JanSport is an American brand of backpacks and collegiate apparel, now owned by VF Corporation, one of the world's largest apparel companies. JanSport is the world's largest backpack maker. Nearly half of all small backpacks sold in the United States are produced by JanSport and its sister brand The North Face, also owned by VF Corporation. an industrial design student, designed a backpack that used aluminum in its flexible frame.

Using the contest award money, JanSport innovated with a panel-loading daypack, unlike traditional top-loading packs. The latter was a popular product at the bookstore at the University of Washington, where Murray McCrory (né Pletz) had been a student and met his future wife, and was originally known as the University Bookstore Rucksack. To this day, Jansport still holds the record of the most consecutive annual group climbs. In 2018, was their 46th annual Jansport Mount Rainier climb consisting of a team of 16 employees, retailers, international distributors, non-profit partners and media.

thumb|right|Former JanSport headquarters in Alameda, California

JanSport's corporate headquarters is in Denver, Colorado, at VF Outdoor headquarters, where it shares offices with divisional siblings The North Face, Smartwool, Altra Running, Icebreaker, and Eastpak. A distribution facility in Everett, Washington, which had opened in 1971, closed in March 2012. JanSport's collegiate apparel warehouse in Appleton, Wisconsin, closed in 2017.

thumb|right|An early 1990s JanSport D-3

JanSport started by developing the external frame backpack which used a metal frame with a cloth packsack attached to it. The products made include technical day packs and internal frame backpacks. Up until the early 1990s, all JanSport packs were made in the United States.

In February 2025, JanSport partnered with L2 Brands to boost its presence in American colleges.

On February 25, 2025, Sparks released the single "JanSport Backpack", from the album Mad!

References

  • JanSport official web site
  • VF Corporation