For students looking to hang up a hammock between trees while also ensuring there are enough trees to hang from, Hang2Gether might be a solution.
Hang2Gether was born last spring in professor Tony Frontera’s entrepreneurship 560 class at Binghamton University. Students Lennon Safir, ‘15, Nick Pancerella, ‘15, Jack Sedgewick, ‘15, and Brigitte Cohen, ‘16, each earned their master’s in accounting. According to Sedgewick, the group hoped to create a company with a social mission and decided that for every hammock Hang2Gether sells, two trees will be planted.
“Our core mission has always been to pair the selling of hammocks with some sort of social mission, hence the name of our company, which is kind of a play on words for our products,” Segewick said. “Not only are our customers literally hanging from these hammocks, but figuratively, as well, with every purchase going toward a global mission of reforestation.”
The “2” in the company’s name stands for the two trees that are planted in an area of deforestation. According to Sedgewick, they attribute much of their starting success to the company name, and hope to see at least $20,000 in sales in the first 12 months.
“It’s a unique idea with a name that solidifies a pretty special company,” he said. “It has enabled us to have a nice bit of success right from the start: We entered into and won the Botnick Business Plan Competition hosted by Binghamton University which gave us a bit of seed capital, which was used to get things off the ground. From there, we’ve done a few thousand in sales in only two months, in fact, we’re trending quite nicely as well having quintupled our sales from the first month.”
The company is partnered with One Tree Planted, a nonprofit reforestation company. Customers can have their trees planted in regions of Colorado, Oregon or California, and each hammock’s colors correspond with the flag of the chosen state. One Tree Planted is entirely responsible for Hang2Gether’s reforestation efforts, and Sedgewick said much of Hang2Gether’s work wouldn’t be possible without the partnership.
“Their reach and resources have far surpassed anything that the four of us could manage when it comes to the planting of the trees,” Sedgewick said. “Which is why being able to partner with them has been so key to us being where we are.”
Each hammock costs $79.99, and Hang2Gether has advertising representatives at colleges across the country. Sedgewick said they are continually expanding and hope to end up selling the product in outdoor supply stores.
According to Sedgewick, their primary motivation is their ability to give back to the world.
“Equally as important is how we’ve been able to give back to the global community as mentioned as part of our core mission, planting over a couple hundred trees already,” he said. “All exciting stuff that is motivating us to work even harder in the future to continue our growth.”