OT--JanSport Founder passes away...

[paredown]

Maybe a PNW thing, but there was a lot of stuff going on in the late '60s/early '70s to change the way that we hiked, climbed, stayed dry and rode bikes--and Murray McCory (who was a recent industrial design grad from U of Washington) started JanSport in 1967 with his Mom, Dad and his soon-to-be wife Jan.

A garage start-up to a major company with one of the first aluminum frame packs, and the first good small backpack that got launched in the UW bookstore and became a thing...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/04/b...smid=url-share

[charliedid]

The entire American outdoor industry owes a lot to those folks.

RIP Murray

[72gmc]

The UW Bookstore also owes a lot to those folks! As do I, and my back. It's nice to think about the heyday of that bookstore--these days it's hollowed out by ecommerce.

RIP.

[SlowPokePete]

I've still got my Jansport D3 backpack from the 1970's when, as a kid in Port Chester, NY Boy Scout Troop 11, we went to Colorado and spent two weeks backpacking in the Rocky Mountains.

I was only around 11 or 12 years old.

SPP

[Tandem Rider]

Originally Posted by SlowPokePete

I've still got my Jansport D3 backpack from the 1970's when, as a kid in Port Chester, NY Boy Scout Troop 11, we went to Colorado and spent two weeks backpacking in the Rocky Mountains.

I was only around 11 or 12 years old.

SPP

Same here, mine has taken me through many weeks on the trail in my teens and 20s, it's well worn but going strong. JanSport and Kelty were the two choices available, JanSport flexed and the Keltys were rigid. It was one of the few things I didn't part with on our last move, too many memories.

[caneye]

Growing up in Asia in the 70s and 80s, we had never seen back packs like those ones.

Back in the day - I remember when friends returned from abroad with Eastpak and Jansport back packs, I thought they were the coolest school bags - light, versatile and simple.
For some reason, all back packs before that were just heavy, clunky and uncomfortable for a small child.

[redir]

Wow! Yeah I've had many Jansport products over the years. Particularly in the 90's when I was much more active climbing.

[Caballero]

Growing up in Australia back in the early nineties, one of my buddies was from the us and would often take trips back there with his family each year. I still remember when he returned with his Jansport back pack. It was so superior to anything we had at the time.