Excellent
Gregory is widely known for its backpacks and travel products, and the brand pairs that reputation with meaningful sustainability efforts. Its robust repair services and Gregory Lifetime Guarantee help keep packs on the trail and out of the landfill, while PFAS-free chemistries, recycled fabrics, and manufacturing in Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production-certified facilities reduce the brand's environmental impact. Gregory’s parent company, Samsonite Group, tracks its greenhouse gas emissions and publishes an annual impact report. However, Gregory still trails some competitors in terms of circularity and material standards, as it doesn’t operate resale or recycling programs and uses fewer Bluesign-approved textiles. Here’s a closer look at how Gregory is reducing its impact—and where the brand still has room to improve.
This sustainability analysis evaluates both product- and brand-level initiatives to capture the full scope of Gregory’s efforts to reduce its environmental impact. Our research draws from the brand’s published sustainability data, third-party certifications (a cornerstone of our process), and correspondence with brand representatives. We have independently researched 16 Gregory products to date, giving us a broad understanding of the brand’s use of low-impact materials, chemistry, and manufacturing practices.
You can explore our analyses of other outdoor brands, or use our advanced search to find products that align with your sustainability values.
Gregory receives an “Excellent” transparency rating. The brand provides sustainability information on materials, PFAS, packaging, and other efforts on both product pages and a dedicated sustainability page. Its parent company, Samsonite Group, also publishes an annual impact report that includes comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions data, but it features few details specific to Gregory. However, representatives from the brand have been prompt and thorough in their responses to our questions, which we appreciate.
Synthetic materials such as polyester and nylon are prevalent in outdoor gear due to their durability and quick-drying performance. These textiles are derived from petroleum and other fossil fuels, but their recycled alternatives have smaller carbon footprints. Some brands, including Gregory, are increasing their use of recycled textiles to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Samsonite Group has used recycled materials across its goods since 2018, and 40% of the products it sold in 2025 contained recycled content.
All the Gregory products we’ve evaluated feature recycled materials, though the amount of recycled content in most of these products doesn’t exceed 50%. Gregory developed a 40% post-consumer recycled polyester backpack lining fabric and has transitioned 99% of its virgin lining fabrics to this low-impact textile, diverting 1.5 million plastic bottles from landfills in 2022. The company also aims to reduce the amount of virgin nylon primary fabrics across its products 70% by 2030, compared to 2020. It’s replacing these materials with recycled nylon and polyester, as well as bio-based textiles.
Bluesign is an independent company that maintains systems focused on sustainable material manufacturing, and Bluesign-approved materials meet strict standards for chemical and environmental management throughout the production process. Brands can also participate in Bluesign System Partnership, which assesses their supply chains and requires them to improve sustainability across their organizations. Unlike its main competitor, Osprey, Gregory isn’t a Bluesign System Partner, stating it doesn’t have the budget to become one.
However, we’ve come across Bluesign-approved materials in several Gregory backpacking packs, and the company uses more than 90% Bluesign-approved buckles and hardware across its collections. All of its products also comply with the European Union’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) standards, which regulate harmful substances and require manufacturers to identify, manage, and disclose them in their products.
Outdoor gear like backpacks has historically contained PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of chemicals that resist dirt and water among other elements. However, the indestructible nature of these chemicals means they don’t degrade, persisting in the environment and earning them the name “forever chemicals.” PFAS have also been associated with negative health effects, including reproductive and developmental issues, altered immune function, and more.
In 2025, over 300 bills aimed at regulating PFAS were considered across 39 U.S. states, and California banned the use of the chemicals in textiles. This legislation has encouraged action in the outdoor industry, with many brands eliminating PFAS from their products. Gregory is one of these brands, treating its gear with non-fluorinated durable water repellents. The company requires its suppliers to manufacture materials without PFAS, and it independently monitors and verifies them for compliance. It also produces its hydration reservoirs without bisphenol A (BPA) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which have adverse health effects.
Third-party certifications and organizations, such as the Leather Working Group, the Responsible Wool Standard, and the Responsible Down Standard ensure animal-derived natural fibers are sourced in ways that minimize harm and prioritize animal and ecological welfare. Gregory doesn’t use any of these natural fibers in its products, relying on synthetic materials instead. Therefore, it doesn’t participate in any responsible material certifications.
Gregory requires its suppliers to adhere to its Ethical Charter and Social Compliance Program, which outlines provisions on safe working conditions, fair wages, reasonable hours, collective bargaining rights, and a discrimination-free workplace. It also maintains a zero-tolerance policy for child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking and conducts third-party audits to ensure compliance with its policies.
Additionally, the brand’s primary suppliers are Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) certified. The WRAP program certifies that factories follow humane, safe, lawful, and ethical standards and audits facilities every one to two years. These audits assess various principles, including the implementation of environmentally conscious practices. Gregory’s involvement in the WRAP program meets our responsible manufacturing criteria, which require brands to participate in a third-party program that provides certification and regular audits to ensure safe working conditions, fair wages, and a reduced environmental impact.
While packaging contributes little to a brand’s overall environmental impact, Gregory has taken several steps to reduce waste and use more sustainable materials. In 2019, it swapped the cardboard tube in its Deva and Baltoro backpacks for a biodegradable polyethylene airbag to retain their shape. The brand estimates that this move prevented 7,850 pounds of cardboard from being disposed of annually between 2019 and 2022. It also shifted from virgin poly bags to 99% recycled poly bags for its backpacks between 2021 and 2022 and transitioned to certified recycled paper for all its hang tags and accessory packaging in 2022.
One of the most effective ways to minimize the impact of outdoor gear is to use it as long as possible, limiting new production and purchases. Repair services help customers keep their gear on the trail and out of the landfill, and Gregory shines for its robust offerings in this area. It covers all its products with the Gregory Lifetime Guarantee, a warranty that ensures items are free of material and manufacturing defects. The brand performs warranty-related repairs at no cost, while normal wear and tear, accidental damage, and other out-of-warranty issues are addressed for nominal fees.
In 2022, Gregory expanded its DIY repair program, making replacement parts (such as buckles, webbing adjusters, hipbelt extenders, and zipper pulls) available on its website. The brand encourages customers to seek at-home repairs before using its own services since they are quicker and require less shipping to and from repair centers. However, if customers send an item to Gregory and the brand can’t repair it, Gregory disassembles the product and uses its parts for future repairs.
Like repair services, resale and recycling programs provide alternatives to discarding gear and help keep it in circulation. Brands with resale programs typically offer customers credit for trading in their used products, while recycling programs transform items that are too used to resell into materials for new products. Some brands, including The North Face and Nemo, operate both services. While Gregory has neither a formal resale nor a recycling service, we grant it partial credit for reusing the parts of unrepairable products for future repairs. Additionally, its parent company, Samsonite Group, is exploring circularity services and has implemented several takeback pilot programs across its subsidiaries to gain insights into how to expand them.
Samsonite Group tracks Gregory’s greenhouse gas emissions using the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a common framework for greenhouse gas accounting. The company aims to reduce its direct emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 42% from a 2023 baseline by 2030, and its indirect emissions (Scope 3) by 52% per unit of profit from a 2022 baseline by 2030. Notably, Samsonite’s Scope 3 target is a carbon intensity goal, which is generally considered less impactful than an absolute goal because total emissions still increase, even as emissions per dollar decrease. These emissions account for over 99% of its total footprint and include activities such as raw-materials extraction, processing, and manufacturing.
In March 2025, the Science Based Targets Initiative verified Samsonite’s goals, ensuring they meet the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C warming threshold. The same year, Samsonite reported a 39% decrease in Scope 1 and 2 emissions and a 19% decrease in Scope 3 emissions. The company prioritizes using low-impact materials across its products to address its indirect footprint and sources 100% renewable energy at its operations to mitigate its direct footprint. Additionally, Gregory conducts life cycle assessments for 90% of its products to measure their associated emissions and environmental impacts. It has completed these assessments for its Resin, Rhune, Targhee, Arrio, Border, Baltoro/Deva, Katmai/Kalmia, Focal/Facet, Miko/Maya, Zulu/Jade, and Nano packs thus far.
While Gregory doesn’t publish its own impact report, Samsonite Group details its subsidiaries’ sustainability efforts in an annual document. Impact reports promote transparency by offering insights into companies’ environmental practices and progress, and Samonite shares data on its greenhouse gas emissions, circularity initiatives, and materials in its report. However, the report mentions Gregory only once and contains little information specific to the brand. Thankfully, Gregory’s sustainability webpage fills in the gaps left by Samsonite’s impact report, featuring statistics on its PFAS phase-out, packaging, manufacturing, and more. Some of this information is out of date, but we appreciate that Gregory makes it publicly accessible.
Gregory partners with the Conservation Alliance and the European Outdoor Conservation Association to protect natural landscapes and habitats across North America and Europe. It has also donated cash and backpacks to Big City Mountaineers since 2006, supporting the organization’s mission to provide transformative experiences through connections to nature for youth from disinvested communities. The brand allocates 5% of its annual marketing budget to organizations that make the outdoors more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, including Unlikely Hikers, She Jumps, the Adaptive Sports Center, and more.
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