After years of traveling with a cumbersome array of luggage and backpacks that didn’t fully address his needs, David Ngene, Jr. saw an opportunity for innovation: a modular backpack system that adapts to the daily requirements of people on the go. After years of iterative design and testing, Ngene, Jr.’s company Pacmodo is set to launch in April of 2025. With an eye toward sustainability and a uniquely versatile design, Pacmodo is positioned to make a splash with travelers and adventurers alike.
We caught up Ngene, Jr. at the company’s studio in Beaverton.
Tell us how you first got the idea for Pacmodo.
Ngene, Jr.: I spent over a decade at Nike traveling the world, and when I travel I like to be really immersed in the culture of the space. I love the hands-free nature of one-bag travel. I like to walk the city. I like to meet the people, eat the food. I needed a smaller bag to do that, so I started bringing a smaller bag inside of a bigger one, and it still wouldn’t work because the smaller bags were cutting into my shoulders. I didn’t like the way it felt over time.
It really made me think about how I was using backpacks and wondering whether there was a better way, a better system. I had been buying a ton of backpacks to try to suit my personal needs. They got me about 70% of the way there, but I ended up with about 20 backpacks over the course of 10 years. I wanted to create a system that worked better for me, but the system that worked better for me seemed to kind of work better for everybody else as well. It was a selfish proposition that turned into something more.
What was the design and testing process like?
Ngene, Jr.: I started asking people, interviewing people, and getting really deep into how they were using their packs. I found that most backpacks that are single-use, so I wanted something that could go from point A to B but also B to C to Z and all the way back. I wanted to make sure that we created something streamlined, something that worked for who the user is now and who they might be in the next five years, because backpacks are a snapshot of who we were in that moment when we bought it.
I started making some protoypes by taking my neighbor’s old backpacks and cobbling them up and asking her opinion on what other modifications would be helpful to her. We sent other prototypes to friends and folks who tested them, took them on AirBnb trips, even on safari in Africa. Everyone suggested design tweaks, and we incorporated their feedback.
I wound up designing a system where the consumer could pick and choose their use cases. We have different sizes of backpacks that sit inside each other, that once you reach your destination you can just can take one out and fill up and go.
Did your background in design help you during the process?
Ngene, Jr.: Yes. I’m an industrial designer by trade. Actually, my background is actually in mechanical engineering and art. I spent over a decade working with Nike, working in innovation and product creation. Footwear design, in particular. You get adept at sewing shoes and putting stuff together so you can create rough prototypes to kind of represent what you’re looking for.
How did all of these ideas coalesce into a business?
Ngene, Jr.: In 2022 I showed some sketches to a colleague at Nike, and he liked them enough to want to join in. So he became a co-founder of the business. It was December 2023 when I left Nike officially. We started a Kickstarter to support the launch, and now we’re eyeing our first release in April of 2025.
What is it about Portland that drew you here and made you want to start your business here?
Ngene, Jr.: I originally came here because of my work at Nike. But there’s a unique environment here where we have designers, traders, people who know manufacturing, people who know consumer product. This is the mecca for consumer product here in the United States. And that is what kept me here. I don’t think I could have done this in New York. I couldn’t have done this in Texas. The Portland community really has the talent and the environment to really support something like this.
“There’s a unique environment here where we have designers, traders, people who know manufacturing, people who know consumer product. The Portland community really has the talent and the environment to really support something like this.”
—David Ngene Jr., Co-founder, Pacmodo
You mentioned that sustainability played an important role in informing your design.
Ngene, Jr.: Most households have at least five backpacks. They sit there collecting dust until people decide to purge them 10 years later. And then what do they do? They say, “I’m going to donate it.” Donation centers get so many backpacks. They just take them and instantly shred them and throw them in the landfill. And most of these backpacks that people donate are brand new! We did a backpack drive over the summer, and the number of brand-new backpacks I received was crazy. When I say brand new, I mean they still had the tags on. People were just throwing them away.
We’ve designed this really interesting system that allows us to track the batch the backpack’s from and do all sorts of different things through here. It’s a digital passport, basically. It allows you to engage with the aftermarket. If you want to sell this bag back to us, or if you want to send it back to us and get a discount on something new, you can. We can put it back on our secondhand marketplace and allow people to buy it for a much more discounted price.
What’s your ultimate vision for how you want people to use these bags?
Ngene, Jr.: I didn’t want to create anything that was meant for the top of Mount Everest. This is going to get you to a trailhead. You can go for a hike, you can go glamping, you can go do a curated trip. Let other brands play on top of the mountains. We want to be in the city. We want to be adjacent to it. We want to be getting people outside and enjoying those moments. This is about the journey, we’re just enabling it with our backpack.
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