About This Project
In 2018, Everyday Carry partnered with Orbitkey to create a limited-edition nylon key organizer. The collaboration combined Orbitkey’s award‑winning product design with Everyday Carry’s editorial voice and enthusiast community. It sold through as a collectible run, while strengthening Orbitkey’s positioning within the EDC category.
My Role
Co-developed concept and positioning with Orbitkey’s design team.
Guided strategy around product-audience fit, ensuring design decisions and messaging resonated with both an enthusiast audience and a broader demographic.
Translated business and design decisions into compelling storytelling, adding credibility and tastemaker impact through Everyday Carry co-branding.
Led storytelling across Everyday Carry’s editorial channels (site, newsletter, social).
Coordinated launch calendar and messaging alignment with Orbitkey’s marketing team.
Business & Product Strategy Context
Orbitkey’s strategic objective was to expand its product line by introducing a new material option: CORDURA ballistic nylon. While highly durable and performant, CORDURA is more traditionally associated with military, outdoors, and tactical gear—less so with mainstream lifestyle accessories. Partnering with Everyday Carry allowed Orbitkey to:
Showcase the product and material choice in a way that resonated with enthusiasts.
Translate the technical performance benefits into accessible, lifestyle-relevant language.
Validate the material’s appeal with a smaller test market of EDCers before rolling out a full-scale launch to a broader target audience.
Key Links & Artifacts
Objectives
Showcase Orbitkey’s craftsmanship to the EDC audience.
Drive awareness and immediate sales of the limited edition release.
Strengthen Everyday Carry’s reputation as a tastemaker capable of influencing product design.
Strategy
Use community insight to highlight daily carry pain points solved by the organizer.
Launch story-first content on Everyday Carry’s platform, seeded through newsletter + IG.
Cross-promote with Orbitkey’s owned channels for credibility and amplification.
Execution
Published launch editorial on EverydayCarry.com timed with Orbitkey’s PDP reveal.
Created synchronized posts across IG and newsletters to drive traffic to PDP.
Provided assets for Orbitkey’s newsroom and press outreach.
Used consistent photography style and editorial framing to maintain authority and authenticity.
Results & Impact
Sold 120 units in the first 24 hours of launch.
As of January 2019, 562 units were sold, grossing $18,946 USD; Everyday Carry earned a 25% commission for its role in the project.
A restock order of 1,400 units was chased and sold out by mid-2019.
Supported by targeted EDC newsletters: launch email (126K deliveries, 14.4% open rate, 2.5% click rate) and restock email (123K deliveries, 12.3% open rate, 1.4% click rate).
Collaboration created a lasting brand halo for both Orbitkey and Everyday Carry.
Positioned EDC as a trusted partner for product co-creation, paving the way for future collaborations (e.g., Manhattan Portage Atlas Sling).
Strengthened community trust: demonstrated that editorial authority could translate into real, functional products.
Lessons Learned
Early alignment on narrative and PDP assets significantly boosted conversion.
Audience-native storytelling performs stronger than ad-style creative in enthusiast communities.
Collaboration projects can deepen community engagement while opening new revenue opportunities.
