan’s childhood. Though Fieldtrip is still a young business, it’s already making an impression on families and the outdoor community. ‘One of the highlights was when we were asked by Ben Fogle last year to create some cups for his new business Buffalo Systems,’ says Tristan. Ben had reached out directly expressing admiration for Fieldtrip and wanted products for an event at Kendal Mountain Festival. ‘It was absolutely brilliant to see someone who has so much experience in the wild both through his TV programmes and adventures saying this is great.’
The most challenging aspect of his new entrepreneurial life, Tristan explains, is also the most rewarding aspect. ‘I’m much happier working with my hands than just sat online talking about things. But it is a challenge to adapt to that. As you scale you’re always having to invest in new products, new stock, you’ve got to manage your cash flow, and you’ve got a lot of seasonality in our business,’ he explains. ‘Right now the business is me plus the kids who pitch in when it’s the holidays and my wife who will come and help when we’re really busy. It’s been the challenging part of it but also the bit I absolutely love. It’s tangible, we talk about it at dinner, they have ideas for things, and I love the involvement they have in that.’
For the rest of 2026 and beyond, Tristan has high hopes for Fieldtrip, and for his family. ‘We’ve got a new knife that’s going to be coming out that’s got handles made from Northumbrian oak which we’re really excited about. We’re going more local and using local materials where we can. We’ve been approached by retailers as well which is exciting,’ he says. ‘As we head into the summer it’s this whole thing of living what we preach – finding that balance between running a business and getting out there and having our own adventures, and coming back from those recharged and full of new ideas.’
