founder michael eidson headquarters 2004 south mcdowell suite 200 petaluma california u.s. products hydration pack bottles gloves large combat tactical packs accessories owner vista outdoor number of employees 51 200 website www.camelbak.com camelbak products llc stylized as camelbak is an outdoors equipment company based in petaluma california best known for its hydration products such as hydration packs and water bottles . camelbak is also a supplier of hydration packs protective gear and other products to the u.s. military and law enforcement agencies around the world . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 hydration packs 2.2 water bottles 2.3 water purification 3 operations 4 leadership 4.1 layne rigney 4.2 sally mccoy 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit in 1988 camelbak founder michael eidson was competing in the hotter n hell 100 bike race in wichita falls texas . 1 eidson who was an emt by trade filled an iv bag with water and stuck it in a tube sock . he then pinned the tube sock to the back of his jersey pulled the tube over his shoulder and secured it with a clothes pin . within a few months eidson began selling the first camelbak product the thermalbak which quickly became popular among cyclists . 2 military hydration pack u.s. troops took camelbak products into battle in the first gulf war and they quickly became a popular product at military exchanges . camelbak s defense sales grew further during the second gulf war and the war in afghanistan . u.s. and foreign government contracts made up about 40 % of camelbak s business as of 2012 . 3 camelbak was sold to san francisco toymaker kransco in 1994 for 4 million . bear stearns merchant banking bought it for 210 million in 2003 . 3 in 2006 camelbak expanded into the water bottle business . the company differentiated its bottles by making them taste free using bite valves designed to stop leaks while allowing easy sipping . eliminating the use of bpa in 2011 water bottles accounted for about 31 % of camelbak s sales . 3 compass diversified holdings a private equity firm purchased the company in august of 2011 for 258 million . 3 in february of 2015 camelbak filed a patent infringement suit against osprey to protect its hands free reservoir hydration systems . the suit was settled in july 2015 on confidential terms . 4 camelbak was purchased by vista outdoor in july 2015 for 412.5 million . vista outdoor will integrate camelbak s 300 employees into its outdoor products division . 5 products edit hydration packs edit an example of a civilian camelbak pack . the blue tube coming off the top enables the wearer to drink from the internal water bladder without removing the pack . camelbak s hydration packs come in capacities of 1.5 to 3.0 litres 50 100 us fluid oz in a backpack style primarily for biking hiking and other outdoor activities with smaller belt type 0.83 to 1.3 litre 28 45 us fluid oz packs designed for runners and walkers . camelbak also makes bottles general purpose backpacks and some specialized military and law enforcement gear ranging from simple back worn water reservoirs with little to no cargo capacity to large rucksacks with various accessories even pals webbing to accommodate molle gear . 6 one of camelbak s military lines features reservoirs that resist chemical and biological weapons ; they are designed to be used with gas masks . 3 the united states army approved the use of camelbak cbr x hydration packs in november 2015 . the army s office of the product manager soldier clothing and individual equipment and the army s test and evaluation command approved the three liter cbr x after exposing it to nerve agents for six hours after thirty days of use in the field and then verifying that the water inside remained uncontaminated and performing numerous other tests since 2006 . 7 water bottles edit camelbak manufactures a line of water bottles including water bottles with a dip straw and a collapsible bite valve and another line for cyclists with a centered valve no dip straw and a squeezable body . reusable water bottles increased in popularity after bottled water was denounced by environmentalists . 8 since 2008 these camelbak products have been manufactured without bpa a potentially toxic chemical commonly used to harden polycarbonate plastic or phthalates . camelbak now uses copolyester from eastman tritan . camelbak claims to be the first company in its industry to stop using bpa in all its products . 8 water purification edit in january of 2012 camelbak started selling its all clear portable water purification system . all clear uses ultraviolet light to make untreated water potable in about one minute . 3 in 2014 camelbak released a filtered water pitcher called the relay . camelbak claims that the relay filters water ten times faster than competing products ; this is fast enough to keep up with the flow rate of a kitchen faucet . the relay uses large pleated filters that last about four months . 6 in may of 2015 nephros a medical device company that specializes in liquid purification announced that it had licensed its hydraguard line of military grade water filters to camelbak . the terms of the deal give camelbak the exclusive right to sell hydraguard products . 9 operations edit camelbak moved to petaluma california in 1999 . as of 2012 about 80 people worked at camelbak s headquarters there . camelbak converted its rented office space into a leed certified facility . all camelbak products are designed and tested in petaluma . the company manufactures its products at other locations in the united states mexico and asia . 3 leadership edit layne rigney edit layne rigney took over as the firm s head on february 1 2016 . rigney served as camelbak s senior vice president of global sales since 2012 . he has 25 years of relevant experience with companies such as powerbar nestile usa rockshox and rei . 10 sally mccoy edit sally mccoy served as camelbak s chief executive officer until 2016 after leading the firm for nine years . mccoy is also a co founder and former chair of the outdoor industry association formerly known as orca . she was a founding partner at silver steep partners a financial consultancy that caters exclusively to companies in the outdoor and active lifestyle markets . mccoy has served as president of both sierra designs and ultimate direction . she served as vice president at the north face . she received the outdoor industry leadership award and was named one of the top innovators of the last 25 years by outside magazine . she won the 2011 outdoor industry pioneering woman award from the outdoor industries women s coalition . mccoy earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from dartmouth college . 11 12 see also edit hydration system references edit about us . www.camelbak.com . retrieved 7 october 2014 . felton vernon . bag to the future how camelbak changed the way we all ride . www.bikemag.com . bike magazine . retrieved 7 october 2014 . a b c d e f g hart steve 8 april 2012 . camelbak expands into new markets . the press democrat . santa rosa california . staff brain 28 july 2015 . camelbak and osprey settle patent infringement lawsuit . bicycle retailer . united states . retrieved 7 january 2016 . camelbak acquired for 412 million . bikebiz . 28 july 2015 . retrieved 31 july 2015 . a b tipton nancy 27 march 2014 . gadgets can help you spring into fitness ; a water vessel snacks help you get off on the right foot . albuquerque journal . new mexico . 1 a b camelbak announces entire bottle line now bpa free . 25 april 2008 . retrieved 27 february 2011 . 2 camelbak announces changes to executive team . outdoor magazine . united states . 9 january 2016 . retrieved 10 january 2016 . company overview of camelbak products llc . bloomberg business . united states . 8 january 2015 . retrieved 8 january 2016 . 3 external links edit media related to camelbak at wikimedia commons official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title camelbak & oldid 743832609 categories 1989 establishments in californiacompanies based in sonoma county californiapetaluma californiahidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages polski edit links this page was last modified on 11 october 2016 at 14 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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