A born tinkerer, Clark Smith thought it would be cool to make his own hammock even if he had never sewn before in his life.
He began by asking his wife, “Do we have a sewing machine?”
She reached into the closet, pulled out a sewing machine and showed him the basics of how to thread and use it.
For his first sewing project Smith said, “I sewed a bag. I was so excited that I had put the fabric together and made a bag. I had to show my wife. She took one look and said, ‘It really isn’t all that good.’”
The seams wobbled. The fabric did not quite line up. Still, Smith had begun his journey to making a hammock. He spent the next three years sewing and researching everything he could about hammocks. He learned what people liked and disliked about hammocks. He discovered that typically hammocks measure about nine feet, four inches long. Many users complained about hammocks being “too short, it hurt my neck.” At 6 feet, one inch Smith, decided his hammock would be 11 feet long.
Hammocks usually hang between trees separated by a specific distance. Smith added a longer strap and a clasp buckle so his hammock could be hung between trees much further apart if necessary. The buckle helps adjust the length. Finally Smith cut and sewed a hammock. He talked about his comfortable hammock with friends. They wanted a hammock one.
Working days, he spent weekends and days making and selling hammocks. “There are a lot of friends and people who have bought from me. Those people kept me going. Every time I would be discouraged an order would come in.”
Smith doesn’t just sew hammocks. “I sleep in my hammock one or two nights a week. It is more comfortable than a bed,” he says.
On a hot summer night, the hammock is cooler than a tent, because the slightest breeze blows cool air under the hammock cooling the sleeper. The longer span of fabric keeps his tall body comfortably swaying between the trees.
As orders increased, Smith and his wife explored creating a hammock business. Born and raised in El Dorado, Smith, a 1984 graduate of El Dorado High School, wanted an American manufacturer to sew his hammocks. He found one in Mountain Home, Arkansas, “I had lived there for four years and I did not know it about this huge business that sews for large corporations like Jeep.” he said.
Because years ago their work moved them to northern Louisiana where they still live, his wife suggested the name, ‘Geaux Hammock.’
“It is a Cajun kind of name,” Smith observed and told her, ‘I don’t think anyone in Arkansas will buy that.’”
She thought it was kind of catchy. Last year the name became a registered trademark. This year they will finalize their trademark catch phrase, “Don’t you wanna Geaux?”
Besides the Geaux Hammock website, Smith’s sells hammocks in stores and parks in five states. The University of Arkansas offers the Geaux Hammock as an incentive for first year students to sign up for a camping program.
“It is a kind of a crazy story. One guy and his wife,” Smith said. “I resigned my job in 2016 to do it full time. There is a future for it,” he said. Recently, Smith began tinkering again. This time, thinking about hikers who prefer camping with a hammock over a tent, he is developing accessories to make that comfortably possible.
Not bad for a man who learned to sew because he simply wanted to make a hammock.