JanSport

About Jansport Backpacks

After a half-century of dependable products, from external frames to school-ready bags, Jansport continues its reign as the world's largest backpack maker.

Jansport Backpack Canada: Travel Accessories Made Easy

A Jansport Backpack is synonymous with school. Since the late 1970s, Jansport has been at the forefront of backpacks designed for school children. By shifting to daypacks designed to carry binders and books, they revolutionized the way millions of students carry classroom material. Before the daypack, students had to haul their books and binders by hand.
Jansport Backpack Canada has remained a remarkably stable company with its gargantuan backpack sales. They’ve introduced countless features to their original designs like a laptop sleeve, utility pocket, a water bottle pocket and ...various travel accessories. The logo has also become a vintage rallying cry for many stylish young adults who want to co-opt the Jansport look.
At Altitude Sports, you can shop a large supply of Jansport's iconic offerings. There are tons of bags available, including the Jansport Big Student Backpack, Jansport Black Backpack, waist bags, outdoor packs, school backpacks, duffels, accessory pouches, wallets, tote bags and various luggage accessories. Each Jansport backpack is well made and ready to handle everything from outdoor gear to textbooks and laptops.

Building an Empire: The History of Jansport

Jansport began after one of the founders, Murray Pletz, won a competition for an aluminum flexible-frame backpack. His girlfriend at the time, Jan Lewis, helped sew together the first few bags, and in turn, Pletz named the company after her. While Pletz eventually left the company, his cousin Skip Yowell and Jan Lewis stayed on to help nurture Jansport into a behemoth of the backpacking world.
Beginning in the 1970s, the company introduced a panel loading pack, which was radically different than the top loading bags of the time. They also introduced a technical pack for Himalaya expeditions and were bought by the ski maker K2 in 1972. Innovation continued with a convertible travel pack and the first version of the iconic daypack, released in 1975.
This daypack would go on to change the lives of millions of students who used them to transport school materials. The overall design of the daypack didn't change much, with small additions like a laptop sleeve and water bottle holder making it into new additions.
Eventually, Jansport was sold to the VF company, which also owns a slate of other companies, including the North Face. Combined, Jansport and the North Face account for nearly half of all backpack sales in North America.
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