Sluice is in full swing

by Catherine Currin

Strung in a tree or dangling off the dock, a simple, high-quality hammock makes for a handy travel companion. Kemp Dunbar is making a convenient and personalized option by the hundreds on Capital Boulevard.

Dunbar founded Sluice Hammocks in his Hargett Street apartment in 2014, and today the company is known for collaborations with recognizable brands like Clif Bar and New Belgium Brewery. It’s not the recognition that Dunbar’s most proud of, though, it’s the company’s ethics: “We source all of our materials from the U.S., and manufacture under one roof from start to finish.” 

Dunbar says he began hammock-making after seeing a falsely labeled Made in the U.S. tag on a similar product. “If the tag said made in the U.S. but it wasn’t, I wanted to see how hard it was to actually make this in the U.S.” The name Sluice is inspired by the sifting method of gold mining, which Dunbar hopes speaks to the inherent ease of a hammock. “It’s one purchase, one product, you have everything you need to set up. We give people a tool to sift out the distraction and nonsense in their life, and really hang on to the simple things that matter.”