How was Kelty started? Dick Kelty started making backpacks for his friends and family in 1952. Dick was a carpenter, an avid outdoorsman, and an active member of the Sierra Club. He and his associates in the Club longed for a solution to the back and shoulder pain that accompanied long hikes with heavy loads. In the years that followed, countless backpacking enthusiasts would thank Dick Kelty for the backpacks he was making and selling out of his garage. In 1958, thanks to the demand for his backpacks, Dick would leave his career as a carpenter and start a company devoted entirely to the design, creation, and sale of outdoor gear.

Dick's innovations would change the design concepts and construction methods of long-trek backpacks. Dick's in-demand packs emphasized precision-welded, lightweight aluminum tubes with carefully sewn and soft-fitted materials. He introduced the use of hip-belts on backpacks, which relieve shoulder stress and drastically improve a pack's stability. Kelty's legacy lives on in his adult adult outdoor gear and childrens products consisting mostly of back packs and strollers.