Gregory Mountain Products is a pack and bag brand headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in San Diego, California, in 1977.
The shoulder straps on Wayne Gregory's first backpack were socks filled with foam. He was a 14-year-old Boy Scout who couldn't afford a pack, so he studied the ones at his local outdoor store and built his own on an aluminum frame with wooden struts. Gregory Mountain Products, now run from Salt Lake City, still repeats the rule he arrived at: a pack should be worn, not carried.
In 1977 he founded Gregory in San Diego with his wife, Suszy, who had threatened never to go backpacking again unless he did something about the bruises from badly fitting packs. Few product briefs have been clearer. His first hit, the Cassin Pack, took off after Colin Fletcher featured it in The Complete Walker.
Gregory joined Black Diamond in a 2010 deal, and Samsonite bought it in 2014 for $85 million in cash. Most packs come in separate men's and women's designs, and each size comes in two or three back lengths. In 2015 the company built a headquarters at the base of the Wasatch, a few miles south of Salt Lake City. Prototypes are made by hand there, in an office the company says holds nearly as many dogs as people.
Before Utah, Gregory belonged to Armor Holdings, a maker of military vehicles and protective gear, and was part of that company's $4.5 billion sale to BAE Systems in 2007.
