Mystery Ranch, a Bozeman, Montana-based bag manufacturer popular with firefighters, hikers, hunters and the military, made its runway debut in 2022. The semi-annual summer show for French fashion house Dior featured gardening motifs galore, a few fleece jackets and several sun hats, but also a small collection of Mystery Ranch bags: a backpack, belt bag, saddle bag and wallet.
Mystery Ranch x Dior: a Year in the Making
Days after the reveal, though, neither brand hyped the collaboration. It stayed hidden — until now. On February 16th, a capsule of Dior by Mystery Ranch bags will be available via Dior, both in select stores and online.
"This collaboration is a testament to two companies that care deeply about their crafts and the communities they serve," Mystery Ranch founder Dana Gleason says. "Working with companies like Dior is the ultimate recognition that we are doing what we set out to do: To design and build great packs and bags specific to the mission. The Dior collection is a thing of beauty. Mission accomplished."
Dior, an LVMH-owned brand founded by Christian Dior in 1946, trades in fine clothing and footwear that are a far cry from Mystery Ranch's load bearing backpacks, which are most frequently found on the frontlines of international conflicts, near wildfires or on dangerous trails. But Mystery Ranch is an emerging fashion brand, even if Gleason doesn't agree.
Mystery Ranch, Fashion's New 'It' Bag Brand?
Elsewhere in the world, it sells exclusive colorways in Japan to rave reviews — and long queues. There, the bags are still serviceable in extreme conditions, but they're more popular in cities, where hiking and outdoor aesthetics are all the rage right now. In the US, there's plenty of carryover, courtesy of style-focused iterations sold at stores like Backcountry and Huckberry, but these "special projects," as Mystery Ranch founder Dana Gleason calls them, are way less frequent.
That makes this Dior collab all the more rare. But most brands that land lucrative — likely monetarily but also in sheer awareness — deals like these aren't silent about them in the months between the first teaser and the official drop date. That being said, the silence speaks, in part, to who Gleason is: a modest bag junkie credited with singlehandedly changing the way backpacks look and operate by sourcing feedback from those that really wear them, with dozens of innovations in load bearing, weight distribution and wearability to his name.
He's racked up a long list of achievements over his near 50-year career, but most impressively, Gleason has sustained Mystery Ranch, his fourth brand, which he founded in Bozeman in 2000, nearly three decades after moving west to "escape" Boston, he says in interviews.
Mystery Ranch History
After arriving there in 1975, he started his first bag company, Kletterwerks, but he sold his shares in the brand just three years after its inception. From there, he turned his focus toward more creative bags: things to tow cameras and computers in. A decade later, just like he'd done before, he offloaded his shares to another interested party.
His third endeavor, Dana Designs, was an instant success, growing faster than both earlier brands. "It got bigger than anything we could have envisioned," he told local outdoor resource Outside Bozeman. After eventually leaving the company just over 10 years later, he finally settled into the successful load bearing giant he runs today.
Mystery Ranch is unquestionably Gleason's most successful endeavor, no doubt thanks to Gleason's decades of experience. He also had help from the US Military. At first, Mystery Ranch bags were made in China. A request from the Navy SEALs earned Gleason enough money to bring production back to his (adopted) home state, creating in-house design and quality control teams, setting a new standard for the brand's bags.
The Mystery Ranch Opens It Gates
This move made Mystery Ranch a go-to for best-in-class bags. Many GP staffers wear or own Mystery Ranch bags — myself included — and we've recommended them a million times to our readers. The broader outdoors audience loves them, too, making them a bonafide staple within industry circles.
But the Ranch is opening its gates, accepting bike commuters, city dwellers, local park hikers, new parents and 'fit pic-posing fashionistas alike. Their bags are good, complete with comfortable straps, plenty of pockets and an "outdoorsy and in the know," a la GOPRcore, air about them.
This combination clearly made the brand an appealing collaborator for Dior, whose Summer 2023 collection was an ode to the outdoors at large under Artistic Director Kim Jones's guidance.
"Born out of aggravation and necessity, the 3-ZIP design serves a unique set of families," Gleason adds. "It’s been adopted by climbers, hikers and backpackers, and now Paris."
Dior by Mystery Ranch
The four-design Dior by Mystery Ranch collection drops February 16th online and at select Dior stores.
