Based in the city whose name it bears, Duluth Pack has been as durable as the backpacks, bags, and other outdoor-oriented cut-and-sew products it produces in its hometown. Founded in 1882, it is reputedly the oldest canvas-and-leather bag and pack manufacturer in the U.S. On Feb. 19, the company announced that Tom Sega, who’d owned Duluth Pack since 2007, had sold the business to Alexandria-based entrepreneur Kevin Hall and a silent partner who prefers to remain anonymous. The press release announced that “there will be many exciting new changes that the community should be on the lookout for, including new faces of the company, new products, and changes to the brand’s look and messaging.”

The sale comes on the heels of a remodeling of Duluth Pack’s Canal Park retail location. So what other changes might be in store? Duluth Pack Manager Grant DeMars, who’s serving as the company’s spokesperson, wants to reassure devoted customers that the changes won’t sacrifice Duluth Pack’s hardy made-in-the-North identity. “We want to make sure that with our diverse customer base, we have a message and products that align with all the uses,” he says.

The challenge for a long-established business like Duluth Pack: maintaining the brand’s core appeal without becoming out-of-date.

Blending old and new

There’s a slight air of mystery surrounding the Duluth Pack sale. Besides the identity of his silent partner, it’s not known what Hall’s other businesses have been or why Sega chose to sell. Since 2017, Sega also has owned Spring Creek Manufacturing, a Mountain Iron-based maker of paddle sports equipment. Hall himself was himself a silent partner in Duluth Pack in the early 2000s, though until his recent purchase he hasn’t had a stake in the company for many years.

In any case, Hall certainly is familiar with what he’s buying. Duluth Pack’s customer base includes “people who are into bushcraft and are really hardcore being outdoors,” DeMars says. “And we have people who want to use a briefcase or a purse every day to work but maybe aren’t as outdoorsy. And there’s just about everything in between.”

In the 2010s, Duluth Pack acquired a certain hip cachet, in large part because of its made-in-Duluth vibe. Starting around 2015, it began making packs for musical artists performing at Xcel Energy Center, including Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran, and Adele. And a “No. 4 Original” model Duluth Pack featured prominently in the 2017 Dwayne Johnson adventure film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

These are laurels the business doesn’t plan to rest on. DeMars says that Duluth Pack will be developing and releasing a steady stream of new products. The company’s most recent new release is a crossbody purse oriented primarily for the consumer segment. DeMars says Duluth Pack has three new products scheduled for March, and several more over the following months. Unlike the purse, which fits in with a general-use market, other new products will be targeting hunters and other outdoors customers. During the first week of March, Duluth Park will introduce limited-edition products incorporating one of its older “traditional” colors that had been discontinued for several years.

“It’s not that we’re taking [the company] in any different direction,” DeMars says. “We’re just making sure that we have products for everybody who participates in our brand.” In addition, “there will be new messaging tailored to all of these specific audiences.”

Sending the right message

Aaron Keller, founder and managing partner of Minneapolis-based marketing firm Capsule and TCB columnist, knows Duluth Pack well. From his perspective as a marketer who’s worked in the outdoors retail space, a big part of the Duluth Pack brand is “building things that last.” But durability has one drawback. Once a customer buys a high-quality product, “they don’t need a second or third one,” at least not very soon. At the same time, Keller adds, there’s an attraction to “products that have more depth—history, heritage—that address our desire for authenticity.”

As Duluth Pack and its new ownership contemplate the trail ahead, Keller cites as a potential model another Minnesota manufacturer that bears its hometown’s name. Red Wing Shoes is a successful legacy brand that “also has become a fashion brand,” Keller says. Like Red Wing, Duluth Pack could also build upon a similar crossover appeal “as long as they go there without losing their base.” This would keep the Duluth Pack brand “more authentic—sticking to their core base while being open to designing products for more people.”

But another Minnesota manufacturer-retailer provides a cautionary tale. St. Paul-based J.W. Hulme built up a reputation over more than a century for crafting high-quality leather luggage and bags, becoming something of a fashionable brand. Not long after a New Jersey private equity group became its majority owner in 2009, Hulme moved most of its manufacturing out of state, thus undercutting its “authentic” appeal. In 2019, J.W. Hulme was acquired by Eden Prairie-based iMedia Brands, best known for the ShopHQ TV shopping network. When iMedia went bankrupt in June 2023, J.W. Hulme fell through the cracks. Six months later, the company closed its St. Paul store (and the rest of its operations) after 118 years in business.

Since Duluth Pack hasn’t been absorbed into a larger investment entity, it’s in far less danger of shutting down. “I’d be curious whether they give Duluth Pack a new visual language to keep the brand fresh and current,” Keller says. That, he adds, would send a strong signal that “this brand will be around a long time.”

Keller believes that the new ownership could update Duluth Pack’s marketing tactics. “From the outside looking in, I’d say they haven’t broadened to all the places they could be—all the conversations they could be in when it comes to social media,” he says. In a “social-first society,” Duluth Pack could “amplify their effort” to reach new audiences that would find its authenticity and quality appealing. Adds Keller: “I imagine that the acquirers are thinking about that already.”