Badlands is a hunting and archery brand founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1992. It is headquartered in Sandy, Utah.
Badlands began in a 10-by-20-foot storage shed in Salt Lake City that the crew nicknamed the Tinder Box. Inside were modified ovens for molding plastics, which the company says also cooked lunch. The foam presses were 2x4s and old car jacks, and it all started in 1992 on $2,500.
Back then it was Vortex Corporation, founded by Bill Crawley to make mountain packs. In 1993, in a furniture warehouse, the crew smelled spray paint and found an employee repainting his own pack in earth tones. Hunting gear followed. In 1994 the founders came back from pleading with their banker to find a hunting rep, Web Adams, waiting. He said, "Quality cost money, and this is the best stuff I have ever seen," and returned with orders.
Zebco Brands, a fishing company, bought Vortex in 2008. In July 2026 Heritage Outdoor Group, owner of PSE Archery and Kryptek, bought Badlands, which works out of Sandy. The company says its lifetime warranty covers anything with the Badlands name or red bull skull, no matter whose fault the damage was or whether it came from a garage sale. It draws the line at sawing a pack in half to get a new one.
Badlands says its warranty repairs have gone to one original employee, Okcha, for more than two decades, and when asked whether she could handle apparel claims too, she said "meh."
