Building the Best:

Unending Attention to Detail

Designing a great tent is one thing, but manufacturing it is another. If the design cannot be consistently constructed with superior quality, then the greatness of the design is irrelevant. It is precisely for this reason that Hilleberg the Tentmaker demands complete and rigorous quality control from its manufacturing. It is also why we own and operate our own factory in Estonia, something that gives us full quality oversight, and also lets us instantly adopt any design improvement we create.

To achieve those stringent quality levels, we not only use fabrics and materials that are second to none, but we also employ state of the art quality control systems, geared to meet Swedish standards. In addition, our factory is ISO-9001: 2000 certified, which means that we maintain quality management standards for meeting and exceeding customer needs and regulatory requirements, and for continual improvement in all areas. We also purchase a Green Energy certificate annually from Eesti Energia, the Estonia power provider. The Green Energy project markets renewable energy – produced mainly from wind and hydro power – and donates a specified amount of the customer’s certificate payment to the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF).

Over a decade ago, when we decided to build our own factory, we chose Estonia for three reasons: its long history and storied tradition of specialized mill work; because we could buy land and build, from the ground up, a factory that met our high demands; and because it is only a short two-hour flight from our headquarters in Sweden.

Today the Estonian facility is the hub of our production process: every tent we make is set up, inspected, and approved by the Hilleberg staff at our factory before it is shipped.

how we make our tents

Our manufacturing process is dedicated to building the highest quality products. What guides this is both meticulous, internal Hilleberg quality control standards, and an ISO 9001: 2000 certified quality management system, which is built on tested and proven quality management principles.

Pre-Production

We order materials for every production run many months in advance, and do exhaustive quality control testing. This way, we ensure that we can replace any inferior component long before production begins.

We test every roll of all our fabrics for proper color, abrasion resistance, waterproofness where appropriate, weight and hand properties. We also test a significant sampling of outer tent and floor fabric rolls for tear strength, tensional strength, and color resistance to light. And we subject our tent floor fabrics to “tapability” tests along with the other, more standard tests.

In addition, we ensure that all fittings – poles, zippers, fasteners, webbing and the like – meet our quality criteria.

Making the Tents

Fabric pieces are cut using pattern shapes. The appropriate pieces – including fabric, zippers, and all details needed for each model – are assembled, and passed on to the sewers.

Assembly & Quality Control

Every tent we make is completely set up by our staff, at our Estonian factory, before it is shipped.

A Tent Inspector visually inspects both the inner and outer tents, puts the two together, inserts the poles and puts on the ground straps. After erecting the tent he or she makes sure the ground straps have the proper tension, and opens the tent to check zippers and seams. After closing the tent up, he or she does another quality check and affixes the guy lines and line runners. If at any point a mistake is discovered, the affected piece goes back to the production line for correction.

Once the tent is certified and approved, it is taken down. Poles and pegs are put into their individual stuff sacks and bundled with the tent, which is then put, along with an instruction pamphlet, into its stuff sack.

The completed tent is now ready for shipment to the company warehouses in either Sweden or the US.

details that make the difference

Seams

We carefully select the thread we use for strength and durability, and we always use a flat fell-seam. This means that every stitch goes through four layers of fabric, ensuring both strength and water resistance. Additionally, our sewing machines employ cooling jets around the needles, preventing heat-producing friction that could enlarge the stitch holes. The end result is a very precise, very reliable seam that has remarkable durability and water resistance.

Pole Sleeves

Pole sleeves are integral to almost all of our tents. We use a 100 denier high tenacity nylon. This material is easily tough enough to handle the strain of pole movement when pitching or taking down the tent. We also make the sleeves wide enough to accommodate two poles, which is a good option for the most extreme conditions. The raised profile of the sleeve makes it easy to insert the pole, and protects the seam against wear. And separate pole sleeves keep the poles off the tent fabric for extra safety.

Adjustable Pole Tensioners

Found on all Hilleberg tents with continuous pole sleeves, our pole tensioners allow for optimal tension to be applied to the poles. Once the pole is seated in the plastic cup, tension is added by simply pulling the webbing strap until the bottom of the pole cup is level with the bottom of the outer tent and the back of the pole cup is tight against the tent wall. The tensioners are easy to operate – even while wearing big gloves or mittens – and their plastic cups have room for dual poles.

Adjustable Peg Attachments

Adjustable peg attachments allow for the utmost in pitching precision. Pegging out the adjusters when they are set to their longest position and then tightening the webbing strap adds tension and contributes to providing maximum stability.

Ground Straps & Door Bands

Both ground straps (the lines running across the floor) and door bands are integral to our tents’ design. Door bands help keep zippers running smoothly, since they keep the door opening the proper size, while ground straps help keep the poles’ arcs at both the proper height and tension. In addition, ground straps can double as extra guy line or rope as needed.

Linked Inner & Outer Tents

Linked yet separable inner and outer tents are a Hilleberg hallmark. We sew heavy duty loops with toggles onto the inner tent, and place corresponding rings along the pole lines inside the outer tent. The toggles can be detached and reattached very easily, and the system not only allows you to use inner and outer tents separately, but also to customize your inner space.

Guy Lines & Attachments

Guy lines are essential for stability in rough conditions, so we equip every tent with them. We use a proprietary Spectra and polyester cord that is very strong and lightweight – see Materials, for more – and it is both the lines and how we attach them that sets us apart. On our continuous pole sleeve tents, each guy line has two attachment points, which spreads the tension load and is safer and more stable. On our dome tents using our short sleeve and clip system, the attachment points are designed to be wrapped around poles or pole crossings, adding significant stability.

Short Sleeve & Clip System

Our dome tents use our short pole sleeve and clip system. A single opening sleeve on each side of the tent holds the pole ends, and precisely placed clips then secure the tent to the poles. The clips are easy to handle, and the system can accommodate double poling: simply clip every other clip to each pole.

Reflectors

Every tent has multiple reflective strips. These are strategically placed around the tent, high up, so that they will catch even a small amount of light. Unlike some reflective systems, ours does not require a direct “hit” with a light beam to be seen.

These are only some of the details found on Hilleberg tents. Others include the hook and ring system on outer tent doors, which, when employed, prevents zipper creep in vicious winds; zipper flaps to help protect the zipper; toggle and ring or pole clips for securing rolled away doors in both outer and inner tents; and pockets and either a clothesline or loops for a clothesline in all inner tents.

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