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Private company

Chrome Industries

Logo: [1], Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3

American clothing company

Chrome Industries is a global manufacturer of messenger bags, backpacks, sling bags, travel bags, utility cycling apparel and utility cycling footwear geared specifically for the bike messenger and fixed gear scenes. After establishing a reputation in Boulder, Colorado in 1995, Chrome moved to Denver for several years before relocating in 2002 to San Francisco. In June 2017, the company moved its headquarters to Portland, Oregon.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1995Founded1

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Chrome Industries is a global manufacturer of messenger bags, backpacks, sling bags, travel bags, utility cycling apparel and utility cycling footwear geared specifically for the bike messenger and fixed gear scenes. After establishing a reputation in Boulder, Colorado in 1995, Chrome moved to Denver for several years before relocating in 2002 to San Francisco. In June 2017, the company moved its headquarters to Portland, Oregon. In August 2010, Chrome opened its second retail store in Manhattan, New York, and had retail locations in Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, a second San Francisco location in the Mission District, Denver, Brooklyn, and Washington, DC.2

Products and brands

  • messenger bag

Listed on Wikidata.1

Their bags are built with industrial materials including tarpaulin, Cordura and steel. Chrome's popular bag lines, the Mini-Metro and Citizen Messenger Bag, are recognizable by their signature seatbelt buckle release that doubles as a bottle opener. The company started building their bags in a garage in Colorado using salvaged materials like seatbelt buckles and seatbelt webbing, which they continue to use across their entire range of product offerings.

They have since expanded to incorporate an apparel line, which includes their best-selling Merino Wool Cobra hoodie, and a shoe line including their best-selling low-profile design Kursk street shoe with built-in cycling functionalities such as reflective hits, shoelace garage, skid resistant soles and polyurethane contoured crash pad insole.

From Wikipedia’s article on Chrome Industries, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1995Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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