Officially launched this weekend, SWAE Sports aspires to be the central community for adventurists across the globe. By partnering with local outfitters and guides to promote their adventures, SWAE Sports aims to connect the traditionally fragmented outdoor adventure market and make the process of finding and booking trips much more efficient.
Three former students at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Daniel Epstein, Elliott Bates and Will Butler, happened upon the idea for the Company four years ago after their search for adventure brought them to a dead end of disparate trips they could not afford. Now, after cycling 2,500 miles from Canada to Mexico over three months this summer signing up local outfitters, they are about to realize their dream of a central resource for affordable adventure.
SWAE, which stands for Snow, Water, Air, and Earth Sports, enables vendors from around the world to post trips on the website at no charge, only paying a 10%-12% commission to SWAE when a trip is booked. Visitors to the site can then search for and book trips based on region, sport, difficulty or even user ratings.
Ten percent of all the Company profits will be put into the SWAE Fund, dedicated to helping new outfitters in the developing world. Money from the Fund will be used to provide local guides with the necessary start-up capital, equipment and expertise they require in order to establish their own eco-tourism business.
SWAE seems to have only signed up a few vendors from Colorado, California and Washington at the moment but hopefully that will change as the Company gets the word out.