65,000 Orders, 54 Countries, and Still Made in Waynesburg

September 23, 2026 marks seven years of Hilltop Packs.

Seven years.

That doesn't sound like an incredibly long time until I think about where this whole thing started.

On September 23, 2019, Hilltop Packs officially began in the corner of our basement with a $100 sewing machine, some ultralight fabric, a printer, and an idea I wasn't completely sure would work.

There were no investors. There wasn't a warehouse. There wasn't a staff. There definitely wasn't a seven-year business plan. There was just an idea.

I had gotten into backpacking a couple years earlier and noticed that while ultralight gear was incredibly functional, most of it looked pretty much the same. I had spent years working with photography, graphic design, printing and sewing, so I started wondering if I could combine those skills with backpacking gear.

I figured out how to print on ultralight fabric, made a food bag with a bear printed on it, and posted a photo online.

People went a little crazy over it. So I made another one. And another. Eventually I talked my family into helping. And somehow that little experiment became Hilltop Packs.

Almost 65,000 Orders

This year I looked at some of the numbers, and one of them stopped me in my tracks.

Since we started, Hilltop Packs has received almost 65,000 orders.

Even crazier, those orders have gone to customers in 54 different countries. 

Something that started in a basement in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania has ended up on trails all over the world.

There are Hilltop Packs food bags hanging from trees thousands of miles from here. Our dry bags, stuff sacks, wallets, fanny packs and backpacks have traveled places most of us in the shop will probably never get to visit ourselves.

That's pretty wild. And every one of them started here.

We Outgrew the Basement Pretty Fast

The basement didn't last long. Fabric started taking over the house. Sewing machines multiplied. Boxes were everywhere. In 2020 we moved into our first rented commercial space.

We outgrew that one too. About nine months later, we moved again.

By August of 2021, we were announcing our third expansion in only 19 months.

I don't think any of us really understood how quickly things were moving at the time. We were too busy trying to keep orders moving, figure out new equipment, train people, solve problems and make whatever crazy product idea we had come up with that week.

There has been a lot of figuring-it-out-as-we-go around here. There still is.

The Part I'm Most Proud Of Isn't 65,000 Orders

The order number is cool. The 54 countries are awesome. The growth and support has been amazing.

But there is another number I think says more about Hilltop Packs than any of those.

How long our people have stayed.

Kailee and Amie have been here since 2019.

Jen and Brandon started in 2020.

Amanda started in 2021.

Tim, Katelyn and Meg joined us in 2022. (Tim moved to Waynesburg in 2025 to work full-time)

And they're still here.

Seven years into this company, many of the people walking into Hilltop Packs every morning are the same people who helped build it during those crazy early years.

That's unusual. And I don't take it for granted.

They've watched Hilltop grow from a tiny operation into what it is today. They've survived equipment failures, huge order rushes, new products, bad ideas, good ideas, long days, moves, changes, financial setbacks, and whatever crazy idea I walked through the door with that morning.

Some people who were part of our story have moved on to other things, too. They're still part of Hilltop's history. Every person who spent time here left a little piece of themselves behind.

A business isn't the building. It isn't the sewing machines. It isn't our website or social media posts… It's people. Hilltop Packs wouldn't exist without ours.

We Still Make It Here

As we've grown, this is something I've become more proud of. We still make our gear right here in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.

When we say handmade here, we mean it. We print it here. We cut it here. We sew it here. We inspect it here. We pack it here. And we ship it from here.

There are easier ways to run a gear company. There are certainly cheaper ways. But I still like knowing exactly where something came from and who made it. That's part of what makes cottage gear special.

A few months ago I wrote about why humans value effort. I think that's one of the reasons small companies like ours continue to matter. When you buy something from Hilltop Packs, somebody here actually touched it. Often several people are involved.

And if you email us because you have a question or a problem, you're talking to someone who was standing 30 feet away when your gear was made. I think that's pretty cool too.

It Was Never Really Just About Gear

Yeah of course new gear is fun. But what we can turn that new piece of gear into means more to people than we first realized.

A picture of their dog. Their kids. A trail they completed. A trail name. A ridiculous inside joke. Artwork they created. A photograph from a trip they never wanted to forget.

People would tell us that carrying those things made them feel like they had a little piece of home with them. That changed the way I looked at what we were doing.

Somewhere along the way I realized Hilltop Packs isn't completely a backpacking gear company. We're almost a little print shop for memories that happens to sew backpacking gear.

And I still love that.

We've Changed a Lot in Seven Years

The little food bag company has become a lot more. We've designed backpacks. We've made fanny packs, wallets, organizers, dry bags, stuff sacks, accessories and more products than I can remember without looking at the website.

In 2025 alone, we released more than 30 new products.

We extended the warranty on our sewn gear to five years because the data told us we could stand behind what we make.

We've experimented with recycled and upcycled materials through our Good Humans Regear project. 

We've picked trash up from local trails.

We donated our crew for a day to help clean up a future public park around Wisecarver Lake, where volunteers removed 59 tires and around 50 bags of trash.

We've hosted hikers here in Greene County. They even slep in our shop for a few nights.

We've made friends all over the backpacking community.

In 2022, we were incredibly honored to receive the Greene County Chamber of Commerce's McCracken Legacy Award.

There have been a lot of moments over these seven years that made me stop and think:

How did we get here?

The Answer Is You

The answer is actually pretty simple. Customers. You.

Every order kept a sewing machine running. Every time somebody showed their Hilltop gear to a friend, it helped us grow. Every photo you posted helped. Every review helped.

Every person who told someone, "Hey, there's this weird little company in Pennsylvania that will print basically anything you want on backpacking gear" helped.

You also helped design this company. When something didn't work, you told us. When something worked really well, you told us.

When you wanted a different size, pocket, strap, material or feature, you told us.

A surprising number of conversations we've had on the shop floor over the last seven years started with:

"A customer asked if we could..." Some of those became products. Some became improvements. Some were terrible ideas lol. But we listened to all of them.

That's one of the things I hope never changes about Hilltop Packs.

Seven Years Later

I don't know what Hilltop Packs will look like seven years from now.

If you had shown the 2019 version of me what this company would look like today, I'm not sure I would have believed you. Almost 65,000 orders. 54 countries. A workshop full of people. Backpacks we designed from scratch. Products being carried all over the world.

And somehow, many of the same people who helped us get started are still standing beside us. That's the part that means the most. We're bigger than we were in 2019. We're better at what we do. We have nicer sewing machines. Thankfully, we're no longer destroying our basement.

But in the ways that matter, Hilltop Packs is still basically the same idea. Make useful stuff. Make it well. Don't be afraid to make it different. Take care of the people who work here. Take care of the people who buy from us. Have some fun. And keep figuring it out.

To everyone who has ordered something, shared a post, watched a video, stopped into the shop, sent us a photo from the trail, recommended us to a friend, or simply followed along:

Thank you.

You turned a weird little experiment in a Pennsylvania basement into seven years of Hilltop Packs.

That's one heck of an adventure. Here's to whatever happens next.

Ben & the Hilltop Packs Crew
September 23, 2026