Published by Eugene Buchanan | October 14, 2021 | SGB Executive

As a subset of the outdoor industry, the water purifier and water purifier category achieved strong growth during the pandemic, taking full advantage of consumers' growing desire to go out. But it also played into the survival instinct of buyers, from natural disasters to COVID restrictions, providing them with an extra sense of happiness and peace of mind, as well as a way to replenish moisture during outdoor leisure.

According to data from the NPD Group, from January 2021 to July 2021, year-to-date sales of water filters increased by 56% compared to the same period before the pandemic two years ago. Compared with the previous year, sales for the 12 months ending in July 2021 increased by 32% to 82.7 million U.S. dollars. According to reports, the top three brands in this category are Lifestraw, Sawyer and Katadyn.

NPD sports industry analyst Dirk Sorenson (Dirk Sorenson) said: "Consumers are investing in products that can take them outdoors and provide a certain degree of safety in emergencies such as hurricanes or wildfires." Water filtration products meet these needs."

The specialty retailers who carry them seem to agree that gravity filters rather than pump filters perform best in retail.

"According to style, filters perform well in the pandemic," said Chris Guston, owner of Bellingham of Backcountry Essentials in Western Australia. "Although we haven't experienced much in general, we have seen Sawyer mini filters perform well for us, with sales nearly doubling from 2019, and definitely growing from 2020. 

MSR's Trailshot sales have also doubled from 2019. Despite the pandemic, the more traditional pump filters have remained flat. "

Sawyer saw strong sales momentum in this category, but also a slight decline, which reflects the overall downward trend of specialty retailers.

Sawyer’s Travis Avery said: “At the beginning of the pandemic, there must have been an unexpected surge in the water filtration market, inevitably affected by various factors, but certainly including some panic and uncertainty,” he added that its standards The system is still popular for outdoor recreation. "Since this situation has stabilized, I want to say that compared to before the pandemic, we may have increased by 10% in this category."

However, he added that the category appears to be flexible. "Our sales have definitely been affected, but fortunately, the outdoor market is still one of the more active categories during the COVID restriction period," he added, adding the filter to the list. "There are definitely more first-time users and adventurers, but after the COVID, whether they will stay or return to their previous hobbies and passions is understandable uncertainty."

Katadyn, another filter manufacturer, also reported that the pandemic has brought strong sales. John Wright, vice president of sales at Katadyn North America, said: "In general, the pandemic is very beneficial for water filtration and purification." "The external mentality caused by COVID has allowed us to go out more frequently, and we are all in healthy, sanitary and safe water. For these reasons, sales of water filtration and purification have been strong in the past year."

Several manufacturers are leading in this category.

There are 10 water filters in the Sawyer product line, ranging from squeeze and mini products to personal water bottle systems. Sawyer hangs its cap on its 0.1 micron absolute hollow fiber membrane, which has a high level of removal rate and flow rate. Its Select series foam filtration system prevents viruses, heavy metals, chemicals and other pollutants; and one of its latest products is a tap filter, which is designed for international rescue purposes and is also used in RVers and early this year in China. Sometimes emergency situations such as the boiling alarm in Texas.

In May of this year, Katadyn launched the BeFree Gravity 6.0 liter and 10 liter water filter, adding two compatible sizes to its gravity-fed BeFree series, which uses hollow fiber filtration technology and EZ-Clean membrane, which is its signature The BeFree series has a flow rate of up to two liters per minute. The company also launched a BeFree Gravity upgrade kit to convert its Gravity Camp or Base Camp Pro filters to BeFree gravity systems.

Lifestraw's latest BPA-free Go water filter bottle is made of plastic and steel, which can prevent bacteria, parasites, microplastics, chlorine, organic chemicals, dirt, sand and turbidity; improve the taste. The company also introduced a small Lifestraw for direct drinking and its personal carrying case, Flex and universal filters and filter bags.

Platypus introduced the QuickDraw microfiltration system, which is a filling and squeezing water filter. The system weighs 3.3 ounces and can filter up to 3 liters per minute. It consists of two parts: a one-liter QuickDraw reservoir and a hollow fiber filter element. Users can shake it to clean the hollow fiber filter, or perform tool-free backflushing to achieve fast flow rates even after filtration. The filter cartridge is designed with internal and external double threads, which is suitable for Smartwater bottles and other platypus bottles and water tanks.

MSR has nine different filters and purifiers in its series, and launched its Guardian Gravity Purifier in 2021, which is a gravity filter that removes viruses, bacteria, protozoa, sediment and microbes hands-free. plastic. The flow rate is as high as 1 liter in two minutes. It claims this rate is "2.5 times faster than the next leading gravity purifier", but its sales are not as strong as its best-selling Thru-Link in-line water filter. Turn any hydration reservoir into a filtration system. Originally designed to protect field service personnel, it complies with the military's NSF P248 test standard, and is equipped with a 10-liter water tank to support large groups.

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