Concept Sketch for the Shellback Bike to Work Backpack in 2006

Product Name was the BikPäk; Company Name was Ümlaut

Every Company Has An Origin Story

(Fairfax, VA) Prior to my retirement from the Marine Corps in 2017, my wife had gone on Leave Without Pay (LWOP) four times and sacrificed 6 years of her State Department career to raise our children and support my military career.  When I retired, it was my turn to support her and look after the children.

We arrived at her post at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam in the fall of 2018 and she went right to work.  Being without a job for the first time since 2nd grade, I charged into setting up the household, unpacking, and getting the kids set up for success at school.  I suddenly had time to chaperone field trips and actually take the time to get to know their teachers and other parents.  But by October, I had read through my Unread Library, established pre- and post-school routines, and had the house running on autopilot. I needed a job, hobby, or pursuit.

Finding a job was out.  As a diplomat’s spouse, I was prohibited from seeking employment in order to prevent any conflicts of interest at the Embassy.  I considered getting really good at golf or becoming an age-group champion in triathlon.  But in the end, the idea that excited me the most was an old idea that solved my pain point as a bicycle commuter.

The Better Mousetrap

That idea was to create a backpack specifically designed for cyclists that could transport a suit, uniform, or office attire CREASE-FREE.  My idea was an ergonomically friendly backpack that distributed weight and reduced perspiration while transporting pretty much everything you’d need during the work day.  You see, I had been biking to school or work pretty much my entire life.  I loved the euphoric feeling of coasting into your destination, triumphant.  The simple reason, in fact the only reason, I didn’t do it more often was that I didn’t have the right equipment for the job.  I knew there are tens of thousands of people like me and believe that the right gear might be useful to them and even entice some on-the-fence riders to join the Bike to Work Movement.

After talking this entire idea over with me wife, we agreed to give the project $50K and 1 year and see how it went.  I reviewed some of my notes from that time and laughed when I saw my original projection was to have a market-ready prototype in 3 months.  Hah!!  I didn’t have a name, a legal entity, or a backpack manufacturer, but somehow I thought I could have that all done in 90 days.  Flash forward to our Kickstarter debut in January 2020, where it took a solid year of testing and prototyping to get a product ready for sale!

Choosing the Company Name and Logo

After getting started, I needed to find a company and product name and then get a logo.  Since this is a family business, we turned it into a family event.  We left a sheet of paper on the refrigerator for all of us to write down our ides for company and product names.  We had fun debating the names around the dinner table and some of them were pretty hilarious.  Would you buy the SuitSack from Marbuta Backpacks?  The Testudo by Velocipede? Perhaps you’d enjoy riding with the WorkCycle Backpack by Axello?  Or the SuitShell from the Holland Backpack Company?  But all of the debate helped us define that our family business would be sustainable, eco-friendly, use recycled products as much as possible.  From those discussions we settled on “GrüneStrasse” which is German for “green street.”  We came to believe that a Green Street captures the ethos we wanted in a company as well as a great message of sustainability for our customers.

After we had a company name, we worked on a logo.  Of course it would be green in color and involve a bike.  We turned the bike wheels into the “G” and “S” or GrüneStrasse” and added a rider.  It was my wife’s idea to turn the rider into a turtle because the turtle is steady, strong, resilient in water, and has a tough shell to protect the contents inside.  With a great name and a great logo, my good friend Paul Cucinotta helped put it all together when he said, “of course you’ll call it the Shellback.”  Of course.  And we were on our way.

We reversed the direction and added the turtle.  Here in a two-tone version

Coming Soon: Part II of Retired Marine Establishes Backpack Company in Heart of Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The Cycling Turtle is GrüneStrasse’s regular blog contribution to the Bike to Work and Alternative Transportation Movement. Comments, suggestions, and dissenting points of view welcome!