A white bag sits on a white table in front of a white background

Chad J. Porter, a fourth-year in economics, is the founder and CEO of CHVD JUSTIN and is opening the redesigned WEARPACK for preorder April 30th. Credit: Courtesy of Chad J. Porter

CHVD JUSTIN, a Black-owned Columbus and Cleveland-based retail bag and apparel company, is set to launch the new and improved WEARPACK this week.  

The WEARPACK, a combination of a front detachable tote chest pack, shoulder bag and backpack, was originally designed by Chad J. Porter, a fourth-year in economics and founder and CEO of CHVD JUSTIN, in February 2019. After being put on hold for several months due to the pandemic, the newly redesigned backpack will launch April 30.

“The product is meant for students, so you know, what more would students or young professionals need other than a bag that is perfect for their lifestyle,” Porter said. 

Porter first got the idea for the WEARPACK in an Ohio State economics class his sophomore year. He said he started to notice the incoming freshmen carrying iPads around instead of books in a big bulky backpack like he had been. 

“I realized that school has changed — we don’t need these big books anymore, so why hasn’t the way we carry stuff changed as students?” Porter said. “I realized we needed a more lightweight, adjustable and comfortable way to carry our things.”

Porter said he sold 200 units of the original WEARPACK to fellow students and collected feedback from each buyer of the original design on how to improve the product. He said the redesigned bag now comes with a portable charger, water bottle holder, outside pockets, better zippers and more padding, as requested by customers. 

“We did an event on OSU’s campus last year at Hale Hall,” Porter said. “They did another business event at Hale Hall where we were able to sell our products directly to students — not just at Ohio State, but Kent State, Akron, Miami and Wooster.”

Harlan C. Jones, a fourth-year in entrepreneurship at Wooster College and chief operating officer of CHVD JUSTIN, said he had been helping Porter with the brand since the beginning but didn’t come on as COO until the summer of 2019.

“Eventually, Chad came to me and asked if it was something I’d be interested in,” Jones said. “I said yes because I was one of the peers that was looking at the product and was realizing how much of a need there was for it.”

Jones said the feedback from fellow college students was incredibly encouraging and exciting, and he hopes the company continues to progress by listening to their customers, meeting the need and continuing to grow the market.

“On this new bag, we’ve added a lot of adjustable features,” Porter said. “We specifically designed it to be a unisex product, and we’re gonna keep adapting and making it better so that the WEARPACK can become a household name.”

Porter said CHVD JUSTIN did a complete rebrand for the launch of the new WEARPACK, including changing the logo, trademarking the name WEARPACK and improving the presentation with official WEARPACK boxes to give it a “new age” feel.

CHVD JUSTIN also experienced some turbulence due to COVID-19, as last summer’s planned release for the new WEARPACK was put on hold, Jones said. 

“Instead, we had to transition and we started making things like face masks, T-shirts and other products that were able to help us stay relevant so that we could buy the time that we had lost due to COVID to release that content and make those improvements to the new WEARPACK that you see today,” Jones said.

Jones said he hopes that in the next few years the company will have disrupted the current backpack market and people will start to hear the word “WEARPACK” replace “book bag” and “backpack” in conversation.

“We took the time to improve the brand, to reflect and make things better,” Porter said. “Not only will there be WEARPACKs this upcoming year, but there will also be duffle bags, sweat suits and a whole plethora of other products.”

The new WEARPACK will be available for preorder on CHVD JUSTIN’s website Friday, April 30.