Timbuk2 is a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based bag manufacturer and marketer. The company produces a variety of pre-made and made-to-order bags. Timbuk2 is owned by private equity group TB2 Investors. In 2014, the company was ranked as the 2nd largest manufacturer in San Francisco by the

San Francisco Business Times American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

History

Timbuk2 was founded in 1989 by bike messenger Rob Honeycutt in a garage in San Francisco's

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

. Honeycutt was fascinated by "just in time" manufacturing and studied the Toyota manufacturing model which led him to develop a bag pattern that was able to accommodate custom orders from independent bike dealers in San Francisco. The company was originally named Scumbags; Honeycutt changed the name to Timbuk2 Designs in 1990. The name Timbuk2 was inspired in part by the American rock band

Timbuk3 Timbuk 3 was an American rock music, rock band which released six original studio albums between 1986 and 1995. They are best known for their Top 20 single "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades". The band's music has been featured on more ...

and the company's swirl logo was designed by Honeycutt and is meant to mimic the rotation of a bike wheel. While its product line has since expanded beyond custom bags, Timbuk2 has continually designed and manufactured all its custom products in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood since 1989. Non-custom products are manufactured in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The company launched its flagship retail store in

Hayes Valley, San Francisco Hayes Valley is a neighborhood in the Western Addition district of San Francisco, California. It is located between the historical districts of Alamo Square and the Civic Center. Victorian, Queen Anne, and Edwardian townhouses are mixed with hig ...

in 2006. In 2011, Timbuk2 launched a bicycle share program in its retail stores. In 2013, the Timbuk2 opened a retail location in Seattle, Washington. That same year, the company incorporated recycled Bike to Work banners into messenger bags and donated a portion of the profits to the

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) is a California 501(c)(4) nonprofit public-benefit corporation established to "transform San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday ...

. Patti Cazzato was appointed to the role of

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

in July 2014. That same year, the company encouraged bag owners to reuse and recycle their bags through its Timbuk2 Life Cycle program. Timbuk2 also added retail locations in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Toronto in 2014. That same year, Timbuk2 collaborated with

Blue Bottle Coffee Company Blue Bottle Coffee, Inc., is a coffee roaster and retailer once headquartered in Oakland, California, United States. In 2017, a majority stake in the company was acquired by Nestlé (68%). It is considered a major player in third wave coffee. Th ...

to release a coffee travel kit. In July 2016, the company collaborated with the footwear company

New Balance New Balance Athletics, Inc. (NB), best known as simply New Balance, is one of the world's major sports footwear and apparel manufacturers. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the multinational corporation was founded in 1906 as the New Balance Arch ...

to release specially branded products. The company opened a flagship store in

NoHo, Manhattan NoHo, short for North of Houston Street (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded by Mercer Street to the west and the Bowery to the east, ...

in October 2016. In June 2017, the company opened an additional location in Brooklyn.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.timbuk2.com Companies based in San Francisco Manufacturing companies established in 1989 Retail companies established in 2006 Online retailers of the United States Sporting goods retailers of the United States 1989 establishments in California