e people walking down the sidewalk watching a third person skateboard. Jansport logo also on the image

ABOUT JanSport

The Beginning

JanSport® was founded in Seattle by three friends — Skip, Murray and Jan — in the summer of 1967. When Murray, an engineer, won an award for creating the first adjustable aluminum backpack frame, he asked his girlfriend, Jan, an accomplished seamstress, to create a pattern for it. He promised that if it was a success, he’d name the company after her.

It was, he did, and the JanSport® brand came to life.

Two people sitting in a park in a city and one of them is wearing a JanSport backbag
3 people running down a hill wearing JanSport backpacks

On The Path To Sustainability

In 1967, JanSport® was created to help adventurers experience and celebrate the outdoors. In the years since, that mission has expanded to protecting the outdoors for future generations.

Today, JanSport® is taking a hard look at the carbon footprint and sustainability of everything it does. It's a work in progress, but JanSport® has used the equivalent of 13,000,000 bottles' worth of recycled plastic in select styles.