Spending his childhood on the trail and stitching his first backpack at age sixteen, Mike Pfotenhauer has been working with packs for just about his whole life. Thinking that he could bring something new and innovative to the pack market, Mike began crafting custom packs out of a small retail shop outside of his home in Santa Cruz, California. His work quickly gained attention, and customers were waiting months for their packs to be finished. With the demand for his products rising, Mike started to sell his packs to retailers in 1987. Not long after they entered the wholesale market, Mike and his wife, Diane Wren, found themselves in Dolores, Colorado on the same day that a GORE-TEX factory was closing. Moving into this location allowed them to employ a group of women from a Navajo reserve. From here, Osprey continued to produce quality packs for happy consumers, and in 2009, launched their "All Mighty Guarantee" that promised all Osprey owners full coverage of their packs and products regardless of when they were purchased. From long backpacking trips to high-paced runs on the trail, today, Osprey offers a product that you'll be able to count on for years.
