Camelbak

It's 1989. Bicycle enthusiast Michael Eidson is competing in the Texas ""Hotter'N Hell 100"" a 100-mile road race. Water is vital to surviving the race and as an emergency medical technician by trade, he fills an IV bag with water, slips it into a sock and stuffs it into his jersey. With a hose over his shoulder, he clamps it with a clothespin. Hands-free hydration is born.

Jeff Wemmer, a competitive cyclist who fell hard for CamelBak, was so impressed by the product that he started bringing packs to races to sell them. Talk about a fan. CamelBak eventually hired him, and in 1993, Jeff embarked on a road trip to keep the start-up running during very tough times. Company lore has it that Jeff visited bike shops from Florida to California, pitching our product from the back of his motorcycle. Each order Jeff faxed back to the factory literally breathed another day of life back into CamelBak.

Courage, conviction and imagination. It evolved from an IV bag in a tube sock sold by a motorcycle-driven sales force of one. Our core values remain the same and drive everything we do - from inventing the hydration category to becoming the world's leading maker of hydration solutions. Oh yeah...about those folks who laughed at Eidson? Well, chances are they've got a CamelBak strapped to their back or in their bike cage these days. Go figure...