Zpacks is a household name among ultralight gear enthusiasts. Yet even after almost 20 years, their designs feel fresh. The brand sets itself apart by pushing the limits of their gear while ensuring durability and functionality, with a strong focus on materials. On top of that, of all the ultralight brands, Zpacks often comes out with the most new models of tents, clothing, and backpacks in any given year. I sat down with Zpacks’ Director of Marketing, Matteo Favero, to learn about the company’s special sauce and how everyday Zpacks fans can be a part of the innovation and design process.
Making Gear by Scratching Their Own Itch
Zpacks was founded in 2005 by Triple Crown thru-hiker Joe Valesko after seeing firsthand the lack of gear that was light enough for the demands of his long-distance hiking on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail. Joe made his gear to “scratch his own itch, wanting better gear for his hikes.” Now, the company has grown to more than 100 people, still sewing their products in the U.S.A.
Matteo is also a hiker with a design background, and he tells me he first encountered Zpacks during his own search for ultralight gear.
He met Joe 14 years ago and, after taking him out to lunch, became the company’s first employee. First, Matteo started as a sewer with Joe and his wife in their two-car garage. After spending time in nearly every aspect of the business, he’s now marketing director. His memorable bearded face has become ubiquitous with Zpacks’ video ads, and his enthusiasm and humor isn’t an act. His passion for ultralight gear and getting outdoors rang just as true over our Zoom call.
Pushing Limits in Outdoor Gear Design
A 4-person tent prototype in the Zpacks studio.
“When you really go into what separates us from other brands, it is we are willing to push some limits on how far you can push certain fabrics, how lightweight you can get them, how you reinforce things to make them last without overdoing it,” Matteo tells me. As a result, “almost everything we sell is the lightest functional version available.”
When Joe first started Zpacks, “he had no intent on creating a company” Matteo tells me. He was just looking for better options for his own hikes. Even among ultralight gear that was available at the time, “he thought everything was too big, too bulky, too many buckles, too much webbing. And so he made his own stuff.”
“We do push boundaries. We've learned sometimes we push too far,” Matteo says.
He uses the example of the original packs from the early days made of the same lightweight material that the brand currently uses for their dry bags. This was before they started making packs of the type of Dyneema Cuben Fiber (DCF) they use today.
“Getting a thru-hike out of a pack made of that material was tough,” he says.“ It would be more duct tape by the end than it would be anything else.” But the brand applied lessons from that in their quest to balance weight with durability with iterative design.
Iterative Design
The Offset Solo on the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Just as in the early days, Zpacks has relied on the feedback of thru-hikers and ultralight backpacking enthusiasts to find a comfortable balance between pushing the limits of ultralight and function. Learning from mistakes and iterative design is what keeps their gear feeling fresh, even as a brand that has existed for nearly two decades.
“Every time I go out, I always want to have a better experience,” Matteo tells me.
On any given trip, he asks himself, “What can we change? What can we modify? What fabrics are available? How can we cut weight? Is this more comfortable?”
“Why we do what we do,” he says, “is very selfish. But we’d be going on these hikes and asking these questions anyway, even if we weren’t part of a company. And we know that if we achieve what we want, that other people can benefit from it as well.”
Stephen, design specialist, making a work instruction in the Zpacks design office.
The Evolution of the Ultralight Backpacking Industry and its Customer Base
Zpacks is one of the oldest ultralight gear brands, and Matteo tells me there are pros and cons of being a long-time player in the ultralight backpacking industry.
From the beginning, Zpacks has been about serving the specialized needs of ultralight enthusiasts. But over the decades, there’s been a shift in the ultralight backpacking market from niche to mainstream. With that comes challenges, including educating the general outdoors consumer base that ultralight gear needs extra care.
In recent years, there’s been a switch in customer preferences towards comfort and convenience—even for ultralight backpackers. In the past, ultralighters were willing to suffer. Matteo says, “In the early 2000s, ultralight backpackers said, ‘I don't care if I’m comfortable, but will I die?’”
Now, many backpackers think of ultralight as a way to have their cake and eat it, too—with features, functionality, and comfort all in a lightweight package. “Now I would say anybody who's spending the appropriate amount of time researching gear while getting into backpacking is going to end up in this space,” Matteo says—possibly even before they're ready for it. That’s where education and finding a balance between durability and weight comes in.
Ultralight Gear is a Race Car, Traditional Gear is a Corolla
Zpacks has learned to balance the needs of hikers who are really tough on their gear with backpackers on a quest to get thousands of miles out of one item. He’s seen it all: hikers who get three months out of a pack until it’s thrashed and other hikers taking the same pack on the entire Triple Crown. “It’s the same material, same construct, everything is the same, and it's just the user who's different.”
That’s where the racecar metaphor comes in. “If you look at backpacking as like a car, a Toyota Corolla will get everyone everywhere, and it's good for everybody. You know what you're going to get into,” Matteo explains.
“When you get into a full ultralight kit, you almost become like a semi-pro athlete. So it’s like you're driving a race car now.”
“A race car does not perform on the street the same way as a Corolla. You need to use it differently. It doesn't handle fender benders quite as well. It might go through tires at a faster rate. But it's designed to achieve excellence and performance.” He says the same goes for ultralight gear, “You lose some of the things that are commonly found in other backpacks you can get from REI or Walmart.”
Building gear for a range of users and how hard they are on gear has taken a while to perfect. What separates Zpacks from newer cottage brands and bigger brands trying to get into the ultralight space, Matteo says, is “having found that line and lived in it for over a decade.”
How to Get Your Zpacks Dream Gear
Have you ever wished there was a Zpacks item that doesn’t exist? From early on, Zpacks has innovated and adapted to consumer needs, designing products requested by ultralight backpackers. Now that Zpacks has grown, they’ve stayed true to their roots and can act on customer ideas even more quickly and design even more different models of gear. “We are always developing stuff, and one of my favorite things is coming up with ideas and testing,” Matteo tells me.
Courtney, in the Zpacks' Florida headquarters, sews a Groundsheet Poncho.
One customer-driven innovation that you’ll see all over Zpacks’ website is vest-style straps on backpacks. They’ve also changed the way their top side pocket attaches based on the suggestions of a few customers.
Matteo tells me that owner Joe has an unofficial rule that they’ll act on something if there are three emails requesting a product or innovation. So if there’s something you’ve always wished Zpacks made (or that they used to make that you’d like to see back in their store), get some friends together and send some emails.
Outdoor Branding with a Humorous Tone
There’s a lot of ways outdoor brands can distinguish themselves. When Matteo became head of marketing, he knew he wanted to bring a sense of humor to his ads.
As a legacy ultralight brand, Zpacks could easily have kept their ads dry and coasted on their reputation. But instead, Matteo decided to bring in some lighthearted banter and self-deprecation.
“I'm really leaning into making an ass out of myself lately, and I've really been enjoying [making videos.] I’m a little weird. I can’t help it. So I lean into it and have some fun. It shows that there are humans behind the brand.”
Zpacks may be a larger ultralight brand now, but they’re still having fun, listening to customers, and pushing the edge of ultralight. Whether that’s innovating based on thru-hikers’ feedback or hiking side-by-side with newer backpackers at the Highlander event they sponsor each year, Zpacks remains at the forefront of the ultralight community.
Matteo doing what he does best!
Liz “Snorkel” Thomas is a thru-hiker with 20+ long trails on her feet, including the PCT, CDT, and AT, for which she held an FKT (fastest known time). Her trail experiences led her to co-found Treeline Review, an outdoor gear review space dedicated to buying right the first time to reduce waste on the planet.
