Moon Fabrications MoonShade Pro Vehicle-Mounted Awning with Modular Walls

Video Transcript for Brand Spotlight - MoonShade Original Awnings

Hey, everyone, I'm Evangeline right here at etrailer. And today, we have Henry from Moon Fab. Now Henry, you've been here with training, setting up all of your awnings, showing us all of the OG stuff That's right. And giving us a glimpse at all the new stuff, yeah. The full story, yeah. We've been loving hearing all about it, hearing all about his story.

And that way, when you come asking for what's the best fit for me and my adventures, we have the solution for you. So Henry, it's been really interesting hearing about Moon and awnings and how everything's designed. I've worked with a lot of your different awnings on a lot of different vehicles, but what I didn't really quite get until talking to you was the whole story and heart behind it. The way I've started every kind of one of our trainings is just talking about how we got here, which this is the actual awning itself. This is the MoonShade OG.

This is a seven by nine modular versatile awning that attaches to basically anything or any vehicle. And the part of my story that Evangeline's, or our story, that you're referring to is that one of my best friends had worked a long career in tech, kind of found himself on the other side of that. He has a PhD in behavioral science, was a data researcher in tech, and he felt like he had kind of always used his genius for other people. And so he wanted to make something physical, and he's just one of those guys that like thinks really mechanically, like we became friends when he changed my timing belt when I was in my early 20s. And so he started converting a van and he was camping in Joshua Tree, and it was really hot.

And he was like, "Man, like you really need an awning if you're gonna be out here." Looked at the market, didn't want an attached awning for a variety of reasons, bought a selling machine, called me and that was in 2018. And pretty much since then, it's been a pretty wild ride. That's awesome. And I really do notice that with all the different details of the awning, like I saw myself, it's always just the best way to get exactly what I want. And every single part seems like there's so much intention behind it.

I think that is the way Matthew started Moon that'll forever have an imprint on everything that we make is that we had no idea what we we inchesre doing. But we we inchesre doing something we believed in, we we inchesre following our heart. And yeah, I think that, you know, our story is that we put, when we we inchesre making this awning, we didn't care if anyone else liked it. Like you know, like we loved it. Like Matthew made it for himself, we made it for ourselves. And if we just got it out in the world, that was success. And then because of the timing and the YouTubers that we had sent it to, to review it, we kind of went from this like indie art project to a full-fledged manufacturer overnight. But I think that care and love, like we make products that we use, we make products that we love, and part of the elements of that is we wanna make them intuitive, simple, versatile, lightweight. We want it to be something that we understand that we're making a premium product and we want this to be the last awning that someone will ever need. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, like growing from just a simple idea and a love for adventure, too. All this you have set up here This is crazy, yeah. In our lobby. Now seeing all of this, if this is the last awning that someone would ever need, well, what is the first way to start because I see some like three different options here. Sure. Could you go over, like, the different options Yeah, absolutely. Maybe whats best for someone. So yeah, you know, we have our kind of three primary sizes right here. So the OG is seven by nine feet. It's gonna be our most versatile awning. The difference of our, just from a principal sort of design difference in our awning versus other awnings, it's that the strength of the awning, like, is in the shade itself. We're using aircraft-grade aluminum poles. We're using 420, really heavy duty ripstop fabric. You know, our product team now, looks like our head of product, Eric, who we met camping in Joshua Tree, lives in a self-converted box truck in Arizona. And Brandon, who's a long-time tent maker in the outdoor industry, the strength of the awning is in itself. And what that allows is that all you need to attach it to anything is you need about a quarter inch islet. So there's a carabiner in every corner of the MoonShade. All the MoonShade needs to attach is clipping in to this. Our most kind of robust universal anchor that does that is what we're using to set up all of these shades, which is our MoonMount vacuum anchor. They come in two sizes. This is the four and a half inch and this is the oval, perfect. And it comes with all the necessary hardware to attach the MoonShade. The pull force on each of these, the performance is the same. It's gonna be about 140-pound pull force. I first was introduced to Moon Fab with the OG, and this is really what impressed me. Mm-hmm. It was my great, like, first impression. Yeah, I mean, the OG is the awning that we're known for. You know, this along with the XL have both been featured in Outside Magazine's Summer Buyer's Guide. And I think that the OG is seven by nine feet. It's gonna be our most universal awning. You can throw it off of either side. It's also gonna be really easy to set up with one person. That's one of the things that seeing is kind of believing with the MoonShade. There's a lot that you can cover in video. You can kind of get your head around it. But you can ask any MoonShade owner out there. Part of what they love about it is going to be that ease of setup. That's gonna be true on all of our awnings, but especially the OG. It's gonna pack down to the size of a camping chair. It packs onto this bag. We made the bag big enough to where you're not gonna have a hard time getting your awning back in there, and you know, it's eight pounds. It's lightweight. So if you are looking for an awning for your tow vehicle, for your SUV, for your car, this is the awning that is going to work on absolutely anything. We sold over 30,000 of our awnings direct to consumer since we've launched. And the vast majority of those sales have come from MoonShade owners telling other MoonShade owners. And part of the way that we've launched is that we've always been really connected to our customers. So they've always kinda just told us what they wanted. So once we put out the MoonShade, they started asking, "Can you make this bigger Can you make a bigger awning" You know, this OG was originally designed for a short sprinter van. It does give you adequate coverage in that space, but people wanted more. And so we'll come look at the MoonShade XL, which is huge. It's humongous. Yeah. It definitely is the XL. I mean, it is one of those things I definitely wanna make sure at some point you get under here so you can just feel it. But it feels like everything that's great about the MoonShade, but twice the size, 'cause it is twice the size. The MoonShade OG's seven by nine, the XL's nine by 12. One of the things you see here in our setup is that all of our shades have telescoping poles. You got a little wide indicator to kinda let you know where to go. And obviously, the XL is for bigger rigs, you know We see a lot of people in vans use the XL, more and more people in Schoolies, smaller lightweight towables, but someone who needs even more space outside, the XL is for them. That's awesome. Now this won't fit on the smaller vehicles. That's right. So if you have a smaller vehicle, the MoonShade OG is definitely the way to go. But when you need a larger awning, 'cause your setup has now expanded, the MoonShade XL is right there for you. Yeah, absolutely. You know, like I think it's gonna give you that same, gonna be a little trickier, you know, like going from like a three-man tent to a 10-man tent. The OG's gonna be really easy to set up with one person. The XL, you can set up with one person, but we definitely recommend having two people. Totally. But it's gonna be one of those things in five minutes, you're gonna have a massive shade. Yeah. And- Now you get to set up your campsite for all the fun. Exactly. Now speaking of campsites, the best thing or one of the key things that like I really noticed is how quick they are to set up. So I am a weekend camper. I like to go for a quick rock climbing trip. So something quick and easy to set up is definitely my style because it's also quick and easy to pack up and go. But now, that's not all of my trips, though. Sure. Sometimes, I go somewhere and I wanna stay there for like a week, maybe two weeks. You got it. We have the best time. What has been the solution for that kind of neighbor Yeah, yeah, so I mean, that's when we're looking at the MoonShade Pro, which is our newest awning. It's nine by nine. So it's a little bit of a Goldilocks situation between the OG and the Pro. But the main feature is obviously that it comes with fully three, comes with two window panels and one door panel. Like all aspects of our products, the walls are modular. So you can set up the door panel on any side, you can set up the wall panel on any side. And yeah, you know, Eric, who designed this awning, he's in a self-converted box truck and he's had the Pro up, I think straight for, he's on BLM land outside of Sedona. And I think he's had it up for two or three months. And they just had this massive storm come through and he's like, you know, we all talk on Slack, our team's fully remote, we are nomads. And he's like, "Guys, like, it's like 20, you know, 30 mile an hour winds." You have this extra space. You know, for him, it's the outdoor porch, you know, it's the changing room. Similar to the XL, it's a size that feels substantial and it's just like a nice extra space outside. That's awesome. And having the durability to back that up as well, because if you are setting up camp, you are enjoying the great outdoors, you also want it to last as long as you are outdoors, too. So that is awesome to see. So we have the MoonShade OG, we have the MoonShade XL, and then we have the MoonShade Pro. And a key thing that I noticed you talking about was definitely the modularity, the ability to mix and to match. So we see all types of different accessories here. We see our roof. We see there's walls available as well. And it all just works together, so it's the best fit. That's right, yeah. And I like modularity, versatility, those are things that we love. That's what we want to see in anything that we make. Talking about the Pro as being the solution for someone who wants to get out there and stay out there. But I did also wanna point out, the Pro does pack down to this size bag, like the OG and the XL. We've made the bag big enough, so it's not a pain to get back in. So if you just want to go out for a weekend with the Pro, you don't have to include the walls. This is the full duffle. It's not well-packed at the moment, but essentially, the full duffle take all the walls, all the components, and the shade bag will go in there. And so we're really excited about the Pro. We just brought it to the market in the last couple weeks and we're excited to see where it goes. And the other thing that I would mention, just kind of in terms of modularity, it's actually over here on the ark on the OG. But if you look closely, you see this black little sewed-in Keder Welt on the seven-foot and nine-foot side. And this we made as a request of Rockwood Flagstaff, who's taking this, what we're calling the MoonShade OG RV, standard in all of their popup campers for this upcoming model year. And this Keder Welt interfaces with just kind of your standard 3/8 awning rail. And we're so excited for it because it's gonna allow this kind of seam seal between the unit. And then just for anyone that has an awning rail, whether there's an awning on or not, you know, this now just becomes an option for them. And that's just been one of our biggest questions is, how do you anchor this shade Yeah. There's endless ways to anchor, there's endless ways to tinker, there's endless ways to put this all together. And we're always trying to balance, like, how do we show off how versatile this is Yes. But how simple it is at the same time. Yes, and that's definitely something that I've noticed as I was putting this together, installing it on different vehicles. At the core of it, the MoonShade is very universal because it doesn't need much to anchor. You can put those MoonMounts pretty much anywhere on the vehicle. Anywhere, that's right. But because you guys work so much with people that do go on adventures and do have their own very unique rigs, I notice a lot of custom fit options. So here at etrailer, we have like this fit guide, where you put your year, make, and model of even your trailer or your RV or your vehicle. And that's really what customizes the fits as confirmed fits for your vehicle. So the fact that your awnings have something as specific as a Keder Welt, specifically for trailers that have that awning rail is very unique. But then it's not just those situations. What if you have a platform Well, and that's what's cool is that, yeah, so the MoonShade RV is gonna come with the Keder Welt, but it's still gonna have this carabiner in every corner. So you could use it on the awning rail. You got a kid's soccer game the next weekend, you could take it off, get some MoonMounts thrown on the minivan, you know. That is awesome. And yeah, it's cool. It's so good to get to connect with you guys, 'cause you put so much time and energy into showing your neighbors all of the little pieces of this. Mm-hmm. And you know, the way we care, the way we show our care is we're gonna make products that we love. We're gonna make them at a super high standard. We're gonna make a premium product as affordable as it can be. That's the main way we show love to our customers by giving them something that's gonna last. And all these other parts of this, you know, all these things that you guys are so amazing at, in terms of showing these little pieces, letting your neighbors see every little fit and function. You know, you guys have this huge team built out to be able to do that because you, especially when you're on the road, whether you're a full-timer or a weekend warrior, or somewhere in between, we all know that, like, one piece of gear, one little eyeball, one little anchor, it can stop you in your tracks. And so it's so cool the way that you guys break all this down and it's been so cool to get to share this with your team. That's awesome. Well, I've been super enjoying this whole time with learning about all the different parts of the awning, seeing all the different options for all the different adventures. Now if you are using the MoonShade awning, you have some great stores and some cool setups, we'd love to hear all about it. It's always exciting seeing different people's different adventures. So thanks for hanging out, Henry. Oh, man, happy to be here. Thanks for watching. If you need shade, we got you covered.