Duluth Pack (company)
The Duluth Pack company is a manufacturer and supplier of Duluth pack style packs. They also produce and sell a range of other products, especially other bags and accessories built in the style of their packs. The company grew out of the shoe repair business started by Camille Poirier in 1870. He patented the #3 Duluth pack in 1882 and later sold the canoe pack business to an outdoor supply store in downtown Duluth, Minnesota, where it is still located. The company is led and owned by Tom Sega. History The Duluth pack was invented by a French-Canadian named Camille Poirier, who went west to Duluth in 1870. Arriving with his "little stock of leather and tools", he began a small shoe store and quickly found success in what was then a booming frontier town. Out of his small shoe shop on the waterfront, Poirier began building a new style of canoe pack with a tumpline, sternum strap, and umbrella holder. He patented the design in 1882. The original #3 Duluth Packs have changed little since then, and came to be extensively used on wilderness canoe camping trips, giving prominence to both the name of the pack and the company.