About Kipling

Founded in 1987 with its name inspired by Rudyard Kipling, the author of "The Jungle Book", Kipling has evolved beyond its original roots of providing high quality backpacks suited for the adventures of everyday life into a distinctive, worldwide brand offering a range of carryalls for a variety of lifestyles.

Its bags are effortlessly stylish, colorful and fun as well as practical and durable enough for even the most active individual. Headquartered in New York City with products developed and designed in Antwerp, Belgium, Kipling North America is a division of VF Sportswear, Inc.

The VF Sportswear Coalition includes the Nautica® and John Varvatos® brands as well as the Kipling® brand. Kipling products are distributed in 55 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, South America and the USA, and have been distributed in North America since 1993.

Why attach a "monkey" to the bags? Whenever you think of Kipling, you think of the monkey. Of course the brand name "Kipling" and Rudy Kipling's famous work "The Jungle Book" give Kipling the perfect connection. Monkeys are symbols of fun and adventure, so the monkey naturally became the brand's mascot. And not very much later, it became the monkey key ring. Every Kipling monkey is named after an employee from somewhere around the world. Every collection has its own unique monkey! The monkey has definitely become a collector's item for anyone who is fun-loving and young at heart... We already know of Kipling addicts who own no less than 425 monkeys!