There aren’t many products that you purchase in the hope that you’ll never have to use them. But as fears of disaster, either natural or manmade, once again enter the public consciousness, a growing number of companies are pitching products at “preppers” – people preparing for the worst. One of these is Preppi, a Los Angeles-based company whose handsomely designed apocalyptic products include medical kits, survival backpacks and emergency radios. The radio features a USB charger powered by a large solar panel (a wind-up arm can supply power if it dies in the dark), plus an SOS siren, LED torch and weather-band frequency functionality to receive updates if there is no internet connection.

“The fires in LA at the start of this year really opened some eyes,” Lauren Tafuri, who co-founded Preppi with Ryan Kuhlman, tells Monocle. “Lots of people realised that they were unprepared in a scenario like that.” The company has support in high places for their mission. In March the European Commission made an advisory statement that all of the bloc’s citizens should assemble a 72-hour emergency kit as part of its crisis-preparedness strategy. “Our backpacks matched the specifications perfectly,” says Tafuri.

Those preparing for disaster were once considered cranks but the wider availability and effectiveness of survivalist equipment, combined with a fashion for technological clothing, has encouraged a more discerning consumer. “Our products are built to be used. If required in a crisis, they must be functional as a priority,” says Kuhlman. “But why should that mean that they have to look like they’ve come straight from military surplus?”
preppi.co

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