Wayne Gregory founded Gregory Mountain Products in San Diego, California in 1977. Originally the fledgling company produced backpacks in the back room of Wayne's retail store. Customers would stop by the store to talk "shop" and to share their experiences and ideas with Wayne, many of which were incorporated into new products.

In 1983 Wayne merged his business with Bianchi International and moved the company an hour north to Temecula California, where it remains today. Bianchi's resources allowed Wayne to focus on new technology, and greatly expanded the companies' production capacity. Southern California's incredible climate, coupled with easy access to world class climbing areas like Joshua Tree National Park, Tahquitz and Suicide rocks, and the Sierra Nevada range, provide a great testing ground for new products and ideas.

Over the past several years Gregory has grown substantially, and manufacturing has expanded to a second California facility in Calexico, east of San Diego, and also to China and Vietnam. Wayne continues to passionately focus on design and quality, but today he surrounds himself with a crew of talented associate designers that keep developing new and fresh ideas and technology.

Gregory has always been a company dedicated to backpackers, mountaineers, and rock climbers, but Gregory has recently used their vast amount of experience to introduce new products that address the growing adventure race and multi-sport market. You can bet that Gregory will continue to push the envelope, always keeping in mind Wayne's over-arching passion for ergonomic, innovative design and quality.

At age 14 Wayne Gregory designed his first backpack as part of a Boy Scout project. Shortly after this experience he met Andy Drollinger, the founder of San Diego California Adventure 16, at a boy scout camporee. Andy was impressed with Wayne's design and over the next few years Wayne could be found hanging around the Adventure 16 factory, buying raw materials and tinkering with a variety of backpack ideas. He soon became the young companies second employee.

In 1970, Wayne started his first company, Sunbird, with a goal to produce advanced external frame packs. Unhappy with the limitations of externals, he dissolved the company in 1973 and began working as a freelance designer (sleeping bags, tents, and technical apparel) for a number of the notable companies in the newly emerging outdoor specialty industry, including: Alpenlite, Gerry Outdoors, Frostline Kits and Snow Lion. Intrigued with new directions in soft packs and internal frame concepts he decided it was time to get back to his first love, designing backpacks, and in 1977 Wayne founded Gregory Mountain Products with his wife Suszy.

From his earliest packs, Gregory has been noted for innovation, ergonomic design, and an obsession with quality. Since Wayne found external frame packs too rigid to allow much flexibility, and internal frame packs too soft to adequately support serious weight, he put his mind to work to develop the Gregory Active Suspension System. This was a significant breakthrough for Gregory because it combined the load support of an external pack with the flexibility and comfort of an internal pack.

Today Wayne is the Master Pack Designer and the mind behind all of Gregory's innovative technology. Along with a team of talented Gregory Associate Designers, he continues to surprise the Gregory team every year with technology improvements and continued evolution in comfort, fit and durability.

Wayne Gregory, has almost 40 years experience designing and building outdoor products. We know that when you purchase a Gregory pack you have high expectations for its performance, comfort, durability and value. Gregory evaluates each and every design to make sure it exceeds your expectations.

FIT

Wayne Gregory has spent most of his career designing backpacks that fit your body. Like a good pair of shoes, a properly fit pack will be more than comfortable; it will disappear from your mind. Here is a selection of some of Wayne's key fit features:

ResponseT Suspension System Independent camming waistbelt system automatically registers hip angle, while customizable pivot control system that mirrors your bodies movements evenly distributes weight, increasing both load support and comfort. Natural pivot control lets you automatically adjust the amount of pack pivot as you hike By combining these two features, the ResponseT system flows with your bodies movements, providing superior weight transfer.

WraptorT Stabilizer Our patent pending WraptorT stabilizer is designed to stabilize the backpanel and alleviate pack bounce during high aerobic activity. By pulling the backpanel of the pack in toward the lumbar area, the load weight is transferred evenly over a wider area, preventing collapse. By securing the shoulder strap higher and further around the torso, the pack is sucked onto the wearers' back assuring non-bounce security for the duration of the workout

. ExoFrameT Technology Imagine reaching across your body to plant a ski pole or reach a handhold on a rock face. That motion requires torsional flexibility. Our unique, patent pending ExoFrameT framesheet is built for it. It bends with your body when you need it to. Yet in a vertical position-when you're hiking, for example-it offers superb stability and load support. It's the only suspension system that excels at both.

AdjustACantT Waist Belt: Adjusts the waist belts angle and transfers the weight to the hips where it is most comfortably carried.

Pre-Curved Waist belts: Wayne's unique Wilderness and MultiCantT waist belts are pre-curved to eliminate fabric wrinkles, or "hot spots".

AutoCantT Harness System: Adjusts the shoulder harness angle to eliminate chaffing and pinching on the shoulders and neck.

FloFormT II: Our special combination of durable foams, flame lamination, and molding provide incredible comfort and long-term durability.

Multiple Frame, Shoulder Harness, and Waist Belt Sizes: No two-body shapes are the same. We offers a variety of frame and component sizes to custom fit each pack to your unique shape.

DURABILITY

After 25+ years, Wayne has seen it all, and, where possible, fixed it all. This vast experience has been put to use in developing the most durable fabrics and sewing techniques. For example:

Center Locking Bar Tack: A bar tack is a row of stitching that reinforces high stress areas. Years ago Wayne developed one that locks in the middle for greater durability. No one else has this.

Custom Fabrics and Components: Wayne is rarely content with "off-the-shelf" fabrics and components, which is why he frequently works directly with other manufacturers to develop exactly what he wants.