Our Core Beliefs:

Here at Monopax we have 3 core beliefs: FLEXIBILITY, RELENTLESS CURIOSITY, and MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT.

Flexibility:

We believe in designing life in your own terms. True freedom! The right to choose what you want to do, when you want to do it, simply because you want to do it. Everyone should have the right to choose what they want from their lives, and everyone should have the opportunity to pursue that. We want to give you the flexibility to achieve true freedom!

Relentless Curiosity:

We believe that learning and trying new things is the foundation of progress, and curiosity is how you get there.

Whether you want to explore new cultures, see the world, dive deep into that 3am curiosity rabbit hole, there is nothing more beautiful than letting your curiosity flourish, and following that thread that peaked your interest.

MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT:

Doing good is about trying to make the world a better place. Whether its through actions that impact the environment, or the people around you, trying to do some good will always generate a positive impact in the world.

Your actions will always find a way back to you… so why not try to do some good?

What gear should be about:

From our perspective, gear are tools that you get in order to improve your experiences and facilitate your life and goals. It should function in your favor and give you the least amount of friction as possible.

Gear should be liberating who you are, and help you achieve your goals with more ease. This means that gear should adapt to the user, and be reliable at all times.

This is the core belief that we have at Monopax, and it is our north star which guides us with what we make and how we go about making it.

Our Design philosophies:

Now that you understand how we think about gear, we can explain how we go about making our design choices.

We have 4 pillars that we use for our deigns: VERSATILITY, DURABILITY, USER EXPERIENCE, and ADAPTABILITY!

Versatility:

We make gear that is versatile. Having products that can be used in a variety of different situations, allows you to actually use the gear. Whether you are going to work, to travel or to the trail, your gear should fit a variety of situations so that you can feel at ease when using it.

Let’s be honest, who wants to buy gear that you won’t be able to use?

So, we try to make sure that you can use our gear, and that it is not out of place, or overbearing, so that you can maximize the use cases you get from it.

Durability:

Gear is absolutely useless if it fails on you.

So, durability is at the forefront of our choices when picking materials and choosing the construction of what we produce. In our mind, it is better to bleed once (pay more money once) and have something last, then paying less and buying it over and over and over again.

There is this saying in Brazil (the founder’s origin) that says: “O barato que sai caro". This translates to “The cheap that becomes expensive.”

If you have never heard this before, it basically means that when you try to save money and do something the cheap way, you will end up paying for it in the long run. This is because if you have to buy things over and over again (even if it is cheap) because it keeps failing on you, then, in the long run, that money you saved with your initial purchase, is going to come back and bite you in the a**, and be way more expensive.

For that reason, we focus on making our products as durable as possible, so that it will last a long time, and not fail on you. We want to make sure that you get quality items that will last you a lifetime, and that you can rely on.

user experience:

User experience for us means that the product is easy to use, intuitive and does not cause needless headaches for the end user.

Friction when using gear is one of the biggest stress inducing problems that many products have nowadays. For example, when you are trying to use a feature that was put in mindlessly, with no thought towards the implementation, you will definitely get a headache, and it might even ruin the product for you.

For this reason, we consistently consider the features that we put into our products. We make sure to think and test the variety of different situations and ways that a certain feature or design aspect is going to be used. So, if we put it on the final product, we know for sure that it won’t cause you a headache, and it will make you feel the joy of using a smooth, well-thought out, product.

Adaptability:

I would probably say that this design philosophy right here is probably one of the biggest reasons that Monopax was created.

After owning multiple products that forced me to use the product in a very specific way, and didn’t allow me to use it how I wanted to, I made a promise to myself…

That my brand would never force customers to adapt to its products. Instead, our products would adapt to our customer’s needs.

So, for this reason, one of our key design philosophies is that our products should always allow YOU, the customer, to choose how YOU want to use the product.

It means that we want to make sure that every pocket we make, or our material choice, or the weight of the item, all of those decisions allows YOU to use our product how YOU decide to use it.

It comes back to our first core belief of freedom, and what we believe gear should be:

Items that facilitate your choices and helps you accomplish your goals. Items that give you the freedom to choose how you are going to pursue your life, how you want it, when you want it, for the reasons you want to.

Why monopax was started:

At this point, if you are still reading this, you either really want to know if you identify with the brand to see if you want to support us or not (which if you are here for that reason, thanks and hope you identify yourself with us) or, you are probably applying for a job with us (which likely means the brand is growing and that would be awesome!). Regardless of the reason, let me tell you about why Monopax was started.

As you might already have gathered, we believe in Freedom, Curiosity, and Doing Good. As the founder speaking (you guys can call me Gui), Monopax was my way of pursuing these beliefs.

I wanted the freedom to explore the world on my terms, and allow my curiosity to flourish so that I can learn about different facets of different topics, and I wanted to do this while making sure that I was leaving a positive mark in this world. Hopefully, if you (or I) are reading this in the future, Monopax has allowed me to do this.

But, you might be asking yourself, why did you choose to do backpacks, and other travel and carry gear? And the answer to that is quite simple. I am completely obsessed with them! The idea of being able to live off of your backpack, and explore the world, with nothing tying you down, has been a fantasy of mine for a long time. For that, owning the right gear, that facilitates this idea, has always been something on my mind.

So, seeing no better way to fulfill my fantasies than creating my own brand, that allows me to follow those dreams, while leaving a positive mark on the world and the people around me, I decided to try this venture out.

And even with nothing left to my name (no money, no assets I can sell, nothing left for even doing the marketing), but the sample of my backpack and tech pouch, I decided that would pursue this dream of mine, because what else is there to lose?

So, yeah, I guess this is why Monopax was started, a passion for backpacks, a desire to live the beliefs that I have, and the idea that I have nothing to lose, and absolutely everything to add to this world!

If you read all of this, thanks for the support! (or good luck on your interview, whichever position you are applying for!)