JanSport Hatchet

Not so long ago, students went to school with briefcases in hand. It wasn't that long ago that the alternative to carrying study material was simply carrying textbooks in your arms. One day, however, students at the University of Washington discovered JanSport backpacks, which have protected all our volumes and publications from the rain for more than half a century.

But the roots of JanSport are not so much the university campuses as the mountains. JanSport founder Murray Pletz won a design award in the 1960s for his design of the aluminum frame of the backpack. Following his success, Murray made a bet with his girlfriend Jan that if he could make the frame into a backpack design that caught on, he would name his new brand after her. Well, a minor spoiler in the form of the now well-known brand name suggests to us that she succeeded.

JanSport's core brand values are quality, long-term reliability, sustainability and function. Founded in 1967, the brand no longer focuses on the product itself, but also on supporting the hiking community in many ways. You can land a full-size partner with a history on your back that will happily hold everything you need for your expedition.