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Yeti, the company known for its trendy drinkware, insulated bottles and high-end coolers, will acquire backpack manufacturer Mystery Ranch according to an agreement announced by the two companies on Wednesday.
In a press release, Matt Reintjes, president and CEO of Yeti, said that his company and Mystery Ranch have both built products “with durability and performance in mind,” making the two manufacturers “a natural fit.”
“Mystery Ranch packs have earned a global reputation within the most demanding communities by building load-bearing equipment that delivers in the harshest environments,” Reintjes said in the press release. Their ethos, passion and people not only align with the Yeti team, but also connect well with our commitment to innovation and our customers.”
Founded in 2000, Mystery Ranch is the brainchild of Dana Gleason and Renée Sippel-Baker, two outdoor industry veterans with decades of experience in pack design. In 1985, the pair founded Dana Design, which manufactured some of the most widely-used and well-loved hiking backpacks of the 1980s and 1990s, including classics like the Terraplane. In 1995, they sold the company to K2 Corporation, leaving a few years later after the new ownership moved production outside of the U.S. Over the past 24 years, Mystery Ranch’s designs have earned plaudits from outdoor media and hikers alike, with its Sphinx and Mystic earning an Editors’ Choice Award from Backpacker in 2016. The company has a long history of creating backpacks for firefighting and military use too, such as its Blackjack line of tactical packs.
Austin-based Yeti brought in $1.59 billion in revenue in the 12-month period ending in September 2023. Mystery Ranch, which is privately owned, doesn’t disclose its revenue numbers, though company president Alex Kutches told The Daily in an interview last year that the outdoor segment of its business had roughly quadrupled since 2019.
“Yeti’s passion for innovation and the outdoors aligns closely with our founding vision,” Gleason said in Yeti’s release. “Renée Sippel-Baker, my co-founder, and I know they are a perfect partner to build upon our long history of making the best load-bearing equipment in the world for the most extreme users as well as the everyday mission.”
For now, Yeti says, Mystery Ranch will continue to work from its headquarters in Bozeman and “will work with YETI over the next several months to integrate teams and functions.”
From 2023