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1873
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The U.S. Patent Office awards patent #139,121 for riveted work pants, and Levi's blue jeans are born --
and so begins the San Francisco sewing industry.
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Late 1970s
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Shoulder bags made by Globe Canvas (aka De Martini) of New York, originally for telephone linemen,
are adopted by bicycle messengers in NYC.
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1980
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Manhattan Portage, the New York City-based messenger bag company, is founded by an NYC bicycle messenger.
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1984
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Zo Bags is founded in San Francisco.
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1989
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Rob Honeycutt, a bicycle messenger in San Francisco, purchases a used Singer sewing machine
and orders his first wholesale fabric and buckles. The total investment is about $200 (pretty much all the money he had at the time).
He makes 50 black handlebar bags with no logo and no company name. They look good but he can't sell them except through a
small bicycle shop in San Francisco called The Freewheel. Still working as a messenger and using a Zo bag for deliveries,
Rob recognizes how many non-messengers are asking where they can purchase a messenger bag.
Rob decides there's an opportunity, builds his first messenger bag puts it up for sale at The Freewheel.
It sells. Rob decided to name the company "Scumbags", the precursor of Timbuk2.
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1990
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Rob decides "Scumbags" lacks the necessary credibility for a real bag business. Inspired by the legendary African city, Timbuktu,
and a popular indie band, Timbuk3, the name "Timbuk2" is born.
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April 1990
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Timbuk2 receives its first wholesale order for messenger bags from The Bike Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
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Summer 1990
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Rob conceives his "one-at-a-time" build-to-order production system.
All materials required to make a bag are kept within arms' reach of the sewing machine.
Each bag is made-to-order -- by Rob himself.
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1991
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Doodling on a cocktail napkin with a felt-tip marker, Rob pens the original Timbuk2 'swirl' logo.
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1991
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Timbuk2 moves out of Rob's basement and opens shop at 217 Dore Street, in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) district.
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1992
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Timbuk2 moves to Emeryville, just across the Bay from San Francisco, and hires its first full-time sewer.
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1994
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Rob becomes a student of mass customization and the lean manufacturing philosophy of Toyota Motor Corp.,
and perfects the three-panel bag design for production.
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1994
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Timbuk2 debuts its signature three-panel, tri-color messenger bag design, and encourages bike shops and
consumers to design custom bags with its "Build Your Own Bag" order form.
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1996
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Timbuk2 relocates to Treat Street in San Francisco's Mission District.
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1997
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Timbuk2 transports an entire production line to the Interbike tradeshow in Anaheim, California,
and produces custom messenger bags during the show.
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1999
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Located in the heart of 'multimedia gulch', ground zero for the San Francisco dot-com gold rush,
Timbuk2 begins work on an Internet version of its custom bag order form.
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1999
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Timbuk2 sets up production at the Winter Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City.
A freak tornado rips through the tented exhibit hall, destroying the equipment and killing one person (unrelated to Timbuk2).
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2000
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Timbuk2 launches the first Build Your Own Bag Web site, www.timbuk2.com, and debuts its award-winning on-line bag builder.
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2002
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Timbuk2 introduces its first computer carrying case and laptop computer sleeve.
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2003
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The swirl logo gets a makeover, and the "happy swirl" replaces the original "scratchy swirl".
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2003
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Timbuk2 kicks into gear and introduces the
Commute computer carrying case,
Graphic messenger bag,
Metro mini messenger bag and
iPod carrying case.
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2004
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Timbuk2 launches a complete line of bags and accessories, adding the
Yoga Bag,
Artist Series messenger bag,
Totes and
Duffels.
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