Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi was founded in 2014 in Salt Lake City and is recognisable by its colourful backpacks made from remnant fabric, each one different. The brand is a certified B Corporation, passes one percent of revenue to its own foundation and does something rare in this series: it names its manufacturing partners with name, country and product group.
Cotopaxi
- Origin
- United States
- Founded
- 2014
- Group
- Independent
- Production
- Supplier list published
- Core materials
- Polyester, nylon, Cotton, down
- Price level
- 2/4
How much this brand discloses, and how much of it we could verify. It is not a quality rating — a composition line cannot tell you how good a fabric is. How we calculate it
- Production disclosure 25/25
- Linked sources 20/20
- Own material check 0/15
- Fabric weight stated 0/12
- Country stated per product 0/10
- Construction detail stated 0/10
- Cost breakdown published 0/8
Evidence for the price About what this price band usually documents
Who the brand is for
People who want travel and hiking packs, fleece and insulated jackets, who care about origin, and who do not want to pay mountaineering-brand prices. Cotopaxi sells online, in its own stores and through specialist retail; the Del Día line made from remnants is its signature.
Who owns it
Founded in 2014 in Salt Lake City by Davis Smith, who grew up in Latin America and named the brand after the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. The company is private and independent; investors include Bain Capital's impact fund, and Smith stepped down as CEO in 2023. Cotopaxi is a certified B Corporation; B Lab's directory shows an overall score of 125.6, against a median of about 51 for ordinary businesses and a certification threshold of 80.
One percent of annual revenue goes, according to the brand, to the Cotopaxi Foundation, a Utah nonprofit that funds poverty alleviation. That is a share of revenue, not of profit, and it is stated on the company site.
Ten factories with name, country and product on its own website: that is more transparency than three of the groups in this series offer combined.
Where it is made
Cotopaxi publishes a page listing its manufacturing partners. At retrieval it named ten plants: backpacks and bags from Bataan in the Philippines, where the Del Día pieces from remnants are also made, and from Di An City in Vietnam; jackets and insulation from Tianjin in China with an RDS down certificate; organic cotton tees from Chinnakarai in India and headwear from Shanghai, both marked Fair Trade Certified; activewear from Phnom Penh, Yiwu and West Java; plus a plant in Portland, Oregon. The brand therefore names not just countries but plants and product groups. Wages and unit costs it does not name.
What the price buys — our view
This section is an assessment, not a finding. The materials are polyester, nylon, cotton and down, and for the Del Día line remnants from other production runs, which the brand says its workers combine freely. The price sits in the middle band. What you get documented for it is a named supply chain with certificates per plant and an audited B Corp score. What you do not get is proof of which factory made your own piece, or a statement of the wages there.
Verifiable statements with a source, not a rating. We publish no ethics score of our own — for that, follow the external link.
- Production countries
- PH, China, India, Cambodia, ID, Vietnam, United States
- Supplier list published
- View the list
What we can document
- Founded 2014 in Salt Lake City by Davis Smith, investor Bain Capital Double Impact (Fortune, February 2023)
- B Corporation, overall score 125.6 (B Lab directory)
- One percent of annual revenue to the Cotopaxi Foundation (company website)
- Manufacturing partners with name, country and product group, including Fair Trade and RDS certified plants (company website)
What we cannot
- Which factory made a specific item — the list assigns product groups, not items
- Wages in the partner plants
- Share of recycled materials in the range — the brand states a figure we could not verify independently
- Unit costs — not public
Sources
5 in total · archived internally- Fertigungspartner mit Namen, Land, Produktgruppe und Zertifikaten — Cotopaxi Read 13 September 2026
- Über Cotopaxi — ein Prozent des Jahresumsatzes an die Cotopaxi Foundation — Cotopaxi Read 13 September 2026
- Fabrik Bataan (Philippinen) — Del-Día-Linie aus Reststoffen — Cotopaxi Read 13 September 2026
- Verzeichnis B Lab — Cotopaxi, Gesamtwert 125,6 — B Lab Read 13 September 2026
- Fortune, 23. Februar 2023 — Gründung 2014, Gründer Davis Smith, Investor Bain Capital Double Impact — Fortune Read 13 September 2026
Reader reviews of Cotopaxi
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Read on
A garment is made across several countries. The label almost always names only one of them. Which one, and what falls away in the process.
We asked twenty brands across four groups the same question: does the product page say where the item was made? The answer has nothing to do with price — and that is the real story.
Questions readers ask
Who owns Cotopaxi?
Cotopaxi is a private, independent company from Salt Lake City, founded in 2014 by Davis Smith, with Bain Capital's impact fund as an investor.
Where is Cotopaxi made?
In named partner plants in the Philippines, Vietnam, China, India, Cambodia, Indonesia and the USA. The list with name, country and product group is on the company website.
Is Cotopaxi a B Corp?
Yes. B Lab's directory shows 125.6 points; certification requires 80, and ordinary businesses score a median of about 51.
What is the Del Día line?
Backpacks and bags made from remnant fabric of other production runs, which the brand says its workers at the partner factory in Bataan, Philippines, combine freely. That is why every piece looks different.
Does Cotopaxi really give away one percent?
The brand states that it pays one percent of annual revenue to the Cotopaxi Foundation, a Utah nonprofit. That is a share of revenue, not profit; the statement is on the company website, and we have no independent audit of the amount.