Revelate Designs has been a mainstay and constant innovator in the bikepacking bag world for almost two decades. Spencer dropped in to their Anchorage, Alaska, headquarters to see the people and space behind the brand. Owner and founder Eric Parsons walked Spencer through their shop and showed him what they’ve been up to and what may be next for the bikepacking brand…
A last-minute trip to Alaska led to an even more last-minute trip to visit Revelate Designs HQ in Anchorage. I arrived on a Sunday, and through a web of small-world web of bike nerds I was able to get in contact with Eric Parsons, the founder of Revelate Designs, for a shop visit the next day. After the quintessential Alaskan pastime of visiting Costco to restock my buddy Tyler’s root cellar, he dropped me off in a nondescript business park where Revelate Designs HQ exists in its most modern form.
Revelate’s Designs
Revelate has an extensive range of technical bikepacking bags informed by the needs and wants of Eric and his staff. Their production spans multiple locations and even multiple countries, while keeping their Made in USA roots. Their catalog is extensive and thus requires many different skilled production lines to make everything to the quality that they expect.
Generally speaking, all R&D, design, and running of the company happens in Anchorage, along with building a few small-batch parts and bags. Their high-end sewn bags and mostly all frame bags are sewn in Seattle. The welded waterproof bags are welded and produced in Vietnam & Cambodia, where they have the skills and specialized machinery for such bags. Some of the other small-sized bags in their line are also sewn in Vietnam. Revelate keeps a small stock in Anchorage, but their main shipping warehouse is in Boise, ID. It is a complicated logistical network, a big part of which is due to being based in Alaska, where freight and shipping costs are high. It was interesting to learn how Revelate has adapted and grown organically and slowly over nearly two decades as they’ve dialed in their supply chain and kept the high quality the brand is known for while maintaining their roots in Alaska.
Revelate’s History
I can remember a time when I fawned over my friend’s full suite of Revelate Designs bags. Ten years ago, there were far fewer big fish in the bikepacking bag pond, and cottage makers ruled the space. Now we have multiple very large companies making high volumes of bags in the bikepacking space, but cottage makers are where the innovation has always happened, and that continues to this day. Revelate has grown considerably from its garage roots, but the ethos of innovation remains the same.
But how did Eric get his business started? Let’s do a little Revelate Designs history lesson.
Eric started mountain biking as a teenager in the early ’90s, and that led him toward bike touring. When I say bike touring, I mean classic touring: a trailer or panniers on racks. Eric had qualms with panniers and other bags that were available and decided to try his hand at making his own. We both had a good laugh since Revelate now offers a few styles of panniers; time is a flat circle. Eric took his set of homemade bags on a trip to Patagonia that would start to develop his desire to craft more bags.
Not long after that, while living in Colorado, he met a guy through the now-defunct Montezuma’s Revenge race that would travel up to Alaska for the Iditabike events. On his rig was a frame bag his mom had sewn for him. Eric was pumped at the idea of frame bags and was able to get a friend in Fort Collins to sew one for him, and that love affair lasted for many years. Eric eventually learned how to sew, started making outdoor gear, and eventually moved to Alaska. When considering making Revelate his full-time job, Eric time-trialed himself to see how fast he could make a custom framebag for a friend. That first bag took four hours, but he decided it was feasible to try to turn a profit, and would get better and faster eventually.
A few years later, he was woefully staring at a list of 100+ custom orders after some initial buzz on internet biking forums. Around that time, Eric had befriended a woman named Krista Olsen in Oregon who originally developed the Mountain Feedbag. When Krista wanted to move on, Eric acquired the business and the IP for the feedbag, along with a connection to the Springfield, Oregon, sewing shop where she had produced the bags. With a staggering backlog and a need to standardize products, this was a huge leap. The first production frame bags would become what we know today as the Tangle frame bag. He still recalls the relief of seeing a whole box of bags he didn’t have to sew himself arrive after his many 14-hour days in the sewing studio. That moment still informs how Revelate’s catalog is produced today.
After surfing many garages in Anchorage, Revelate finally got a proper home. The space photographed here is an even more recent move that feels like the most permanent home Revelate has had. Eric and the team felt very settled in. From the start, Revelate was Eric chasing his creativity and not being satisfied with what is already available, a passion that carries through to this day.
Anchorage HQ
I am greeted in the parking lot by Eric and shepherded into the headquarters to meet Eddie and Teal and their diametrically opposed dogs. One is a new puppy that is very concerned about this new human (me), and the other is a retired sled dog that couldn’t care less…