About Us

In 2004 when our founder Joe Valesko was setting out to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, he couldn't find any gear options that met his needs. They were all too bulky, heavy, and full of unnecessary features. He knew there had to be a better way and he was determined to solve his own problem.

Sitting down at a sewing machine in his apartment, Joe began designing and producing his first pieces of gear. He would soon test and refine his gear over the course of his AT hike.

Encouraged by other hikers who were envious of Joe's base weight, he decided to start selling his designs online and producing them at night and on weekends.

And with that, Zpacks was born from this obsession of achieving the perfect balance of weight and function with gear designed to withstand our demands as human-powered adventurers.

As Zpacks has grown, we have made a point to keep the adventurous spirit close to heart. Today the company employs adventurers who collectively have tens of thousands of miles of experience under their belt.

This constant experience allows us to design and sell a premier collection of ultralight gear to fill out every adventurers needs, all sewn in our facility in West Melbourne, FL USA.