Dana Design
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Dana Design was a small manufacturer of high end backpacks for mountain climbing based in the Pacific Northwest. The company was founded by Dana Gleason in Bozeman, Montana. Their most popular pack was the Terraplane. Dana Design packs are known for their ability to haul, meaning that their packs can balance large weights very well and cause the wearer far less stress than other backpacks.
Although high-end and feature-laden, Dana Design packs were also very expensive. This led to their decline in popularity over the years, where many people chose to go with another brand that might have only one or two fewer features, but would be almost a hundred dollars less.
Dana Design was sold to K2 in 1996, and control of the division was subsequently assumed by Marmot in 2004, which moved operations to Vashon Island, Washington. Manufacturing was moved overseas in the late 90's.
Several years ago, Dana lowered price points for items it decided to keep, such as the Suit Pack (a briefcase which now has a retail price of $99 instead of its former retail price close to $200). It also brought out less technically oriented lines that were aimed at urban hipsters at lower price points. Dana Design ceased to exist as a name brand in 2006. Many of their popular packs, such as the Terraplane, Bridger, and Bomb Pack were rebranded under the Marmot name.
After the expiration of his non-compete agreement with K2, Dana Gleason went on to start Mystery Ranch, a boutique pack builder. The packs are domestically made in Bozeman, Montana, and some of the Mystery Ranch designs bear a strong resemblance to Gleason's original Dana Design packs.
Mystery Ranch currently has on-going procurement for the United States Navy SEAL Team. The pack is called BDSB. Also several United States Air Force Pararescue teams have bought specially designed medical pack for the operational usage in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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