About Timbuk2
The Tao of Timbuk2
Timbuk2 is more than a bag. It's more than a brand. Timbuk2 is a bond. To its owner, a Timbuk2 bag is a dependable, everyday companion. We see fierce, emotional attachments form between Timbuk2 customers and their bags all the time. A well-worn Timbuk2 bag has a certain patina-- the stains and scars of everyday urban adventures. Many Timbuk2 bags are worn daily for a decade, or more, accompanying the owner through all sorts of defining life events. True to our legend of "indestructibility", it's not uncommon for a Timbuk2 bag to outlive jobs, personal relationships, even pets. This is the Tao of Timbuk2.
City-Born and Street-Tough
Timbuk2 has been a San Francisco original since 1989. Stitch-by-stitch, bag-by-bag, we've built a solid reputation and a loyal following among real-life, hard-working bicycle messengers and cycling enthusiasts.
Over the years, our messenger bag emerged from its working-class roots -- adopted by a growing number of urbanites, students, and young professionals as a stylish alternative to the ubiquitous two-strap daypack and the formal black briefcase.
Products To Delight Our Customers
As we move forward, we remain faithful to our working-class urban roots, while expanding our city-bred sensibilities to a broader range of products and a wider audience. All of our new products share the same sense of style, toughness, attention to detail and dedication to quality that have made our Classic Messenger Bag a true classic.
Timbuk2 Manufacturing Policy
We support ethical working conditions and give back to our local community.
We still make our Custom and Classic Messenger Bags right here in San Francisco, with a team of 25+ hardworking cutters and sewers.
So how are we doing it? Over the years, we have fine-tuned our production line to make it as efficient as possible, while producing the highest-quality messenger bags available. We have also focused our local manufacturing efforts on our most prized product, our Custom Messenger Bag. Through a diligent process of continuous improvement, we have resisted the economic pressures to close our factory and move everything to low-cost manufacturing centers outside the United States.
That said, we are also committed to maintaining and growing a healthy company. As we began developing new products, good business sense dictated that we embrace alternative manufacturing strategies to provide the proper price-performance to our customers. The high-cost of local labor and the general decline of the domestic cut-and-sew industry have conspired to make the U.S. an undesirable place to produce our new bag products. As a result, we commenced a search for manufacturing partners overseas.
"What's this I hear about Timbuk2 bags 'Made in China'?"
Yes, it's true. Timbuk2 is making some of its new products in China. We realize this may concern some of our longstanding customers, so let us explain.
We designed our new laptop computer bags, duffels and accessories to provide the best possible features, quality, and value at reasonable price points-and we designed them right here in San Francisco. Our laptop bags are much more complex to build, and require substantially more labor and a variety of very expensive machines. Unfortunately, it is not practical for us to make these new products in our San Francisco factory-the labor cost alone would make the retail price absurdly high.
We specified all of the materials and construction details to ensure they would meet the superior quality standards our customers have come to expect, and we researched a dozen factories in China before we found one we thought was up to the task.
Our factory in China employs a team of hardworking craftspeople who earn good wages and an honest living, just like our factory in San Francisco. We visit our China factory on a regular basis every 4 to 8 weeks to ensure superior quality standards and working conditions.
We're proud to maintain our manufacturing presence in San Francisco.
Our growth over the past several years has increased general awareness of our brand, and stimulated even more demand for our Custom Messenger Bags. As a result we have grown our San Francisco manufacturing capability, adding equipment and people.
So, we're still the same hard-working group of bag fanatics-designing and making great bags, and supporting our local community -in an increasingly competitive global market. If "made in China" offends your sensibilities, we're sorry, and we encourage you to purchase one of our Custom Messenger Bags made in San Francisco. Meanwhile, we are pleased to say our new laptop bags are receiving rave reviews, and the additional business is allowing us to hire more people in all departments at our San Francisco headquarters-creating even more jobs locally, and paying even more taxes to support our wonderful city.
