About Us
In 2004 when our founder Joe Valesko was setting out to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, he couldn't find any gear options that met his needs. They were all too bulky, heavy, and full of unnecessary features. He knew there had to be a better way and he was determined to solve his own problem.
Sitting down at a sewing machine in his apartment, Joe began designing and producing his first pieces of gear. He would soon test and refine his gear over the course of his AT hike.
Encouraged by other hikers who were envious of Joe's base weight, he decided to start selling his designs online and producing them at night and on weekends.
And with that, Zpacks was born from this obsession of achieving the perfect balance of weight and function with gear designed to withstand our demands as human-powered adventurers.
As Zpacks has grown, we have made a point to keep the adventurous spirit close to heart. Today the company employs adventurers who collectively have tens of thousands of miles of experience under their belt.
This constant experience allows us to design and sell a premier collection of ultralight gear to fill out every adventurers needs, all sewn in our facility in West Melbourne, FL USA.
Contact Us"Samurai" Joe Valesko
Joe Valesko founded Zpacks out of his apartment in 2005. He has been designing and testing all of our gear ever since.
A Triplecrowner, Joe has over 10,000 long distance miles under his belt, including the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Te Araroa, Tour du Mont Blanc and much more.
You can check out a complete list of Joe's Adventures here.
"Details" / Matt Favero
Matt joined Zpacks as our first employee in 2010. As our Director of Marketing, he can usually be found in the middle of one of our many ongoing projects.
With thousands of hiking miles under his belt, Matt has thru-hiked the Long Trail, the Superior Hiking Trail, the Tour du Mont Blanc (twice), the Uinta Highline Trail and walked coast to coast across Scotland during The Great Outdoor Challenge in 2014 and 2019.
A full list of all of Matt's Adventures can be found here.
